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Logo for Dr Anna Clemens PhD who teaches scientific writing courses for researchers

Why You Should Communicate Your Science Through Comics and How to Get Started – A Comic [Guest Post]

Why You Should Communicate Your Science Through Comics and How to Get Started – A Comic [Guest Post]

Looking for creative ways to communicate your science to the public or in a graphical abstract? Check out Cara Gomally’s comic.

Today’s blog post is a little different, a little more visual than what you usually see here: It’s a comic!

Dr Cara Gomally, a biology professor and cartoonist, explains in this blog post and comic why we should communicate science through comics and how you can get started.  

If you have been wanting to communicate your science to a broader audience than is possible through research papers and conference talks, you’ll enjoy this comic.

A cheerful person with short hair and a teal scarf smiles warmly against a red brick wall background.

And if you would like to make your own science comic after reading this, check out Cara’s free guide on making comics (without knowing how to draw)! Actually, I think a comic would also make an excellent graphical abstract for a journal paper!

Comic drawn by Cara Gomally

(Example comic: Does this toy spark joy? A scientist digs into the research around toys and toddler play)

Comic drawn by Cara Gomally

Footnotes: 

Data about reading habits: Pew Research Center, 2019 & Statista.com Reading Habits in the U.S.—Statistics & Facts, 2019 On average, Americans aged 20-34 read <7minutes/day; older Americans spend 16.8 min/day.

Curious about the future of open access research? Check out this Vox article about the open access wars to make science freely available. Oh, and psst, check out SciHub and Unpaywall while you’re at it!

Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Graphic inviting scientist to register for our free interactive writing training

Curious about my process for making this comic?

Here it is, in a nutshell.

I started by brainstorming. I imagined my audience: scientists who are curious about using comics to communicate about science. I pondered: “What’s persuasive about comics? Why are comics awesome for communicating science? What would be helpful for folks who’ve never made comics before?”

Then, I created tiny sketches called thumbnails. Thumbnails are your guide. The sketches aren’t supposed to be perfect — just rough sketches. The idea is to create tiny sketches that are just good enough to convey what’s intended for each panel. Here’s my first draft of thumbnails:

Comic sketches in pencil on paper

Then, after some reflection, I revised my thumbnails. I moved panels around, to improve the flow of the narrative. I also created a main thumbnail for each page. This thumbnail shows the page panel layout. Here’s an excerpt:

Comic sketches in pencil on paper

To make the comic, I used a non-photo blue pencil (this one) to draw on 11×14 paper (Strathmore Vision Mixed Media). I scanned my pages. Then, I inked, colored, and lettered my pages in Autodesk Sketchbook on an iPad.

Photo of scientist and comic artist Cara Gomally sitting at her desk with her drawings and her ipad, working on her comics. Photo taken from birds eye view.

That’s my current process — but there’s no need to be fancy — pen and paper comics can be equally fantastic. Have fun & happy comic-ing!

Photo of scientist and comic artist Cara Gomally sitting and looking at the camera and smiling. She is at a desk with some drawings and her ipad, working on her comics.

Click here to sign up for more comics & get a free how-to-guide for more comics-making help!


Additional Resources

Drawing 101, by Liana Finck

How to draw comics when you can’t actually draw, by Chaz Hutton

Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud

Making Comics, by Lynda Barry

Sequential Artists Workshops — great online resources

Lynda Barry demonstrates a simple drawing technique


About the author

Comic depiction of scientist and comic artist, Cara Gomally, drawn by Cara Gomally.

Cara Gormally is a biology professor and cartoonist. Her work focuses on science literacy for non-science majors, and understanding issues of access and identity in science education. Cara draws autobio comics that make science relevant to everyday life.

She lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with her favorite mammals — her partner, a small human being, a tiny poodle, and an extra-large fluffy cat. When she’s not teaching or drawing, she loves gardening, running, and baking chocolate chip cookies.

Cara enjoys working with other scientists to share their science via comics. Her goal is to make the world a little bit better by making science interesting and approachable. For more comics and how-to’s, sign up for her newsletter at caragormally.com and check out her comics on her blog and Instagram @cara_gormally.

Promo graphic for our free scientific writing course

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Why You Should Communicate Your Science Through Comics and How to Get Started – A Comic [Guest Post]

Looking for creative ways to communicate your science to the public or in a graphical abstract? Check out Cara Gomally’s comic.

Today’s blog post is a little different, a little more visual than what you usually see here: It’s a comic!

Dr Cara Gomally, a biology professor and cartoonist, explains in this blog post and comic why we should communicate science through comics and how you can get started.  

If you have been wanting to communicate your science to a broader audience than is possible through research papers and conference talks, you’ll enjoy this comic.

A cheerful person with short hair and a teal scarf smiles warmly against a red brick wall background.

And if you would like to make your own science comic after reading this, check out Cara’s free guide on making comics (without knowing how to draw)! Actually, I think a comic would also make an excellent graphical abstract for a journal paper!

Comic drawn by Cara Gomally

(Example comic: Does this toy spark joy? A scientist digs into the research around toys and toddler play)

Comic drawn by Cara Gomally

Footnotes: 

Data about reading habits: Pew Research Center, 2019 & Statista.com Reading Habits in the U.S.—Statistics & Facts, 2019 On average, Americans aged 20-34 read <7minutes/day; older Americans spend 16.8 min/day.

Curious about the future of open access research? Check out this Vox article about the open access wars to make science freely available. Oh, and psst, check out SciHub and Unpaywall while you’re at it!

Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Comic drawn by Cara Gomally
Graphic inviting scientist to register for our free interactive writing training

Curious about my process for making this comic?

Here it is, in a nutshell.

I started by brainstorming. I imagined my audience: scientists who are curious about using comics to communicate about science. I pondered: “What’s persuasive about comics? Why are comics awesome for communicating science? What would be helpful for folks who’ve never made comics before?”

Then, I created tiny sketches called thumbnails. Thumbnails are your guide. The sketches aren’t supposed to be perfect — just rough sketches. The idea is to create tiny sketches that are just good enough to convey what’s intended for each panel. Here’s my first draft of thumbnails:

Comic sketches in pencil on paper

Then, after some reflection, I revised my thumbnails. I moved panels around, to improve the flow of the narrative. I also created a main thumbnail for each page. This thumbnail shows the page panel layout. Here’s an excerpt:

Comic sketches in pencil on paper

To make the comic, I used a non-photo blue pencil (this one) to draw on 11×14 paper (Strathmore Vision Mixed Media). I scanned my pages. Then, I inked, colored, and lettered my pages in Autodesk Sketchbook on an iPad.

Photo of scientist and comic artist Cara Gomally sitting at her desk with her drawings and her ipad, working on her comics. Photo taken from birds eye view.

That’s my current process — but there’s no need to be fancy — pen and paper comics can be equally fantastic. Have fun & happy comic-ing!

Photo of scientist and comic artist Cara Gomally sitting and looking at the camera and smiling. She is at a desk with some drawings and her ipad, working on her comics.

Click here to sign up for more comics & get a free how-to-guide for more comics-making help!


Additional Resources

Drawing 101, by Liana Finck

How to draw comics when you can’t actually draw, by Chaz Hutton

Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud

Making Comics, by Lynda Barry

Sequential Artists Workshops — great online resources

Lynda Barry demonstrates a simple drawing technique


About the author

Comic depiction of scientist and comic artist, Cara Gomally, drawn by Cara Gomally.

Cara Gormally is a biology professor and cartoonist. Her work focuses on science literacy for non-science majors, and understanding issues of access and identity in science education. Cara draws autobio comics that make science relevant to everyday life.

She lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with her favorite mammals — her partner, a small human being, a tiny poodle, and an extra-large fluffy cat. When she’s not teaching or drawing, she loves gardening, running, and baking chocolate chip cookies.

Cara enjoys working with other scientists to share their science via comics. Her goal is to make the world a little bit better by making science interesting and approachable. For more comics and how-to’s, sign up for her newsletter at caragormally.com and check out her comics on her blog and Instagram @cara_gormally.

Promo graphic for our free scientific writing course

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Photography by Alice Dix