Create Magical Comics with Comic Life Magiq

Comic Life has been a very popular application, and many people already own it. In 2005 it won an Apple Design Award and then for a while it came pre-installed on certain Macs. A few days ago Plasq released an entire new Comic Life application, Comic Life Magiq. Comic Life Magiq is like a “pro” version of Comic Life, including a whole new user interface and even a slick, easy photo editor.

When you start up Comic life the welcome screen appears, where you can select a theme for a new comic or load an old one. Comic Life includes 12 different themes, along with a blank one and the ability to save your own. I’ll start with a blank template. After selecting the template the main creation window opens. On the top of the window you can see the different pages of the comic, along with a few buttons; there are buttons to add a new page, undo changes, make text smaller and bigger, and save and print options. On the bottom you can view different spray paint patterns, props, and text. On the left is the style toolbar, which lets you edit everything in your comic: text, objects, add effects, change opacity — everything is covered in the style bar. And finally, on the right, you can add panel layouts, template pages, and photos.

The first thing to do is add some comic panels. Under Panel Layouts there are many different types of layouts. After clicking on a panel you can warp it into any shape you want.

Now we need to fill up those panels with some pictures! On the right side you can navigate through folders, your iPhoto library, and (something I don’t see much in shareware) your Aperture library. You can also just take a picture with your iSight. Once you’re ready, just drag and drop photos to the panels. Then you can change the position of the object in the panel and move it to other panels by dragging it around.

Now for one of the coolest features — the Magiq image editor. Just click on the picture you want to edit and click the painting palette icon in the top right of the image. The window dims and the image editor shows up. As you can see, it looks just like a color palette. On the top are the different editing layers. You can choose options in each layer with the pink buttons on the right. If you mess up something on the layer, just click the Reset Layer button under the image or click the arrows on top to undo and redo changes.

The first layer is Color. On the left the choices are control, sharpen, exposure, hue, invert, monochrome, and crop. When you click a choice customization options will show up on the right of the image. Then when you move onto the next choice the icon will turn purple. Now click the next layer, Cut-Out. This will allow you to cut out an object in the image to use as a prop or to get rid of the background. The easiest way is with the Magiq Snip option. To use it, click the Keep button and draw a shape in the border of the object you want to keep. Then click the discard button and draw another shape around the outside of the object. With the other options you can cut out a certain color, a shape, or you can paint your own mask. The next layer is the Warp layer. The warping options are vortex, twirl, bump, pinch, bulge, dent, squeeze and smudge. The forth layer is Skin. This will allow you to paint on a different skin overlay into image. You can choose from a variety of skins, from steel to alien. The fifth layer is Filter, which allows you to add one of three different blur effects to the image. And the final choice is Paint, which simply allows you to choose a paintbrush and paint on the picture. Click Done and the picture is updated in the comic.

Next up, lettering and text bubbles. To add text just click theme on the bottom bar and click All to view all the options. There are 8 different bubble styles as well as a text box and one customizable lettering choice. The lettering can be edited just like the panels and can also be warped into different shapes. Even the bubbles can be changed to create any style you want. To quickly change the bubble types just click the bubble and click the black button in the top left of the bubble. This will display a wheel with the different options. Just click the option to change it. Once you are done with your comic just click Save and then print it out with the print button. Or, if you prefer, you can export it to an email, Flickr, HTML, photo file, PDF, iPhoto, or iWeb.

Comic Life Magiq has so many different options to make your comic, and it also makes an amazing and simple image editor. You don’t need to just make a comic in Comic Life, you could use it for whatever you want, even to create a photo book. Comic Life Magiq is available from Plasq for $44.95 for a full version or $29.95 for a cross-grade from Comic Life. Currently they are having an introductory price of $39.95 for a license and $19.95 for a cross-grade for a limited time. You can learn more about Comic Life Magiq, watch a video overview, and download a 30 day trial on the Plasq website. Comic Life Magiq requires Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard.

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