BuildMe
4–6 hoursIntermediate

Write + Draw an AI Comic

Maps to: Illustrator · Cartoonist, Storyboard Artist, Graphic Novelist, Animator

Write a short comic and let AI draw it: 4 to 6 pages where the story and the characters are yours and AI renders the panels. The fun, maddening part: keeping one character's face consistent across every panel, and making the beats actually land. AI can draw all day; it can't make a character feel like a person or a story stick the landing. That's on you, and it's the part worth doing.

The plan

0/4 done

You're 20% in just for starting, the hardest part. Mark your first step done to keep the momentum.

  1. Write a short story in 3–5 beats and sketch a rough panel layout. The story comes first; pretty panels with no story is the most common way these fall flat.

    Objective: A 3–5 beat story + a rough panel layout.

    1. 1

      Write the beats. The AI can help you tighten the structure, but the story is yours.

      Tool: Claude or ChatGPT

    2. 2

      Pick your angle: a 3-beat moment / a one-page origin / a wordless visual gag / adapt a real anecdote. Sketch the panels.

    Your call

    Write your beats and sketch the panels yourself.

    The one beat the whole strip turns on.

    What good looks like: Read cold, your beats already have a shape: someone can tell what turns and why it matters, before a single panel is drawn.

    • Decide the one beat the whole strip turns on. Everything serves that moment.

The bar to look back against

A 4–6 page comic where the character holds together panel to panel and the story has real beats (not just nice-looking panels), exported and shared, and you can point to exactly what you redrew to fix story drag or character drift. The bar isn't "the panels look cool"; it's "the story lands and the character feels like one person."

Finish the final step, then submit what you built. Your progress is saved.

Tools you'll use

Step 1 · Write the story + sketch the panels

Claude or ChatGPT Free

AI writing partner for your script.

Best for: Drafting and tightening the story beats.

Step 2 · Build a character reference sheet

Ideogram Free

Image gen strong on consistent style + text-in-image.

Best for: Generating panels + keeping the character consistent (free ~10/day).

Google ImageFX Free

Free Imagen image generator.

Best for: High-volume panel generation.

Midjourney Paid

Top image quality + character references.

Best for: The paid option for best consistency; free tools get you to done.

Steps 5–6 · Read your own pass, fix what drags, letter + ship

Canva Free

Free layout + lettering.

Best for: Laying out pages and adding dialogue/lettering.

Procreate Paid

Pro iPad illustration app (one-time purchase).

Best for: Optional, for hand-lettering or touch-ups on an iPad.

How this shows up on a resume or college app

I wrote and illustrated a short comic using AI tools, building a consistent character and making the story beats land, then redrawing the panels that drifted or dragged. I learned that character consistency in AI art is half craft and half prompt engineering, and that the story is the part only I can make work.