14 DAY TRIAL // Every single day, each one of us has at least one of those hilarious moments that deserve to be shared with the rest of the world - but almost every time that happens, words are just not enough to describe it. Since we're living in the technological era, at a time when any cell phone comes with an incorporated camera, or is not even considered a phone anymore, Comic Life certainly looks like a knight in shining armor. The idea of the program is very simple: anyone can create a cartoon, while any subject is a great subject. This means that you can create a comic about your holiday, your kids, that funny red hue your boss' face went today when s/he got some bad news, and so on.
The Looks
The interface is very well organized and you can find your way around its features quite easily. There is one main window that provides almost everything you need. The biggest area is represented by the "work space," the blank page that is waiting to be filled with your thoughts. On the left, you can see all the pages you have created, while on the right side you can find the tools for editing. On the bottom of the window, you will have at all times the speech and thought balloons, and the lettering options. The interesting thing about this application is that it looks quite simple to use, despite having so many features.
The Works
Before you start working, just browse a little the resources area situated on the right. You will find there templates for your pages, organized in different collections, but also the tools that you need to create your own panels. Usually, these are rectangular, but you can also make them irregular, to better suit your needs. You will find the iPhoto library below the template area, which is a panel that offers access to your hard disk and the area that allows you to capture live images or to create video clips. Obviously, images are a very important element for your comic, and this is why you are given the option to customize them by means of various filtering and editing options. The same area provides information about a selected item in your main page, stating the current style, but also offering the possibility to edit that element. The use of each feature requires fairly basic knowledge but, if you need help, make sure you check out the included tutorial.
Probably one of the most useful features is the style concept. When applied correctly, the style feature is able to have the same effect on all the elements, or to apply different effects to separate groups of items. The goal is to give a uniform effect to your work. Although there are several built-in styles, you can always create your own. All you have to do is experiment a little to see exactly how everything works.
Also, if you are in a hurry, you can choose the quick comic option, which automatically creates a comic from a photo gallery using a few specifications that you must make. All that's left for you to do now is to add captions or speech balloons.
The purpose of a comics is to reach out to as many people as possible, and this is why publishing is a very important part of this program. You can print it, export it to HTML, as a PDF file, to iPhoto or QuickTime, or email it as a jpg file by simply pressing a button. You can also publish it to .Mac.
The Good
Comic Life is an intuitive program that can do much more than you would think at first glance. It enables you to edit fonts and images right where you need to do so, without using different applications. This way, you don't get entangled in technical details and are able to focus on your purpose alone. And this is only the basic package.
The Bad
If you decided to give the application a try and the little artist within you just started to have some fun, you could have a real problem in 30 days, when the trial period comes to an end. Comic Life is pretty addictive, but its price is not exactly what you would call spare change - $24.95.
The Truth
If your passion is taking photos or drawing, this is the perfect way to give your work a fun twist. After all, almost every great hero of our times, like Superman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, and God only knows how many other heroes are out there, saving the world everyday, came to life thanks to the magic of comic strips.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
