How to Make a Comic of Yourself: From Photos to Page One

To make a comic of yourself, start with a story, not a selfie. A drawing of your face with nothing happening is a portrait. A drawing of you missing the last train in Osaka, or telling your dad you're quitting law school, is a comic.

Then give the artist what they need to keep you recognisable on every page: a few clear photos, a style that suits the story, and a chance to approve your character before the comic is drawn. Here's the order that works.

Pick one story about you

Your whole life doesn't fit in eight pages. One chapter does. Good chapters have a before, a turn and an after:

• The year you moved from Lagos to Leeds and learned that "tea" meant dinner.
• The summer you and your brother restored a 1978 Vespa that never quite ran.
• The week you rode out a flood in Brisbane with three strangers and a dog.
• The job you left, the one you took, and what your mum said at the airport.

If you can say it in one sentence with a turn in the middle ("I was terrified of the stage until my sister signed me up for open mic night"), you have a comic. If you can't, keep talking until you can. How to write a comic covers building that spine, panel by panel.

Tell it out loud first

Most people write stiffly and talk well. On Comic World you can tell the story by voice or type it, and an interviewer asks follow-up questions, usually four to seven. The questions are where the good details come from: what were you wearing, who said what, what did the room smell like.

Already wrote something? You can upload a CV or a written story as a PDF, Word file or text instead of talking, and the interviewer asks what turns it into a comic. English only for now.

Why a simple drawing of you works

Cartoonist Scott McCloud argued in [Understanding Comics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Comics) (1993) that a minimally detailed character lets readers connect with them more easily, because they can see themselves in it. That's good news. Your comic self doesn't need every pore. It needs your recognisable shapes: the hair, the glasses, the way you stand.

Memoirists have worked this way for decades. In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi drew her own childhood in Tehran in black and white with bold, simple lines, and the book is still unmistakably hers. The wider tradition of autobiographical comics also includes Art Spiegelman's Maus and Alison Bechdel's Fun Home.

Choose photos that look like you on a normal day

Upload one to four photos of yourself. Pick clear, recent ones, with your face in daylight and no filter. A three-quarter angle shows your jaw and nose. If you wear glasses every day, wear them in the photo.

Every photo is checked before anything is drawn, and each comes back as good, needs another photo or unusable, with a plain reason. Say a wedding photo is cropped at the eyes: you'll be asked for another. The longer guide to turning a photo into a comic character covers what makes a reference photo work.

No photos you like? Describe yourself instead: "short grey curls, a gap in my front teeth, always in a green anorak".

Match the style to the story

The same face looks different in every style, and the style changes how the story feels.

• Manga suits big feelings: a goodbye at a station, a nervous first day.
• Ink suits quiet, serious chapters, like caring for a parent.
• Pop suits celebrations and loud jokes.
• Euro Comedy suits a story where you're the one who always trips over the dog.

There are 14 styles in all, shown side by side in comic art styles explained. Pick the style for the story, not for how flattering it is.

Approve your design sheet

Before any page is drawn, you get a character design sheet: a full-body view and a portrait of you in the chosen style. This is the step that decides whether your friends say "that's you".

Check it like a mirror in a shop. Is the hair parted on the correct side? Are the glasses round or square? Did your grandmother's nose show up? Ask for changes in plain words ("older, with a beard, without the earring") and approve it when it's right. You can try up to six versions.

If your story covers years, the comic needs you at several ages. Comic World works out the chapters from the story (school, first job, now) and draws you for each, with the same face and a different height, haircut and outfit. You approve each one.

Read the storyboard before anything is drawn

Next comes a stick-figure storyboard of every page. It's cheap to change and easy to read. Edit any scene, caption or line of dialogue, move panels around, and star up to three hero panels for the big moments.

The question to ask on every page: would I say this? If your brother never says "I'm so proud of you", he shouldn't say it in the comic either. Cut any caption that explains what the picture already shows.

Once you approve, you sign in with Google, pick a title (you get a few options) and the drawing begins. Every picture is checked against your design sheet, so the beard on page one is still there on page seven. Finished comics download as a PDF or as page images, good for screens and home printing.

Common questions

Do I have to use my own photo?

No. A description works, and so does a photo of someone who's happy for you to use theirs. You tick a box to confirm the photos are of you or of someone who agreed.

Can I be the hero, or a supporting character?

Either. Many people make a comic where the main character is a parent or a friend and they appear on page three, rolling their eyes. Main and supporting characters both get design sheets.

How long should my comic be?

Most are six to ten pages plus a cover, and twelve is the most. One memorable week usually beats a whole decade.

Got your one-sentence story? Tell us your story, or look at comics made from real stories first.