What’s ‘Appening: Create your own comics

Those who have a creative side but don’t have any artistic ability, might find Bitstrips an app that will amuse.

The latest version — 1.1 — was released in the app store last week. It allows you to create and share comic strips with your friends.

The app has a set of templates in which you can create people by choosing hairstyles, skin colour, mouths etc. You will also get templates for various scenes.

In all, there are more than 1,000 customizable templates to choose from so there are plenty of options. 

You start by building an avatar. The process takes about five  minutes and it sparked a bit of a guffaw from me after I chose my mouth and the avatar stuck its tongue out back at me. 

No wrinkles

It’s a comic and an image of me so I left out the bags under my eyes and any wrinkles I have.

And since I was being unrealistic, I decided to give myself a ridiculously buff build.

You then add in the words and can share with your friends. It also lets you know which of your friends are using and you can use their avatars in your strip.

You’ll be able to make versions of other people to put in your comics — friends, co-workers, bosses, neighbours and family — will then all be at your mercy in your strip. But some of those you may just want to save for yourself for amusement rather than public consumption.

Bad day on the job? You’ll be able to laugh it out with a comic you create. 

There is also a version (www.bitstripsforschools.com) which is web-based that puts an education component to the comics. It even has several lesson plans educators can use to help kids learn specific lessons. None of them are overly elaborate but there are mini-lesson plans on using Bitstrips for Classroom Rules, Introduce Yourself and the tried and true classic, My Summer Vacation. 

The app is also available on Facebook, which will allow you to share on your page easily. The app is free and requires a minimum of IOS 4.3 and is available on all Apple products — iPod, iPad and iPhone.