Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 11
Drawing skills: digital drawing
I can create a digital drawing using layers, pressure sensitivity and tonal variation to produce a refined still-life image.
- Year 11
Drawing skills: digital drawing
I can create a digital drawing using layers, pressure sensitivity and tonal variation to produce a refined still-life image.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Digital drawing software applications provide different techniques for artists and designers.
- Layers can be used to organise, edit and refine sections of a digital artwork.
- Brush settings and pressure sensitivity can affect mark-making capabilities.
- Artistic principles such as composition and proportion can be applied in a digital medium.
Keywords
Layer - a distinct section within a digital canvas used to organise elements of an artwork
Opacity - the degree to which a layer or brush stroke is see-through
Pressure sensitivity - how tablet pen pressure affects line thickness or opacity
Common misconception
Digital drawing doesn’t require the same skills as traditional drawing.
Core artistic skills like proportion, tone and composition still apply in digital artworks. Digital tools simply offer new ways to achieve them.
To help you plan your year 11 art and design lesson on: Drawing skills: digital drawing, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 11 art and design lesson on: Drawing skills: digital drawing, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 art and design lessons from the Essential drawing skills for all unit, dive into the full secondary art and design curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Graphics tablets or touchscreen devices. Stylus pens. Digital drawing software
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these is a main difference between digital and traditional drawing?
Q2.True or false? Digital drawing software still requires core skills like proportion, tone and composition.
Q3.Match the digital drawing term to its description:
A separate section of the canvas used to organise parts of an artwork
How transparent a brush stroke or layer appears
How hard you press with a stylus affects the thickness of a line