Cultivating Creativity: Best Practices for the Art Classroom

This activity is a fun and quick way to introduce students to basic drawing fundamentals while celebrating key Australian sports stars.

How I Made the Templates

  1. I started by using ChatGPT to convert original photos of Australian sports players into an anime style illustration.
  2. Once downloaded, I opened each image in Photoshop, converted it to black and white, and adjusted the levels (contrast and brightness) to simplify the design into a clean template.
  3. These templates became the foundation for the student drawings.

Step-by-Step Student Process

  1. Drawing: Students began by sketching their chosen “Anime Aussie” in pencil. Some followed the template closely, while others experimented with their own drawing styles. The goal here was not to trace.
  1. Outlining: They used a fine black liner to refine edges and add clarity.
  1. Erasing: Any remaining pencil marks were erased, leaving behind a clean base drawing.
  2. Colouring: Students added colour using pencils, pens, or markers, personalising their athlete’s look.
  1. Presentation: Finished drawings were cut out and mounted on a plain, coloured piece of A4 card.
  1. Labelling: Using my classroom letter collection, students created titles featuring their Aussie Anime star’s name to complete the work.

Included Resources

I’ve attached:

  • The coloured anime portraits originally generated through ChatGPT.
  • The black-and-white templates I prepared in Photoshop.

These resources can be reused or adapted, making it easy to run this activity again or tailor it to different themes.

Aussie Anime Drawing Resource (Freebies down below!)

This activity is a fun and quick way to introduce students to basic drawing fundamentals while celebrating key Australian sports stars.

How I Made the Templates

  1. I started by using ChatGPT to convert original photos of Australian sports players into an anime style illustration.
  2. Once downloaded, I opened each image in Photoshop, converted it to black and white, and adjusted the levels (contrast and brightness) to simplify the design into a clean template.
  3. These templates became the foundation for the student drawings.

Step-by-Step Student Process

  1. Drawing: Students began by sketching their chosen “Anime Aussie” in pencil. Some followed the template closely, while others experimented with their own drawing styles. The goal here was not to trace.
  1. Outlining: They used a fine black liner to refine edges and add clarity.
  1. Erasing: Any remaining pencil marks were erased, leaving behind a clean base drawing.
  2. Colouring: Students added colour using pencils, pens, or markers, personalising their athlete’s look.
  1. Presentation: Finished drawings were cut out and mounted on a plain, coloured piece of A4 card.
  1. Labelling: Using my classroom letter collection, students created titles featuring their Aussie Anime star’s name to complete the work.

Included Resources

I’ve attached:

  • The coloured anime portraits originally generated through ChatGPT.
  • The black-and-white templates I prepared in Photoshop.

These resources can be reused or adapted, making it easy to run this activity again or tailor it to different themes.