These top free sites for creating digital art range from simple web apps for preschoolers to sophisticated software for advanced students, educators, and professionals.
While some of these sites and apps for creating digital art can serve as essential tools for in-classroom or online art curricula, all are fun to explore and experiment with. The beauty for students of working digitally is that it allows them to easily create, mix media, and share their work with classmates and family.
Top Free Sites for Creating Digital Art
Autodraw
A delightfully simple site with unexpected AI capability, Autodraw invites the artistically challenged to turn their scribbles into legitimate line drawings created by real artists. Just start a doodle and select from among the predicted drawings. But it’s also great for the more talented among us, who are invited to submit their own artwork for inclusion on the site. The easy-to-navigate website allows users to download creations as png files, as well as share their work via links. No account required–just start creating.
Meta Animated Drawings
An AI demo project that transforms your fixed drawings into animated characters who walk, dance, jump, wave, and generally act a bit crazy, in a fun way. A great way for your students to add a storyline to their original artwork. Save and share as mp4 files.
Inkscape
This complete vector drawing program is fully free and available as a download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but Inkscape provides an extensive video tutorial, complete with timestamps so users can easily view their desired topic. The online Inkscape community is another source of expertise for both new and experienced users. Ideal for advanced art and design students.
Exploring the Creative Process With ‘Live Art’
This art lesson from The New York Times features videos of artists at work, lesson ideas for educators, experimental techniques, and a guide to developing stories and characters. In addition to being free with no account required, all of the linked videos and other resources are also free with no account required (even Facebook video links do not require a login--just close the requested login window to view the video).
Photographing Interesting People in Your Community: A Guide to Taking Portraits
Just about everyone has the ability to take digital images with the ubiquitous cell phone. In this lesson from The New York Times, students will learn the five steps to creating compelling portraits with a camera or cell phone. After reading the article, students can try a digital scavenger hunt through the free NYT articles provided, identifying the techniques as implemented by professional photographers. Free article, no account required; all linked resources are also free.
SculptGL
Remarkable 3D digital sculpting web app that functions through your browser or as a free downloadable program. This full-fledged, powerful software supports 10 languages, file import and export, and allows users to immediately start sculpting, with no account required. Creator Stéphane Ginier provides useful shortcuts, as well as links to YouTube tutorials.
Random Art Prompt Generator for Kids
Sometimes even the most creative among us need inspiration. This easy-to-use website generates prompts to help inspire budding artists. Ideas range from a single word (e.g., gold, electric) to elaborate scenarios (e.g., Create a piece in a Caravaggistic style. Using pale yellow colors, evoke a sense of appreciation and place the subject in Capri). Plenty of prompts for an entire classroom!
ManadalaGaba
You don’t have to be familiar with Eastern religions or the popular drawing game Spirograph to appreciate this quirky design tool, which somehow manages to combine elements of both. The digital geometric drawing board automatically generates reflections of your drawn line, creating magical and perfect symmetry. Designs are exportable as .png images.
Bomomo
Simple and incredibly fun drawing site. By experimenting with their computer mouse, kids learn how the 20 unnamed tools and array of spinning circles can help them create artwork. Caution: slightly addictive.
JacksonPollack.org
A super easy and fascinating digital canvas that lets users immediately start painting à la Jackson Pollack. Created by Greek artist Miltos Manetas, the site includes no instructions, so kids can experiment to discover the rules of painting with a mouse or trackpad. How do users change colors, lines and shapes? Try it and find out.
KRITA
A labor of love, KRITA is a free, open-source digital painting software download for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux, with a focus on illustration, concept art, matte painting, textures, comics, and animations. This full-fledged, complex digital program provides complete documentation, while a vibrant user community supports sharing and collaboration. Great for advanced art students, educators, and professionals.
Make Beliefs Comix
A comic creation site with a gentle, joyful vibe. Creator Bill Zimmerman packs a lot of resources into the site, including teacher tools and lesson plans, a Coronavirus Comic diary, ESOL/literacy help, special needs sections, and much more. Kids of any artistic talent level will enjoy creating their own comics.
Sketchpad
An impressive free site offering extensive digital tools to create, export, and share digital paintings and drawings. Site visitors can choose from many styles, effects, and gradients, while the User Guide provides clear instructions for creating and managing artwork. All Sketchpad features are fully free when used in the browser window. If you prefer the ability to work offline, a download for Mac and PC is just $4.95.
Toy Theater
Great for kids preK-6, this site’s art section includes a variety of simple art creation tools, including Spiral Art, Animation Station, Cube 3D block play, and many others. Bonus: Toy Theatre’s extensive collection of educational games.
