A balloon stretched too far at a party3 panels. SQUEAK, a panel with no lettering, BANG. Give BANG a jagged outline that bursts through the border.
A cannonball jump into a pool3 panels. BOING off the board, a silent panel in the air, SPLASH. SPLASH fills the panel and wets the border.
A door slams in an empty house3 panels. CREAK, SLAM, RATTLE. Draw SLAM with doubled outlines so the letters shake. RATTLE goes on the window.
A dropped tray in the lunch hall3 panels. CLATTER, a hush with no lettering, then CLAP CLAP CLAP. Tilt CLATTER so it slides along the floor.
A drum kit falls down the stairs4 panels. THUD, CRASH, CLANG, then a last small TING. Run the words down the stairs, each lower than the one before.
A kitchen at breakfast, heard pan first4 panels. SIZZLE, POP, CLINK, SLURP. Each word sits over its source, and the toaster's POP is the biggest.
A knock that gets louder4 panels. TAP, KNOCK, BANG, then a polite DING of the doorbell. Size each word to match how loud it is.
A marching band turns the corner4 panels. TOOT, BOOM, CLASH, and a late TING. Each word is as tall as its player and marches at the same slant.
A sneeze in a silent library3 panels. SNIFF, a pinched nose, ACHOO. Small SHUSH letters float back from every shelf in the last panel.
A storm arrives over a quiet street4 panels. RUMBLE, CRACK, BOOM, then one small DRIP. Letter BOOM across the whole sky, from edge to edge.
A thunderclap wakes the dog3 panels. SNORE, BOOM, YELP. BOOM cracks the panel border. YELP is tiny and comes from under the bed.
Fireworks seen from a hill3 panels. WHOOSH, BOOM, CRACKLE. WHOOSH climbs the panel sideways. CRACKLE falls in small letters, like sparks.
Popcorn in a pan with the lid on4 panels. One POP, three POPs, a panel packed with them, a last PING on the lid. Scatter the letters like kernels.
Quiet sounds 13
A clock in a waiting room3 panels. TICK, TOCK, TICK. The view never changes. Only the word swaps from one side of the clock to the other.
A fizzy drink poured in a quiet room3 panels. FIZZ, GLUG, a happy sigh. Let the letters of FIZZ rise and shrink like bubbles leaving the glass.
A page turned in an exam hall3 panels. SWISH, a small COUGH, forty heads turn. The lettering is the smallest thing in every panel.
A pencil in a silent test3 panels. SCRATCH, TAP TAP, SNAP. The broken point flies out of the panel. Letter along the pencil's path.
A secret passed down a row4 panels. PSST, a MURMUR, a HUSH, and the last child hears something else. Letter each word smaller than the last.
A silent room with one drip4 panels. Nothing, DRIP, nothing, DRIP. Keep the word tiny and in the same spot. The white space is the silence.
A sleeping bag zip at night3 panels. ZIP, a pause, ZIP back the other way while an owl adds a HOOT. Run each ZIP along the zip itself.
A stomach speaks up in a quiet class3 panels. GURGLE, a look around, GROWL. Put the sound in a wavy balloon with a tail that points at nobody.
Careful feet on dry leaves3 panels. RUSTLE, CRUNCH, SNAP. A deer looks up at SNAP. Tuck each word beside the foot that made it.
Rain starting on a tent3 panels. PLOP, PLOP PLOP, then PITTER-PATTER to the panel's edge. The lettering thickens as the rain does.
Snoring from the top bunk4 panels. SNORE, SNORE, a SNORT, silence. The letters drift up past the wide-open eyes in the bunk below.
Snow slides off a branch3 panels. A hush, a soft PLOP, a hat lying on the snow. Keep PLOP in lower case. Snow muffles everything.
Tiptoeing past a sleeping cat4 panels. A step, a step, CREAK, one eye opens. CREAK is the only word. Letter it small and wobbling upward.
Animal sounds 14
A bee near a picnic4 panels. BUZZ far away, BUZZ closer, BUZZ at the jam, a CLAP that misses. Draw the z's as the flight path.
A cat at five in the morning4 panels. MEOW, MEOW, a THUD off the shelf, PURR on the pillow. Letter PURR as one long wavy line of r's.
A cricket keeps a camper awake3 panels. CHIRP, CHIRP, the tent light clicks on. Letter the chirps outside the tent, small and evenly spaced.
A dog hears the doorbell3 panels. DING-DONG, WOOF, WOOF WOOF WOOF. The barks pile up until they hide the door.
A duck leads ducklings across a road4 panels. QUACK, four small quacks in a row, a gentle BEEP from a car, one cross QUACK back at it.
A farmyard wakes in the wrong order4 panels. MOO, OINK, QUACK, and last a sleepy COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO. Each word sits in its own animal's balloon.
A frog chorus at a pond3 panels. One CROAK, one answer, then CROAK from edge to edge. Stack the words on the water like lily pads.
A gull steals a sandwich3 panels. SQUAWK, FLAP FLAP, a faraway MUNCH. Letter one FLAP under each wing and shrink MUNCH with distance.
A horse on a cobbled street3 panels. CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP, NEIGH at a puddle. Set the hoof sounds along the ground line, under the feet.
A lion cub practices its roar4 panels. A SQUEAK, a cough, a deep breath, then ROAR flattening the grass. The first try gets the tiniest letters.
A lost lamb finds the flock3 panels. One thin BAA, a hillside of answering BAAs, a happy BLEAT. Shrink the far-off words with distance.
A snake at a costume party3 panels. HISS, the guests step back, the snake says 'Sssurprise'. Stretch the s through the whole balloon.
A woodpecker moves in next door4 panels. TAP TAP TAP, a pause, TAP TAP TAP, a neighbor bird in earmuffs. Letter the taps in a straight column.
An owl and a mouse at night3 panels. HOOT, SQUEAK, RUSTLE. The owl gets big round letters, the mouse gets tiny ones, the leaves get thin ones.
Machine sounds 14
A bicycle bell on a hill3 panels. RING RING, WHOOSH downhill, SCREECH at the bottom. Slant WHOOSH to match the slope.
A camera at the class photo3 panels. CLICK, a white flash with no word, CLICK again with every eye shut. Keep CLICK small, on the shutter.
A keyboard in a quiet office3 panels. CLICK CLACK, faster CLICK CLACK, one loud PING of a sent message. Set the clicks in rows, like keys.
A microwave at midnight3 panels. HUM, a long wait, DING. In the dark kitchen the lit window and the DING are the only bright things.
A phone on silent walks off a desk3 panels. BUZZ, the phone creeps, BUZZ at the edge. Catch it in mid-air. Letter BUZZ with a shaking double outline.
A printer jams4 panels. WHIR, CRUNCH, BEEP, and a long sad HUM. Let the zigzag of crumpled paper carry the CRUNCH.
A robot with a squeaky knee4 panels. CLANK, SQUEAK, CLANK, then the GLUG of an oil can. Put each sound at the joint that makes it.
A spaceship door opens3 panels. HISS, CLANG, a tiny BEEP from a button marked 'doorbell'. Machine sounds get straight, hard letters.
A train pulls out of a station4 panels. TOOT, CHUG, CHUG CHUG, then CLICKETY-CLACK shrinking down the track toward the horizon.
A washing machine goes for a walk4 panels. WHIR, RUMBLE, THUNK, THUNK across the floor. Shake the lettering a little more in every panel.
An alarm clock and the snooze button4 panels. BEEP BEEP, THUMP, quiet, BEEP BEEP. Draw the beeps as hard square letters with sharp corners.
An elevator stops between floors4 panels. DING, HUM, CLUNK, a longer HUM. The riders' eyes do the talking. Letter CLUNK crooked.
An old car that will not start4 panels. CLICK, CHUG, CHUG, VROOM. The first three words droop. The last one leans forward with the car.
Roadworks outside the classroom3 panels. RAT-A-TAT, the windows RATTLE, the teacher mouths words nobody hears. Fill the balloon with RAT-A-TAT.
How it works
Onomatopoeia is naming a thing or an action with a word that copies its sound, as buzz and hiss do. In these onomatopoeia comic strip ideas the sound words carry the story, sorted by loud, quiet, animal and machine sounds.
Read the full guide
Letter each sound where it happens
Every idea lists its sound words in panel order. Draw each word beside the thing that makes it, outside any speech balloon, and let its size show how loud it is: BOOM across the whole sky, DRIP as small as you can letter it. A quiet strip works by leaving white space around one small word.
Shape the letters like the sound
Jagged outlines suit a BANG, wavy ones a HUM, hard square ones a BEEP. A sound that fades can shrink toward its last letter, and a sound that moves can follow its path across the panel.
Pencil the sound words first, then fit the drawing around them.
Read the strip aloud. If the sounds alone tell what happened, it works.
Questions and answers
What is an example of onomatopoeia in a comic strip?
A sound word lettered into the drawing: SIZZLE over a frying pan, CLICK on a camera, WOOF piling up at a door. Each strip in the list is built from one to four of them, given in the order they happen.
How do you make a comic strip using onomatopoeia?
Pick a scene you can hear, such as a kitchen, a storm or a farmyard. Give each panel one sound, draw the thing making it, and letter the word at its source. Leave speech out, so the sounds do the telling.
What onomatopoeia words work in a comic?
Boom, crash and bang for loud scenes. Drip, tick and rustle for quiet ones. Moo, quack and purr for animals. Beep, whir and vroom for machines. The list uses more than eighty, and each one is in the dictionary.