As a former teacher, I loved using the story-telling technique to help my novice-level students learn Spanish. And, as I learned, every good story needs an image.
Sometimes, the students would draw out the story as I told it to them (in another language!) in graphic detail. Other times, I would draw the story as I relayed it to students. Let it be known: I am not an artist.
During a particularly silly story about misbehaving kangaroos, I asked students to draw parts of the story on sticky notes while I read it to them. What would have made this project better?
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Allowing students to post their comics on a classroom WordPress blog to share with others!
With this idea in mind, I tested several different WordPress themes. Below, we’ll discuss the best WordPress themes for comics that you can use to share your art with your audience.
How I Tested These Themes
While there are ways to make virtually any WordPress theme work for your needs, not every theme is best suited for your purposes, especially if you want to show off your art skills.
As I mentioned above, I am not an artist. My students, though? Little Picasos. So, I would have needed a WordPress blog theme capable of handling tons of high-quality graphics.
Plus, as a busy teacher, I’d need a WordPress theme that offers templates, doesn’t require coding, is customizable, and supports a social media menu bar to make it easy for parents and students to connect with our classroom social media platforms.
I uploaded various WordPress themes to my WordPress blog using my test comic to find the best WordPress themes for comics. Below, I rank each theme based on the following criteria:
- Can it be customized?
- Is coding required?
- How fast is the site speed?
- Are there templates?
- How does the theme display my images?
- Does the theme feature a social media menu bar?
Let’s look at the seven best WordPress themes for comics.
The Best WordPress Themes for Comics
- Ajima
- Toocheke
- PressBook
- Ruffie
- Artist Portfolio
- VW Newspaper
- Oceanly
1. Ajima
If you’re looking for a theme that’s done for you, consider Ajima by ThemeinWP. Ajima is an easy-to-use theme with impressive loading speed. Plus, it’s clean, modern design means there’s no coding required. Simply plug in your content, and it’s ready to go.
Two features of the Ajima theme that stand out are the blog post image display and the social media menu bar. When it comes to displaying comic strips, you’ll want your visitors to gravitate to your work. The blog post’s display on the homepage brings attention to your art, making it impossible for your audience to miss it. Plus, your audience can easily follow you on social media thanks to the social media bar on clear display.
What I like: Ajima’s theme is customizable, allowing users to design a website based on their own preferences. The layout of this theme, combined with WordPress’ webpage editor, makes it a breeze to customize the header photo.
Pricing: Users can download a free version of the Ajima theme. Or upgrade to the pro plan with a Lifetime license and support for $99.
Testing Ajima
I tested the Ajima theme using a series of three doodles. After uploading my images to a blog post, the theme automatically sticks the most recent blog posts to a carousel at the top of the homepage. I appreciate this feature of the theme because no carousel plug-in is needed. The images are clearly displayed for my audience to see my work.
2. Toocheke
Toocheke may be the best WordPress theme for comics, especially if you plan to create a series or collection of comics. Using this theme, users can assign posts to a series, meaning your audience can easily flip through posts only relevant to that specific storyline. Or, you can assign your comics to a collection and users can flip through your entire comic catalog.
One feature that immediately stands out about the Toocheke theme is that it’s responsive and mobile-friendly. Plus, there are multiple flexible layout designs, allowing you to customize your webpage to meet your artistic needs.
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What I like: Toocheke’s design allows for easy categorizing of multiple storylines. This theme functions as a portfolio for your entire collection of comics without needing to create multiple websites.
Pricing: Users can download a free version of the Toocheke theme. Toocheke Premium, which includes exclusive features, costs $79.
Testing Toocheke
If I were a skilled cartoonist, my images might accurately depict what’s going on in my comics. However, since I’m not, I need to rely on text to explain the scene. I appreciate that the Toocheke theme displays parts of the blog post text, along with a clear featured image, to help the audience understand the storyline.
3. PressBook
PressBook is a multi-functional WordPress theme that works well for comic lovers. PressBook, designed by ScriptsTown, is fully responsive and SEO-friendly. It also includes two floating sticky sidebars that stay in place as a visitor scrolls through your blog.
Looking for tons of customization options? The PressBook theme includes various page templates, blog layouts, and page builders. And, you can change the color scheme of the website to perfectly match your artistic brand.
What I like: Many comics have turned their portfolios into money-making machines. The PressBook theme provides an ad-friendly heading, so you can earn revenue from your website.
Pricing: Users can try out PressBook for free. If you love the theme and are looking for technical support, you can purchase a single license for $39.
Testing PressBook
Upon initially activating the PressBook theme on my website, I noticed my images displayed incorrectly. I appreciate the clean look of the website. However, I would love it if my graphics displayed correctly, without me needing to change my default image settings.
This isn’t a huge problem to fix, and the webpage looks great when images are displayed properly. But, some cartoonist may end up spending a significant amount of time updating their pages if they already have an established website.
4. Ruffie
Want a WordPress theme with the classic comic book theme? Look no further than Ruffie. Ruffie is fully responsive and mobile-friendly.
Ruffie is customizable, featuring six color settings and nine widget areas. Links to your social media profiles are always on display in the web page’s header. And, you can select various post format options to choose how you want to present your work to your audience.
What I like: When most people think of comics, they think of the classic Comic Sans font used by most graphic novels and comic books. This theme provides a comic book vibe, so your audience knows exactly what to expect from your website.
Pricing: This theme is free!
Testing Ruffie
I was pleasantly surprised with the activation of the Ruffie theme. My images are on full display, along with part of the blog post’s text. With a well-placed “Read More” tag, I can create short captions for my images or invite my audience to read my whole post.
Artist Portfolio
The Artist Portfolio theme, created by Buy WordPress Templates, is a responsive, SEO-friendly WordPress theme great for showcasing all kinds of artistic work, including comics.
Artist Portfolio is a no-code theme with many personalization options. Users can upload custom logos, choose their branding colors, and change the website’s fonts. The theme is also mobile-ready and compatible with retina displays, so your artistic creations will pop from screen to screen.
What I like: You can turn your website into a storefront and sell your doodles to your fans. Artist Portfolio is supported by Woocommerce.
Pricing: Users can activate a free version of Artist Portfolio. For more features and customization options, upgrade to the premium version for $39.
Testing Artist Portfolio
When testing WordPress themes for comics, my main concern is, “Will my images display correctly? Or will the theme compress them?” I appreciate that Artist Portfolio does not compress my graphics on the homepage. And I found this theme to be responsive and load quickly.
6. VW Newspaper
VW Newspaper, a WordPress theme by VW Themes, is perfect for cartoonists and other artists. It features full-width pages, left and right sidebars, and a fully customizable homepage.
The VW Newspaper is SEO-friendly, extremely responsive, and plays nice with all devices. Want to set up a storefront for your art? VW Newspaper is Woocommerce-supported, making sharing your art with your audience easy.
What I like: If coding isn’t your thing, it can be like trying to write a foreign language. The VW Newspaper theme offers template pages, so you don’t have to worry about coding anything.
Pricing: VW Newspaper is free to use. Users can upgrade to the premium version of the theme for $40.
Testing VW Newspaper
I appreciate that the VW Newspaper theme features the latest blog post first on the homepage. This is especially helpful for cartoonists who drop weekly posts of their series, meaning visitors won’t miss the latest installment of their favorite cartoon.
This theme also perfectly displays my graphics without the need to change settings.
7. Oceanly
Are you a cartoonist and a storyteller? If you answered yes, the Ocealy WordPress theme is for you!
This WordPress theme is great for comics and storytellers for several reasons. First, the homepage’s blog feed displays more than just the featured image. Instead, visitors can read part of the blog posts’ text right on the home page. This theme is also great for comic artists because it offers a custom background, making branding easy!
What I like: If you’re looking to feature more than one artistic series, Oceanly’s multi-level menu bar makes organizing (and finding!) your content a breeze.
Pricing: You can try Oceanly for free. Want to upgrade to premium? It will cost you an affordable $39.
Testing Oceanly
Oceanly claims to have a “pixel-perfect” design. I appreciate the theme does not compromise the quality of my photos when displaying them on the homepage. I also like that the featured image is off to the side of the blog feed. That way, readers get a better idea of the post before clicking it.
Ready to learn more about WordPress themes? Check out this guide: The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Themes.
Choosing the Best WordPress Themes for Your Comics
If you’re an artist or cartoonist, choosing the right WordPress theme can be tough especially if you have certain ideas about displaying your art.
While I’m not a very good artist, I’ve found the best WordPress themes for comics are the themes that draw the most attention to my doodles, feature social media menu bars to make it easy for my audience to keep up with my day-to-day activities, and are compatible with all device screens.
