Digital drawing apps are popular with students - they're engaging, immediate, and exciting. Traditional digital art applications like the Adobe Creative Suite (which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign) can be too advanced for young students, not to mention cost-prohibitive. There are many sites for digital artmaking that are simple a website and exist as a free and accessible way for students to explore and experiment while creating projects. These sites can be seamlessly integrated into online teaching platforms like Google Classroom. Any digital tool that mimics drawing effects will do so more successfully with a stylus as opposed to using one’s fingers on a trackpad.
No paid subscription or even a login is necessary to use the sites, although logins can be created to save work to an account, or upload and share work to the site’s public galleries. Let's explore a few digital drawing websites that exist outside an app or operating system, and can be accessed on any device.
Pencil Madness
Pencil Madness is standalone website that opens immediately to a blank digital canvas with an array of drawing tools and effects. The site’s layout is intuitive – digital drawing tools are labeled with pictures and readily available on the first page of the site, not hidden within tabs. Here, I am exploring the various line, shadow and texture effects available:
Sketchpad
Sketchpad operates quite similarly to Pencil Madness, with a few bonus features. The site allows users to add images, either from pre-made clipart or from uploaded photos or drawings. Here, I've demonstrated how you can upload an image to draw over. Both sites have an option to create layers, such as in Photoshop, where students can play with adding and deleting elements of their drawing.
Use in the Classroom
As I mentioned before, assignments on digital drawing sites translate well to remote learning lessons. Younger students navigating digital art for the first time will benefit from simply exploring the layout of the site before beginning to work. Drawing on these sites could function as a means to create a digital sketchbook - "Draw a ___", "Make a self-portrait" - to help students become familiar with using the site. Older students may have prior knowledge of digital artmaking techniques to create more sophisticated projects.
Online Safety
Any website assigned to students that requires them to use any personally identifiable information to login (aka their own names and emails) may be restricted by school systems under The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Unless there is a universal login that students use to access an account (i.e., one created by a teacher specifically for the class) it will likely not be considered a “safe” and approved site. It's best to check before using any sites or apps that aren't commonly used by your school district.
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