ToonDoo!
By Shelby Roberts, Evangeline Pasterkamp, Elizabeth Reigel
What is ToonDoo?
A free website to create cartoons! This website allows children to create their own accounts (or the teacher could make one class account) and allows students to create and share their own cartoons. The students can add pictures and make whatever story they would like. Not only does the site allow for cartoon creations, but it also has a space for children to create their own books if they want.
How does ToonDoo work?
Where to begin? There are a lot of options on ToonDoo - for the purpose of this wiki, we'll focus on how to create a regular cartoon.
First you will need to create an account at http://www.toondoo.com/Home.toon. This will require an email address, username, and password, but no personal information. Happily, most of the services on ToonDoo are free - including registration and the task of creating a cartoon.
The following is a step-by-step tutorial of how to use ToonDoo, specifically the horizontal layout. If a video tutorial is more your speed, there is one at the end of the section using a vertical layout, and another tuorial video is available in the resource section.
Sign in using the username and password you've created - if students have a student email, they may create their own accounts. If not, you may allow them to use your own account.
Next, hover your mouse over the first option "Toons" and select "Create Toon".
We will begin by using a horizontal layout and exploring the basic options you will need to create your Toon. After selecting "Create Toon", the below screen will appear and you will click on the desired layout to continue.
After selecting a layout, you may select from a wide variety of:
- Characters
- Backgrounds
- Props
- Text options
- And more.
There is no predetermined order in which you put together your Toon after you have selected your layout. I will begin with characters because it is the first option.
You will hover your mouse over the "Characters" option and may select between: ToonDoo's Characters, Men, Women, Kids, Animals, Sports, Unusuals, Famous, Emoticons, and Stick Figures. You select a character by holding your mouse down over the desired character and dragging it to the desired location on the layout.
Once you have placed your character, you may edit that character using the toolbar located below the panels. You may adjust "Posture" or "Emotions" for your "Character" - these tools are exclusive to characters. You may also "Clone" the character to create an exact copy, change their color and size, or flip and rotate the character as desired. This set of tools will also be available for the other options (backgrounds, etc). Tools that can be applied to a selected item will appear blue, while tools that cannot be used will be grey and inaccessible.
A tool of note is the LOCK tool - if you do not want to accidentally click on and adjust a section you have made perfect, select it and click on the LOCK option to keep it in place! You can always unlock the selection later if you change your mind.
Following the "Characters" tab you will find the "Backgrounds" tab. Here you will find backgrounds in Scenery, Space, Abstract, Fantasy, Indoors, Outdoors, Landmarks, and Sports. You will select a background by holding your mouse over your desired background and dragging it onto the panel you want it on. The background will automatically fill the panel, but backgrounds may also be enlarged or shrunk, as well as flipped or rotated.
After you have your characters and backgrounds, you can add props! The props categories include Celebration, Eatables, Trees/Plants, Indoors, Outdoors, Sports, Our World, Shapes, and Logo. Props can also be dragged and placed wherever you want on the layout. All but the "Emotion" and "Posture" tools will apply.
Finally, how to get the text! The different categories for text are ToonDoo Pro (recommended), English 1, 2, and 3, Foreign Text, Graffiti, Text Effects, and Spl Alphabets.
If using ToonDoo Pro, you will click on the PRO and drag it to the desired location on the panel. When using other options, you will hold your mouse over the desired speech bubble and drag it to the desired location.
Then, type what you want the character to be saying or thinking so that you know how big the speech bubble will be. Note: Whenever you want to start a new line, even if you are on the same sentence, hit enter. The text will not automatically go to the next line.
You will then use the circles (shown in the picture below) on the speech bubble's tail to adjust where the speech bubble begins.
A special toolbar will be available if you are using ToonDoo Pro, allowing you to adjust font and bubble size.You may also adjust the bubble or text colors, as well as the appearance of the bubble (line vs. shadow, speech vs. thought, and so on).
Sometimes, you may want to keep things from one panel to the next without worrying about rotating and adjusting the sizes to match what you had already created. The icon at the top right of each panel copies the information from that panel to the next, where you can then make any changes desired.
Finished? Not quite, but you're nearly there. Now you can save and print your cartoon! Hover your mouse over the main icon and select the Save Option (from here you can also begin a new cartoon or open an older cartoon).
You will then fill out the first section of the following screen, giving it the basics about your Toon. You will have the option to allow others who view your Toon to change it (ReDoo) or purchase it if they so chose.
The second section determines the privacy of your Toon - if you are working with younger children or including personal information in the Toon, you may choose to keep a Toon private or share it with friends. Generic material may be shared with the public.
Finally, select the "Publish option". You will now be given the options to "Goto Page" (which will return you to working on your Toon, but your Toon is now saved) or "Print". You may now print your Toon to enjoy right away, or leave it for later!
But what if you wanted to use a vertical layout?
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The following video was made by The University of Oklahoma as a Web 2.0 Tutorial. I chose this video because it gives you a real-time look at how to use ToonDoo, as well as a chance to see the difference between the horizontal layout and vertical layout set ups, since the presenter uses a vertical layout.
She also points out that after saving the "Goto Page" option does not actually take you away from the page, you will have to return to ToonDoo's homepage and reaccess your Toon in order to do anything aside from printing.
Extra options that are not explored in this wiki but could prove useful in a classroom are:
ToonDoo’s Application to Teaching and Learning
ToonDoo is easy, fun and interesting so it is a great tool for classroom use. Students of any age can benefit from it as a writing tool, and will love creating their own cartoon strip.
Use for Third Graders-
Objective: Students know how to accurately employ quotes in their writing to demonstrate dialogue between two or more characters.
Standards:
CDE:
Content Area: Reading, Writing and Communicating
Grade Level Expectations: Third Grade
Standard: 3. Writing and Composition
Students Can:
b. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (CCSS: W.3.3)
i. Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. (CCSS: W.3.3a)
ii. Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations. (CCSS: W.3.3b)
iii. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. (CCSS: W.3c)
iv. Provide a sense of closure. (CCSS: W.3.3d)
NETS·S:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
Activity:
Students will begin by creating a graphic organizer of their choosing about a narrative subject that will need to employ heavy dialogue to be successful. The teacher will model this by creating his or her own graphic organizer about a subject of his or her choosing, for instance, “The Time I convinced My Mom To Let Me Get A Puppy”. The teacher will share the graphic organizer on the whiteboard, overhead or similar projection tool so students can see what their organizer should look like. Once the class’s organizers are finished, all students will go to the computer lab and will work individually on computers. Before allowing students to log on, the teacher will demonstrate how to use ToonDoo by creating a toon for his or her demonstrated graphic organizer. Students will then proceed to create their own toons from their graphic organizers. Once all students are finished, the toons can be printed out, and the students can write essays using their toons as a guide for how to introduce characters, when to add dialogue, and when they should be the narrator.
Assessment:
In order to assess the students’ understanding, the teacher will collect their graphic organizers, printed out toons and essays. The teacher will grade the essays based on students’ understanding of dialogue. Since the students will have been explicitly instructed to include heavy dialogue in their piece, the teacher will make sure they followed that instruction. The teacher will also look for spelling and grammar mistakes, but will not count students off for them. If a majority of students are still not understanding how to use dialogue appropriately, the teacher will do another, more explicit mini-lesson the following day.
Use for First Graders-
Objective: Students will be able to explain their point of view on a book and be able to respectfully engage in conversation with a student of another opinion while collaborating to create a comic strip.
Standards:
CDE:
Content Area: Reading, Writing and Communicating
Grade Level Expectations: First Grade
Standard: 3. Writing and Composition
Students Can:
a. Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure. (CCSS: W.1.1)
b. Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure. (CCSS: W.1.2)
c. Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure. (CCSS: W.1.3)
e. Use pictures or graphic organizers to plan writing
f. With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers. (CCSS: W.1.6)
NETS·S:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Activity:
Note: This activity can be altered to implement CDE Standards 3a, 3b or 3c. For this example, we have chosen to fulfill standard 3a.
This activity will be a follow-up to a group read-aloud. After the reading, students will need to discuss their differing opinions of the text. The teacher will begin the activity by pairing students up, and having them discuss their opinions of the text to find a piece of the text that they may have different ideas on. For instance, Student A may have loved the main character, but Student B may have thought the main character was bossy and spoiled. The students will then create a two-column graphic organizer in their pairs that expresses their opinions. The class will then go to the computer lab, where the teacher will model how to use ToonDoo. The pairs will then demonstrate each partner’s opinions by creating a digital conversation within a toon. Each partner will design his or her character, and then together the pairs will write out their conversations (volunteers may be helpful during this period in case students need help spelling or using the computers). Students will be reminded that all opinions must be respected according to the classroom rules, and will be encouraged to end their toons in such a way that the characters are respectful and kind towards one another’s opinions.
Assessment:
This assignment will be graded on participation and completion. The teacher (and volunteers if present) will be walking around the class at all times during the lesson making sure all students are following directions, staying on task, and being respectful group members. The teacher will keep an eye out for understanding of the topic, in this case expressing opinions, and if many students seem confused he or she will create a follow-up lesson on the topic.
Use/Ideas for Any Aged Students-
- ToonDoo’s website offers a template where toon scenes are laid out without text. Students could use the template to fill in text about a classroom subject, like biology, algebra or an assigned chapter book. This could then be graded to check for understanding of the subject.
- Give parents the Toondoo site to use at home with their student. This tool could be a fun way to encourage children to write at home with the help of their parent.
- Use Toondoo during in class free-write time to spice things up and encourage writing as a fun activity
- Allow students to use Toondoo as a graphic organizer. This may be a great tool for visual learners.
- Implement ToonDoo in a class newspaper’s comic section.
- ToonDoo’s website has a tool where students can create and print out their own books. This could be a fun project for the end of the school year, so students could have something to commemorate the year.
Resources:
1. ToonDoo has it's own wiki! It can be found at http://toondoo.wiki.zoho.com/
2. ToonDoo's FAQ (frequently asked questions) can be found at http://toondoo.wiki.zoho.com/Using-the-ToonDoo-Website.html
3. Another helpful tutorial on the basic features of ToonDoo can be found on YouTube at http://youtu.be/Xze6uy9TffM
4. This link talks about how to come up with an idea for your own comic strip in case a students gets stuck.
http://www.how-to-draw-funny-cartoons.com/comic-strip-ideas.html
5. This link is one that students could use to make comics at home. Some students like to actually draw so this one would be helpful for them. It outlines all of the steps of how to make your own comic/cartoon.
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Funny-Comic-Strip
References:
Tutorial video by K20 at the University of Oklahoma can be found on YouTube at http://youtu.be/_4Oo_fCuFJU.
Images from and/or created via http://www.toondoo.com/
Information and tool also found at http://www.toondoo.com/
The two standards sites used for the lesson examples are:
CDE - http://www.cde.state.co.us/scripts/allstandards/COStandards.asp?stid=6&stid2=0&glid2=0
and NETS•T - http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx
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