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Creating digital pictures in the style of an artist

Lesson details

Learning outcome

I can create shapes and choose colours to make a digital painting.

Key learning points

  1. The paintbrush and fill tools can be used together to create solid shapes.
  2. Different colours can be used in digital artwork.
  3. Artists create works of art using different techniques.

Keywords

  • Paintbrush tool - lets you create colourful marks

  • Palette - the set of colours you can choose from

  • Freehand - drawing without the shape or line tools

Common misconception

You should only use certain colours that other artists use when creating artwork.

Art should be created to reflect your own style. Use colours that you think will make your artwork look the best.

Teacher tip

It is important to link the use of digital devices to what pupils see in the world around them. Find examples in the school or the local area of where digital painting has been used.

Equipment

Pupils will need access to a device with software that provides freehand digital painting tools. Examples in this lesson use paintz.app https://oak.link/paintz

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions
(Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

4 Questions

Q1.
Which two buttons can you use to correct mistakes?

stop
Correct answer: undo
remove
Correct answer: erase

Q2.
The line tool is used to ...

draw shapes.
draw curved lines.
Correct answer: draw straight lines.

Q3.
The tool that you use to make squares, rectangles and circles is called the __________ tool.

Correct answer: shape
fill
triangle

Q4.
True or false? In a painting program, you can use all of the tools together to create your artwork.

Correct answer: True
False

4 Questions

Q1.
In a painting program, you select colours from the __________.

plate
Correct answer: palette
pencil

Q2.
True or false? The paintbrush tool lets you paint freehand shapes.

Correct answer: True
False

Q3.
What does freehand mean?

drawing in the middle of the page
drawing in one colour
Correct answer: drawing without using the shape or line tools

Q4.
When you draw __________ shapes, they will look uneven and usually look a bit wobbly.

freefall
Correct answer: freehand
freedom

To help you plan your 1 computing lesson on: Creating digital pictures in the style of an artist, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...