Keeping your children entertained is no easy feat. There’s plenty they can do outside, but what happens when it’s snowing or raining? More importantly, how can you be sure that their time spent online remains safe? Or that what they’re doing is both entertaining and educational?

So, why not give Pixton a try? It lets them create their own comics. Here's everything you need to know about Pixton.

What Is Pixton?

Pixton is an online web service that allows children to create their very own comic strips. It does this by using a variety of different tools.

A Screenshot of Pixton's Landing Page

The platform consists of an avatar builder so that students can represent themselves, a robust comic builder which is easy to use, and a vast library of backgrounds, outfits, and more.

Getting Started With Pixton

Getting started with Pixton is easy for both parents and educators. Moreover, you can give it a try entirely free to see if it’s what you’re looking for.

The first thing you’ll need to do is create your avatar. Your students or children will see this at various stages throughout their use of Pixton, and even if they didn’t, it’s a useful way to get familiar with the tools they’ll be using later.

Once you’ve created your own avatar, you’ll be able to set up Pixton. Once you’ve added in your name, you’ll receive a link that the children can use to create their own avatars. For younger children, you may want to help them with this step.

A Screenshot of Pixton's Avatar Creator

The avatar builder itself is impressively detailed, and works well for people from a diverse range of backgrounds. There’s a wide range of skin tones, hairstyles, and clothing. There are even options for wheelchairs, hearing aids, and non-binary gender.

For educators, Pixton can also automatically generate class photos based on the avatars you and your class have created. There’s a variety of themes you can select from, such as space, dinosaurs, or graduation.

Creating Your First Comic

Once you and your children’s avatars are all created, they’ll be able to begin creating their very own comics. The process is as easy as you’d hope it to be.

First, your children will need to name their comics. For educators, it might be a good idea to have them name it something specific, though they can always alter it later.

From there, your children will encounter the comic creator UI. On the left are the panels for the comic, and on the right is the panel itself. In the center lies the options to choose from, and across the top lies six tabs that let you edit the scene.

A Screenshot of Pixton's Comic Creator

Background does about what you’d expect. When you click on it, you’ll be able to select the background for that panel. You can search for something specific using the search bar, or choose from a specific set, such as the dinosaur collection.

Characters lets you add characters and change their clothing. There are a ton of presets to add, and you can always create your own. You can add any of the characters from your family or class as well.

Focus adjusts the positioning of the characters against the background, such as where in the room they’re standing or how zoomed in the camera is.

Words contains anything your characters say or think in the panel, and lets you adjust them on a character-by-character basis.

Faces lets you adjust individual characters’ reactions and facial expressions, and Actions lets you adjust each character’s pose in the scene. This includes a search bar and the ability to filter by set, just as the backgrounds did.

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Those are all the tools that Pixton gives you across the top of the screen. There are a couple of extras, such as the ability to change the time of day in a scene and add effects such as weather, lighting, or pictures you upload to the scene.

The system is easy enough to use that all children should have the opportunity to create, with enough depth in its systems that those who want to will be able to make the most out of what Pixton gives them.

Pixton's Additional Options For Educators

Pixton also includes a wide range of additional features for teachers to help manage their classrooms. These features are all based on educator feedback.

A Screenshot of Pixton's School Photo Feature

Depending on the age of your students, you may want to prevent them from having access to certain content. Pixton includes an age filter to show only appropriate content.

Student login is also a priority, with easy login from existing Google or Microsoft accounts allowing them to access Pixton easily.

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Pixton also tracks which comics you’ve reviewed, and even lets you create collections of outstanding student work.

Pixton's Paid Features & Premium Options

As mentioned previously, Pixton lets you try out its features entirely for free, but there’s only so much you can do on such a plan. Pixton offers a number of more robust features to those of you who are willing to pay.

A Screenshot of Pixton's Premium Options

When you use Pixton for free, you’ll have access to a couple of free content packs. These include things like backgrounds, poses, effects, and more. If you want to create comics in a different time period or with certain theming, however, then you’ll need access to different content packs.

Pixton has a humongous variety of options available in their content store, which gives access to all manner of options for you and your children. Many of these are educational, such as packs based around Ancient Greece or animal habitats. Others are based on movies or autism awareness.

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If you only want one or two, you can buy them individually, but if you need everything you can upgrade your plan to one of several plans. For a fixed price each month, you’ll be able to experience more of what Pixton has to offer.

Keep Your Kids Entertained

Nobody said parenting was easy, but that doesn’t mean it has to be hard. There’s so much that you can do online nowadays, and your children will thank you for the extra effort you put into giving them access to the best.