From one sentence to episode one

Step 1: write one sentence

After you log in, go to the home page. In the middle, you will see an input box that says “Tell a story you want to see — who, where, and what happens”.

Just write one sentence with those three things. For example:

A boy who is afraid of water gets pulled into the school swim team, where the only members left are him and an upperclassman who never speaks.

The more specific you are, the better it understands what you want. A short idea is also fine. It will help fill in the gaps, and you can edit everything it adds later.

If you are not logged in yet, you can still write in the input box on the home page. When you send it, Wapopo will take you to log in or sign up first. After that, it will continue directly, so you do not need to write it again.

Step 2: choose an art style

Under the input box, there is a row with a “Choose art style” button. Open it. The large samples are on top, and the art style options are in a row below. Pick one you like. After you choose, the button will show the name of that art style.

After you choose an art style, this comic cannot switch to another one. If it changed, all images already drawn would stop matching. So take a careful look at the samples before you choose.

After you write the story and choose the art style, click the arrow in the lower-right corner to start. If you click the arrow before choosing an art style, Wapopo will remind you to pick one next to the art style button.

Step 3: wait for the planning

After you click, you will enter a page with a black background and a ring of light spinning in the middle. A line of text below tells you which step it is on. There are five steps in total:

1. Ideation: it starts from your sentence, explores several story directions, and picks the most compelling one.
2. Synopsis: it turns the story into a complete main storyline, with a beginning, conflict, climax, and ending.
3. Story elements: it sets the characters, locations, and props that appear across the comic. After each element card is written, it starts drawing its element image.
4. Pacing: it decides how many episodes the comic has, the ups and downs of each episode, and each episode’s cliffhanger. Then it connects the relationships between characters.
5. Production: it draws the cover, then breaks episode one into page-by-page, panel-by-panel storyboards.

During this process, the element images, the cover, and one image that sets the mood for the whole comic are drawn by the assistant. Like other images, they cost credits per image: 100 credits each.

The whole process usually takes a few minutes. The thin line below only moves forward when the assistant truly finishes a step. It does not pretend based on time, and it does not show a percentage. When all five steps are done, Wapopo will automatically take you into the workspace.

If you do not want to wait, click “Skip the wait and enter the workspace” at any time. The assistant will keep working in the background, and completed items will appear in the workspace one by one.

If something goes wrong midway, such as an error, or if the assistant asks you a question first, this page will tell you clearly. The button at the bottom will change to “Go to workspace”. After you enter, continue talking to it in the assistant in the lower-right corner.

Why do I need to wait for a bit? During this time, the assistant builds the full planning in one go, without asking you questions in the middle. Planning is all text, so editing it does not cost credits. Making a full set for you to review first is much faster than asking one question at a time.

Step 4: enter the workspace and review the planning

After you enter, the far left side has a vertical bar. The group of four screens at the top is Planning:

• Thinking: a whiteboard. The assistant placed three story ideas on it, which are three different story directions, plus a frame. The image inside the frame sets the mood for the whole comic.
• Synopsis: the whole story written from beginning to end.
• Pacing: how many episodes the comic has, and which episode is the most intense.
• Story elements: characters, locations, and props, each with one card and one image.

Open them one by one and take a look. If you do not like something, edit it directly. Click into the text to edit it, then pause for a moment and it will save automatically. You can also click the assistant in the lower-right corner and tell it how to change things in one sentence.

Want to switch to a completely different direction? On the thinking whiteboard, each story idea sticky note has “Use this”. After you click it, the assistant will ask you first. Only after you confirm will it rewrite the full planning in that direction.

Step 5: go to the storyboard and draw episode one

After you review the planning, click Production in the lower group of the vertical bar.

A second column will appear next to it. The top shows every episode in this comic, and the bottom shows every page in the current episode. At the top of the main panel, there are three tabs. These are the three steps for making an episode:

1. Synopsis: what this episode is about, and who appears;
2. Pacing: how many pages this episode has;
3. Storyboard: how many panels each page has, and what each panel shows and says.

The assistant has already completed these three steps for episode one. Click Storyboard directly.

In the storyboard, open any page. This opens the page details. The left side shows the full page. The right side shows the layout, each panel, and the characters who appear. In the upper-right corner, there is a “Draw this episode” button, and it shows how many panels need to be drawn for this episode. Click it, and the images will start drawing.

It will draw 1 panel first for you to review, then continue automatically. After that, it draws 5 panels each time, until this episode is finished. Each image costs 100 credits. When you sign up, you get 3,000 credits, which can draw about 30 images.

While it is drawing, the same spot changes to “Stop”. If you see something you do not like, click “Stop” at any time. The current queued batch, up to 5 panels, will finish drawing, then it will stop. It will not automatically start the next batch. If you want to continue drawing, click “Continue drawing”.

If some element card images are not ready yet, wait a bit before clicking. Otherwise, the characters in the panels may not match. The assistant will remind you.

Why draw 1 panel first? Drawing images costs credits. Drawing one panel first lets you confirm that the art style and characters are right. If they are not, you can stop, and Wapopo will not spend the credits for the whole episode on images you do not want.

Step 6: export

After an episode is fully drawn, a reminder will appear at the top of the storyboard. Click “Export this episode” in that reminder. You can also click the export button to the right of the “Production” column title at any time.

When exporting, choose a range, either this episode or the whole comic, and a format:

• PNG zip: one image per page, 2800×4000;
• PDF: laid out in A4 proportions.

Export files are generated in your own browser. They do not go through the server, and they do not cost credits. If even one image is missing, Wapopo will not export. It will tell you which pages are not finished yet.

What’s next

• Make the next episode: the other episodes are already listed in the “Production” column, but they have not been made yet. Tell the assistant in the lower-right corner “make episode two”, and it will follow the planning to make the synopsis, pacing, and storyboard for that episode.
• Edit a panel: in the page details, click that panel and edit its panel description, dialogue, and the characters who appear. For panels that have already been drawn, changing the panel description or appearing characters makes the image an old draft. See “Old drafts after edits”.
• Learn a little more: see “How to use the workspace” and “Draw this episode and stop anytime”.