How to create your first comic

Click Create in the top menu. At the top of the form, under What are you making?, choose Story — that's fiction with characters, a problem and an ending.

You can fill in the form before signing in. When you press Create Comic you'll be asked to sign in, and your story and settings come back exactly as you left them.

In the Story box, write your idea in plain words. The best ideas answer four questions: who is the main character, what do they want, what goes wrong, and how does it end?

You need at least 100 characters. Stuck? Click Example above the box to see a sample idea.

• •Too short: “A cat gets lost.”
• •Just right: “Miso, a curious stray cat, follows a fish truck across Tokyo and gets lost. She must cross a busy market and a rainy train yard to find her way home to the old noodle shop, where the owner is waiting.”

Length — choose Fixed to set the exact number of story pages (3–30) with the slider, or Auto to let ComicKnit size it to your idea. A cover is always added. For a first comic, try 4–6 fixed pages.

Panels per page — 1 to 4. Fewer panels means bigger, bolder art; 4 panels tell more story per page.

Art style — scroll the style cards and pick one, such as Manga, American Superhero, Watercolor or Chibi.

Audience and Page format — the audience sets tone and vocabulary. The page format sets the shape: Landscape (16:9), Square (1:1), Comic Book (5:7) or Portrait (9:16).

Press Create Comic. ComicKnit writes a full script — usually in a minute or two, with a progress bar while it works.

Next you'll see the script: a synopsis, then every page with its panels, captions and dialogue, plus the cast and places on the side. Read it like a storyboard. If you're happy, press Create Comic Book.

Before drawing pages, ComicKnit creates one reference image for each character, location and selected prop. These references are reused on every page, which keeps your hero looking the same from start to finish.

If a character looks wrong, click regenerate on that card, adjust the prompt and try again (5 credits). When everything looks right, press Accept & Generate Panels.

The cover and pages are drawn one by one, and each appears as soon as it's ready. If a page fails, press Retry Failed Cover Or Pages — pages that are already done are kept and not charged again.

When all the pages are done, your comic opens in the reader. Use the arrows to flip pages or go full screen.

Under Export, choose Download PDF, Download Pages ZIP (one image per page) or Download Slides. Under Sharing, you can publish the comic so anyone can read it — see how to publish your comic.

You'll find all your comics any time under My Comics.