Draw It Up

Empowered Learner and Creative Communicator

Overview

Just like in real life, we can also create our own digital pictures and artwork for a variety of purposes. Using Abcya!Paint students will become digital artists as they create artifacts, using web-based painting tools.

This activity will take several class periods. 

Students will:

  • Be exposed to digital art online.
  • Be exposed to two online drawing tools.
  • Be able to have the opportunity to CHOOSE one of the tools demonstrated to create an artifact.

Vocabulary Words:

  1. Digital art: Digital art is art created with a computer.

To prepare for this lesson:

  • Examine these sites
  • Watch the video tutorial for ABCYa! Paint.

  • Create an artifact with http://www.abcya.com/abcya_paint.htm

  • Decide what platform to use. If you are using tablets or iPads, you will need to download the app. Depending on whether or not you plan to assess this, you will need to decide what the final piece will look like. Will it be downloaded to share online or printed?

See the Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students website in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

  1. The teacher will ask students:
    • What is art?
    • What does art look like?
    • What are some ways we can make an art piece?  painting, drawing
    • What tools would we use to create by hand? What tools would we create art with digitally?
    • Is art ever used to explain something or tell how something happens?
  2. The teacher will navigate these art sites. 
  3. The teacher will announce to students:
    • Just like in real life, we can also create our own pictures and artwork in our digital life for may purposes.
  4. The teacher will demonstrate:
  5. Students will have the opportunity to explore the various websites demonstrated. Give students an opportunity to explore each site so that they may be able to choose which site to use eventually.

Different options for assessing the students:

  • Observations
  • Check for understanding
  • Students will choose which platform they want to work in.  
  • You can decide what you would like them to draw. Depending on the level of understanding or mastery, you can have them print out the artifact or download it and put it on a learning management system.
  • Here is a rubric for drawing an artifact.

MITECS: Michigan adopted the "ISTE Standards for Students" called MITECS (Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students) in 2018.

Empowered Learner 
1.a. Students develop learning goals in collaboration with an educator, select the technology tools to achieve them and revise the learning process as needed to achieve goals.                    

1.d. Students explore age-appropriate technologies and begin to transfer their learning to different tools or learning environments.    

Creative Communicator
6.c.  Students create digital artifacts to communicate ideas visually and graphically.

Device: PC, Chromebook, Mac, iPad

Browser: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, ALL

Websites:

CONTENT AREA RESOURCES

Draw your favorite book character.

 

  • Students can draw their own artifacts. 
  • Students can copy a famous artist's work and create a remix. 

Draw an artifact of the life cycle of a seed.

Draw a city scene. Draw a rural scene.

CREDITS
This task card was created by Courtney Conley and Linda Maison, Utica Community Schools. February 2018. Updated October 2023.