A comic book template gives you a ready-made page of panels to draw on. This free printable comic book template has 9 panels of different sizes in four rows, and you can also print comic strips and grids of equal panels. Print a stack, draw your story and staple the pages into your own comic book.
Comic book template to print (PDF)
These four pages show the choices: the blank comic page with 9 panels, a 3-panel comic strip, a page of 4 square panels, and a finished example page. Click a picture for the PDF, or use the generator above to choose the paper size and the line color.
Blank comic page: a layout with 9 panels
The blank comic page has four rows. Rows 1, 2 and 4 have two panels each, and row 3 has three. The panels get wider or narrower from row to row, so the eye does not stop on a grid of boxes. Each panel has a bold outline, and the gap between panels (called the gutter) is 0.18 inch. This table gives the size of every panel on US Letter paper:
| Row | Panels | Panel widths | Panel height |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3.66 in and 3.66 in | 2.33 in |
| 2 | 2 | 4.03 in and 3.29 in | 2.33 in |
| 3 | 3 | 2.43 in, 2.36 in, 2.36 in | 2.33 in |
| 4 | 2 | 4.39 in and 2.93 in | 2.33 in |
Each panel is about 2.3 inches tall. That is a good size for a face and a speech balloon, and big enough for a simple scene.
Comic strip template printable: panels in a row
A comic strip is a short sequence, usually three or four panels, that tells a joke or a tiny story. The generator can print a comic strip template with three panels in a row on landscape paper, or a grid of four equal panels. Both come with no lines for notes, so the panels are all drawing space. For a strip with a captioned story and text, use the storyboard template, which adds lines under each frame.
The four-panel strip has a long tradition in Japanese manga as the yonkoma, where the four panels follow a pattern of introduction, development, twist and conclusion. The Wikipedia article on the comic strip covers the history of the form.
Comic panels printable: how long a comic can you make?
With 9 panels on a page, the story length depends on the number of pages. Because you can print as many copies as you like, a comic can be as long as you need. Here is a rough guide:
| Pages | Panels (9 per page) | What you can tell |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | A short gag, an origin scene or a cliffhanger |
| 2 | 18 | A short story with a start, middle and end |
| 4 | 36 | A mini comic, folded from two sheets |
| 8 | 72 | A chapter of a longer story |
| 16 | 144 | A full short comic |
A modern printed American comic book is about 6⅝ by 10¼ inches, which is taller and narrower than a Letter page. If you want to copy that shape, draw inside a box of that size, or print on Letter paper and trim the sides.
How to make your own comic in five steps
- Write the story first. Say it in one sentence, then split it into beats: a beginning, a problem and an ending.
- Thumbnail the page. On scrap paper, sketch tiny boxes to decide which panel is big and which is small.
- Pencil lightly. Draw the characters and the background in each panel, and leave room at the top for speech balloons.
- Ink the lines. Trace the final lines with a pen, wait for them to dry, then erase the pencil.
- Letter and color. Add the balloons, the captions and the sound effects last, then color the panels.
Comic book page example: Captain Pixel
The filled example above shows how the panels work together. The first panel is an establishing shot with a caption that sets the scene. The next panels use speech balloons for the dialogue and a villain’s face to show who is talking. The action panels use bursts and big sound effects, and the last row resolves the story and says it is over. Look at how the balloons sit at the top of each panel, where the eye reads first, and how the biggest panels are used for the story’s biggest moments.
Comic vocabulary for young cartoonists
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Panel | One box that holds a single moment |
| Gutter | The gap between panels, 0.18 inch on this page |
| Speech balloon | An oval with a tail that points to the speaker |
| Caption box | A rectangle for narration, such as “Meanwhile…” |
| Sound effect | A word for a sound, such as ZAP or KA-BOOM, drawn in big letters |
| Splash page | One big picture that fills the whole page |
| Thumbnail | A very small, quick sketch of a page used to plan the layout |
Read the panels from left to right and from top to bottom, as in English. Japanese manga reads right to left, so a comic in that style needs a reversed layout.
Tips for young cartoonists
- Sketch lightly in pencil first, then ink the lines you keep.
- Leave space for speech balloons at the top of each panel before you draw the faces, so the words do not cover important details.
- Use the wide panels for big moments, and the narrow ones for quick action.
- Keep characters easy to recognize: give each one a shape, a hair style or a color that is always the same.
- Draw the same character from different angles to practice, then reuse them in the story.
For writing practice with a picture box, see story paper.
Printing tip
Print at 100% or “Actual size” and turn off “Fit to page”, so every measurement on the sheet is exact. Choose Letter or A4 paper in the generator before you download the PDF.
Comic book template: frequently asked questions
How many panels are on the comic book template?
The blank comic page has 9 panels in four rows: two, two, three and two. They are different sizes, so the page looks like a real comic.
Can I print a comic strip template?
Yes. The storyboard layouts print 3 panels in a row, and a 4-panel grid, without lines for notes.
Can I make a storyboard instead?
Yes. The storyboard template has numbered frames of equal size with note lines under each one.
Can I print the comic template on A4?
Yes. Choose A4 in the generator and the panels resize to fit the page.
Is this comic book template free?
Yes. It is free to print for home and classroom use, with no sign-up.
More printable paper
- Specialty paper generator with every layout on this site
- Paper generator for lined, graph, dot grid, isometric and handwriting paper
- Graph paper, lined paper and dot grid paper