Comic Hero
Academy

Eight missions to invent a character nobody has ever seen before. Grab paper, pencils and textas.

Rookie
Issue 1

The idea machine

Every great hero starts with a weird mix. Spin the machine, keep what you love, spin again for what you don't.

Don't like any of them? Type your own in the boxes below. Your idea always beats the machine.

Issue 2

Shape power

Pro comic artists build characters from shapes. The shape tells readers who someone is before they say a word.

Paper time (10 min)

Messy is the point. These are called thumbnails and every artist starts this way.

Issue 3

Shadow test

The best characters are recognisable just from their shadow. Think about Batman's ears.

The challenge

Issue 4

Face lab

Comics are mostly faces. Fold a page into 6 boxes and draw your character feeling each of these.

Secret trick: eyebrows do most of the work. Pull a face in the mirror and copy your own eyebrows.

Issue 5

Suit up

Pick exactly 3 colours. Big heroes use only a few colours so you can spot them anywhere in a panel.

Picked: none yet

Paper time

Issue 6

Origin story

How did they get their powers? Fill the gaps. Wild answers are allowed.
Issue 7

Bring them to life

Time to use ChatGPT as your art helper. You're the boss β€” it follows your design.

Option A: turn my drawing into comic art (best)

Take a photo of your Issue 5 drawing, upload it to ChatGPT, then paste this:

Option B: make a character sheet

Shows your character from the front, side and back so you can draw them the same every time.

For grown-ups: run ChatGPT on your account with him beside you. If it changes his design, reply with "Keep it closer to my drawing" plus the thing it changed.

Issue 8

Your first comic strip

Four panels. That's a whole story. Plan it here, then draw it on paper.
1. Meet them
2. Uh oh
3. Power up
4. Ending

Paper time

Bonus: preview your strip with ChatGPT

Reward

Official character card

πŸ”’

Certified comic creator!

Next step: make a villain by doing the missions again, but choose the opposite shape and colours to your hero.

Progress saves on this device.