Artsonia is the solution to the problem of storing and showcasing artwork in a digital age. This free do-it-all platform was created as a place for students to store and display their artwork in a digital portfolio.

This is one of the world's largest online galleries for student artwork, built to operate as part of the school ecosystem. At time of publishing, this is used by tens of thousands of students with more than 100 million pieces of artwork being hosted.

So while this allows students to collate their work, it's also a place for teachers to manage and showcase class work with easy uploading and sharing options. They can even make money from it to fund future art classes, too.

This guide aims to lay out all you need to know about Artsonia and how it could work for your class.

What is Artsonia?

Artsonia is a digital art storage and sharing space that is designed specifically for K-12 environments with a focus on safety, privacy and compliance -- with support for both COPPA and FERPA requirements.

This free online-based platform is a permanent and searchable archive of student work. Students can choose to share with approved viewers and are able to collate their efforts right through their school lives.

While this is primarily created for use by students and teachers, it's also possible for parents and family members to create accounts and follow students' progress -- as well as leave supportive comments.

A class portal makes submitting work for teachers to moderate a simple process that should help reduce administrative workload. Many more features are available, including social and lesson supportive, but more on those below.

How does Artsonia work?

Artsonia is easy to setup for a teacher account, which can be done by registering the school. Class rosters are then established and artwork can be published immediately using the website or dedicated apps.

Students or teachers can use a smartphone camera to photograph the artwork for direct upload to the platform. Students are then able to submit their work using a class portal. Teachers can then moderate before publishing.

Approved work appears in the student personal online gallery, which family can access through secured logins. Parents get notifications when new artwork is published so they can comment and encourage student progress.

Artsonia is COPPA and FERPA compliant, includes moderation tools, and allows teachers to manage permissions and visibility, so it's suitable for a wide range of school contexts and age groups.

What are the best Artsonia features?

Artsonia is for teachers, students, and family. Features such as the ability for families to order keepsakes of the work -- mugs, prints, magnets, jewelry, etc. -- help add to the richness of this platform. Schools can even earn 20% on the sales of these offerings.

But on a more class-practical level, this is a really helpful way for students to collate all their work, across the years, for future self-reflection and assessments.

The class portal lets students submit artwork independently, significantly reducing teacher workload while encouraging learner autonomy and reflective thinking.

Teachers approve all submissions before publishing, maintaining quality and safeguarding standards. Parents can then view the gallery, strengthening school-home relationships and student motivation.

COPPA and FERPA compliance, along with moderation workflows, mean that student data and imagery are handled responsibly. This makes Artsonia suitable for large-scale use in schools.

How much does Artsonia cost?

Artsonia is free for teachers, students, and families to use. No subscription fees are required to create student portfolios, upload artwork, manage classrooms, or invite parents to engage.

Revenue is generated through the optional sale of custom keepsake products featuring student artwork. When families buy items such as mugs, prints, magnets, or jewelry, Artsonia returns 20% of the purchase price directly to the school’s art program.

Artsonia best tips and tricks

Use student uploading early
Introduce the class portal from the outset to empower students to take ownership of documenting their work and reduce teacher admin time.

Create consistent photography stations
A simple backdrop or light box setup can significantly improve image quality and presentation, making digital galleries more visually impactful.

Encourage reflective writing
Ask students to add titles and short artist statements to help develop metacognition, creative thinking, and literacy skills alongside visual art.

Digital image libraries are essential to today’s teachers and students. Yet while stock image sites such as Shutterstock, iStock, and Getty Images offer an impressive selection of high-quality images and vector illustrations, these sites are typically beyond the budget of most school districts.

Fortunately, the image and clip art sites below provide an extensive supply of moderate- to high-quality visuals for cost-conscious schools. Most of these sites are completely free, and most have a clear license/FAQ page explaining what uses are allowed or prohibited.

Best Image and Clip Art Sites for Education

Freerange

Freerange boasts a stylish easy-to-navigate website with thousands of free high-quality images. Users can search easily by category or keyword, and filter by specific license and popularity. Download options include three sizes. Bonus- users can “download” directly to PIXLR for editing. While photos are tastefully and artistically composed, a few do include mild-moderate nudity. All photos and illustrations are licensed for commercial use, with details provided. Account required.

PROS:

• Clear Licensing Information and credit text provided
• Search by category, keyword, license type, recency and popularity
• High-quality photos and illustrations
• Three sizes available for download
• Users may share directly from image page to social media and email
• Users can contribute images

CONS:

• Occasional mild-moderate nudity may be considered inappropriate

Free Images

One of the oldest and largest free image sites, Free Images was founded as Stock.xchng in 2001. Over the next 20 years, the site merged with several free illustration sites and was renamed Free Images. Available in more than a dozen languages, the site is a repository for thousands of free photos, vector images, clipart, and editable Photoshop templates as well as icons. The robust selection of free downloads is supplemented by AI-generated images and content from the paid site iStock. No account is required, but each download is delayed for six seconds in order to show users an iStock advertisement/promo code.

PROS:

• 16 languages available
• Photos, vector images, clip art, icons, and editable Photoshop files
• Search by categories and themes
• Very good image quality
• Download size options
• Attribution clarity
• No account required

CONS:

• Paid images from iStock sprinkled in free results
• Download delay due to ads

Pics4Learning

A safe, curated image library for classroom assignments, school websites, or any education-related project, Pics4Learning provides a diverse spectrum of images in subjects ranging from American Sign Language to fractals to weather. Contribute your own JPEG or PNG images. Fully free, no account required.

PROS:

• Thousands of images curated for students
• Search by keyword, themes and collections
• Download as .jpg or save directly to Google Drive
• Citation for each image provided
• Users can contribute their own images

CONS:

• While image quality is at least adequate, there are fewer high-quality, professional-style photos compared to other sites

Pixabay

In just 15 short years, Pixabay has grown to be one of the best-known and most comprehensive free image sharing sites. Here visitors can explore and download collections of photos, illustrations, vector images, videos, and even music. All are free to download and free to use under the Pixabay license, which is a modified Creative Commons CC0 license. Pixabay shines in another way as well—its blogs and forums keep users apprised of the latest news and tips to make the most of the site.

PROS:

• Extensive collections of quality free images, videos, music, sound effects, and gifs in a wide range of categories
• Search by content type, orientation, size, color, date of publication, AI-generation, popularity
• Clear summary of license dos and don'ts
• Users can contribute their own content
• User forums allow discussions about site practices as well as artistic techniques

CONS:

• Quality varies, as is true for all free image sites

Photos For Class

From a partnership between Storyboard That and Pixabay, this education-focused image site allows teachers and students to download high-quality Creative Commons photos for school assignments. The main advantage of Photos for Class is that its curation process ensures that all images are appropriate for kids. However, no categories are listed for easy browsing and the search feature is limited, allowing only free text and voice search.

PROS:

• Four-step filtering process ensures that all images are appropriate for kids
• Downloaded images automatically cite author and image license terms
• Voice search
• No account required

CONS:

• Limited search capabilities
• No category list for browsing

Pexels

A top resource not only for free stock images, but also free stock videos. Pexels hosts photo and video challenges for multiple categories, with professional photography equipment awarded to winners. While you’ll find many high-quality images and videos on Pexels, there’s no category list or dedicated color search, so finding a specific image may take longer. No account is required, but create a free account to collect your favorites and contribute your own images and videos. Currently, 28 languages are supported.

PROS:

• Search by keyword, orientation, size, color, popularity, user, or upload date
• License rules clearly explained
• 28 languages supported
• User challenges

CONS:

• No comprehensive category list for browsing

Freepik

With photos, vector images, Photoshop (PSD) files, customizable icons, easy-to-edit illustrations, and an online template editor, Freepik is a one-stop shop for free images and image tools. Freepik's, freemium model provides a generous selection of high quality free content, although free users are limited to ten daily downloads.

PROS:

• Easy sign in with Google, Apple, or email.
• High-quality photos, vectors, illustrations, 3D models, video snippets, and more
• Filters let users search by keywords, free or premium, orientation, color, AII-generated, file type, popularity, and more
• Built-in editing tools for images and videos.

CONS:

• Free plan limited to 10 downloads daily.
• No access to premium images with free plan
• Attribution required for free downloads.

Unsplash

Thousands of free sometimes ordinary—but often eye-popping—images include categories such as nature, current events, technology, and many more suitable for education use. Most are free to download and use according to the Unsplash License, with the exception of premium (Unsplash+) content. A fun feature for contributors is the “Made With Unsplash” page, which showcases creative remixes of its images. Unsplash provides strong support for its contributors, so it's a great place for young photographers to get started sharing their work.

PROS:

• Many interesting, unusual, and stylish images to choose from
• Search by keyword or image
• Four download sizes
• Users can upload their own work
• Clear rules for licenses and attribution
• No account required

CONS:

• Premium content mixed with free content in searches
• Lacks comprehensive category list for browsing

Kaboompics

A professional-looking site featuring free high-quality photos in diverse categories, from lifestyle to technology to healthcare. Users can search by category, color of the spectrum and image orientation. A nifty perk is that each photo includes a free downloadable complementary colors palette. No account required.

PROS:

• Each image includes a specific color palette with color hex codes
• Custom size and orientation downloads
• Search by keyword, category, color, recency, or popularity
• Photoshoots are a great way to explore a theme
• Clear license and attribution rules

CONS:

• Sometimes tricky to distinguish premium photo blocks from free content
• "View more" button links to paid image site

NegativeSpace

A stylish and professional-looking site offering a wide variety of free, high-resolution Creative Commons CC0 photographs as well as free virtual backgrounds for videoconferencing and remote teaching. More than two dozen categories are available, from Abstract to Virtual Backgrounds. Search by category, hashtag and color. Be sure to check out the awesome outer space photos! No account required.

PROS:

• Easy to navigate interface
• Browse two dozen categories

CONS:

• Keyword search is somewhat unreliable
• No choice of download size

Gratisography

Gratisography is a great resource for creative and quirky stock photos and vector images. It's not only fun to browse, but also provides a clear, plain-language explanation of what users can and can’t do with the photos. Search by topic or browse categories including nature, food, urban and more. Collections range from “AI Generated” to “Artsy Architecture" to “Goofy Grownups” to “Hijinks Hands.” Although the site is heavy on whimsy, it’s not light on quality -- vectors and images appear to be professionally composed and executed.

PROS:

• Unusual, uncommon, and amusing high-quality images
• Search by keyword or browse categories and collections
• Clear license terms
• No account required

CONS:

• No attribution provided for images
• AI-generated images are not always labeled as such

Flickr Commons: The Commons

The Commons, from the photo-sharing site Flickr, serves as a free catalog of the world’s public photos with no known copyright restrictions, contributed by dozens of government and academic bodies. Comments from Flickr members provide context and additional information for many images. Search by subject, color, black and white, or seven different license options. Safe search option available.

PROS:

• Search by keyword, license, color, pattern, Flickr members, and themed groups
• Safe search available
• Users can contribute their own content
• Wide variety of image download sizes
• Great for historical images

CONS:

• Because contributors may disable downloading, not all images can be used
• License terms not always clear
• Account required
• Relatively high percentage of older content of varied quality

Vector Characters

A relatively simple site, Vector Characters focuses on character-based vector art in categories such as man, woman, child, robot, etc. For adding a touch of whimsy or humor to any school project, check out the Fruit Vector, Monster Vector, and Animal Vector categories. Free and premium content. Find free content by entering "free" in the search box.

PROS:

• No account required
• Hundreds of free vector images.
• Browse by category or character type.
• Informative blog posts

CONS:

• Limited search options
• No photos or other types of illustrations

OpenAI’s new image-generating tool through its GPT-4o model has gone viral with a vengeance. Designed to create better images, the free tool has earned OpenAI millions of new users and led to the social media proliferation of images in the style of Studio Ghibli, the beloved Japanese animation studio behind iconic films from Hayao Miyazaki.

As with any AI trend of this magnitude, OpenAI’s new ChatGPT-linked image generator is bound to make its way into the classroom whether teachers want it to or not, so I recently began exploring some of its features in general, and its potential for teaching, overall.

My verdict is that it's the most impressive AI image-generating tool I’ve worked with and has a good deal of teaching potential, particularly when it comes to classroom prep. However, its knowledge of biology left something to be desired, and it brings with it a hornet's nest of ethical questions and concerns.

What OpenAI’S New Art Generating Tool Does Well

The new art-generating capabilities from OpenAI’s GPT-4o model create better-looking and more natural and realistic-feeling images than other AI generators I've tried, even when it’s creating fantasy scenes. For instance, the image below of a dragon flying over New York, though not spectacular, is better than images I’ve created with other AI art generators.

My prompt: Can you create an image of a dragon flying over New York City for me? The dragon should look like a classic fantasy dragon but the city should be realistic looking.

I also was able to use the tool to generate some potential writing class materials for teaching students to create thesis statements. Though getting what I actually wanted probably took more time, if less mental effort, than creating an illustration on my own would have.

My prompt: You are a college professor teaching an introductory course in English composition to freshman students. Can you create a diagram that visually illustrates how to write a thesis statement in the Ghibli Studio style?

My follow-up prompt: Please create a new image that gives examples of an arguable thesis and one that does not. This example should argue for or against the benefits of AI in education.

This is a good overview, but I thought the example of an arguable thesis could be strengthened by providing more reasons, and that the whole illustration could use a visual upgrade. Getting the AI to do this took a few tries.

Finally, the AI produced this:

Where OpenAI's New Art Generator Fell Short With Teaching

Even though I was ultimately pleased with the example generated above, it took me a while to get there. As mentioned, it would have been quicker for me to just type out a few examples on my own and paste these against a generic slideshow backdrop.

When I first started teaching and would constantly second-guess myself, a tool such as this probably would have saved time. But I do wonder if the process of creating examples on my own helped me clarify my thoughts on the topics I teach and develop as a teacher, which might've been lost by using AI.

More troubling was my attempt to have the AI create a diagram of an animal cell.

My prompt: Can you create an annotated illustration of an animal cell for a middle school biology class?

As Sam Cooke put it, "I don't know much biology," but I'm pretty sure most cells have one nucleus, and it's, like, located closer to the center, maybe?

Teachers, however, can guard against these types of mistakes. The worst thing about OpenAI's new art-generating capabilities is it continues the trend of large tech companies profiting off of art they did not create originally without compensating artists. Artists at Studio Ghibli, for instance, deserve compensation for all the images being created in the style of their distinctive and iconic work.

Bottom Line

OpenAI's new art generator is one of the best around, and even though it's not particularly helpful for my teaching purposes, I'm sure other teachers who are more creative than me will develop innovative ways to use to inspire students. But with these new abilities come new ethical questions. Right now, those ethical implications are too murky for me to use it to create class materials.

That said, it is more fun than any AI tool I've used recently. Like, addictively fun!

Here's it taking my headshot and giving it the Studio Ghibli treatment.

And here's what happens when I asked it to give me a sword and send me on a quest. My misgivings about this technology notwithstanding, I will admit my Studio Ghibli avatar is looking sharp and appreciate that he seems to spend more time at the gym than I do.

• ChatGPT Talks Now. What Does That Mean For Teaching?
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Story Xperiential is a service not quite like any other in education as it comes directly from the professionals. In fact, this comes courtesy of the best at what they do -- storytelling.

The idea here is to offer a follow-along guide on how to tell stories, as guided by those who do exactly that.

By storytellers, this means professional animators, writers, and artists who create movies and other content. From the creators of Pixar movies, this platform offers some firsthand experience in how to make a storyboard and more.

This guide aims to show how this could work in your class.

What is Story Xperiential?

Story Xperiential is a teaching platform that allows students to learn how to create a story. Specifically, this teaches storytelling by showing the process used at Pixar -- guided along by some of its best animators and creators.

This might start with Pixar, however, it also features animators from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Marvel, Lucasfilm, DreamWorks Animations Studios, and more.

Everything can be accessed easily online so this is something that can be accessed at school and at home using personal devices.

How does Story Xperiential work?

Story Xperiential is a self-paced storytelling program. It offers a guiding hand as you progress.

Sure, there are live feedback options from other users as well as regular livestreams from the pros. But for your project, it progresses at the pace you want.

This works by firstly brainstorming, outlining, and storyboarding to develop a storyreel. This is done by uploading in chunks as you progress.

In total this is a roughly 40-hour course that is designed to be carried out over a nine-week grading period. But, as mentioned, it can be done at the student or teacher pace as needed.

Thanks to feedback along the way, from peers, this is a dynamic learning process. Students can also offer others feedback, helping them develop critical thinking as well as being able to receive it.

Finally, students can enter their finished storyreels into competitions in which winners are awarded by the body behind the platform.

What are the best Story Xperiential features?

Story Xperiential is super simple to use and works on a team-building basis. Since students are required to give feedback, as well as receive it, this allows them to think critically and adapt.

The regular video guidance sessions, held as livestreams, are a great resource for students to attend and from which to learn. These are presented from professionals who have done the journey students may want to explore in the future, and they're offering sage advise and guidance.

The 'What If' lessons help to spark ideas and can be used in education as jump-off points for more creative exploration. These apply to history, science, math, English, media, and technology.

For education specifically, there are curriculum-mapping standards that can help make this a more tailored teaching tool.

Helpful links to tools guide students in actually editing video and drawing digitally. Unfortunately, these are not built in so will require a bit more skill.

How much does Story Xperiential cost?

Story Xperiential's entire course is paid for on a monthly basis or all up front, and gives you access for one year. This includes a seven-day free trial during which you can cancel if you change your mind.

The one-year course is charged at $24.99 per month or for an annual fee up front of $150. This gets you access to the entire course and all the platform has to offer.

Story Xperiential best tips and tricks

Feedback together
Practice feedback as a group, learning how to constructively spot and offer opinions that can be helpful.

Webinar in class
Every two weeks are live webinars you can build classes around and have discussions to follow up afterward.

Use teams
Some students will work better in teams with this process so perhaps use groups and a mix for individuals too.

• New Teacher Starter Kit
• Best Tools for Teachers

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.

• Best Free AI Image Generators
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In the midst of the AI revolution, a single question burned in my brain: Can free AI image generators create a photorealistic image based on the following prompt?

Cat picking daisies

Note that this devilishly difficult task includes three parts, two of which are not particularly difficult: cats and daisies. It is the action that proved difficult.

Nonetheless, the results of our testing were intriguing. Although image quality varied greatly, the range of imaginative responses is encouraging for the use of AI image generators as tools for creative expression. While all images included here are the first iteration, these can be considered a starting point, to which users can apply carefully crafted prompts to shape and edit the results.

Adobe Firefly

To use Adobe Firefly image generator, a free account is required. Provided are four aspect ratios, and dozens of styles, themes, and techniques. Users' free generative credit counts reset each month automatically, albeit with a somewhat complicated scheme for tracking those credits.

RESULTS: You don't want to meet any of these cats in real life.

BING IMAGE CREATOR

This AI image generator automatically detects if you’re signed into a Microsoft account, making it easy to start creating images right away. Start with 100 credits, then apply rewards points accumulated within your MSN account for more. Save, download, or customize your images. The platform applies controls to prevent potentially harmful image generation and includes a modified Bing icon in the bottom left corner of each image to indicate that the image was created using Image Creator.

RESULTS: Perhaps the most realistic set of images was generated by the Bing platform. Not only were the cat faces and flowers highly photo-realistic, but also the action depicted came close to the prompt challenge. To be fair, one must note that by depicting only closeups of cat heads, with no limbs or bodies, Bing narrowed the scope of difficulty. Perhaps this is part of its intelligence!

Craiyon

This relatively spare site is easy to use, but slower than average and offers only three style options for free users. To get faster results, buy a plan priced from $5-$20/monthly. Free results are automatically generated in a 3 x grid with nine images.

RESULTS: Craiyon’s algorithm had trouble with cat eyes, cat faces, and background specifics. However, give credit when credit is due: Ungainly as the results were, Craiyon at least attempted to portray the action of “cat picking daisies” with legs, mouths, and paws, instead of simply focusing on the nouns (cat, daisies) and avoiding the verb (picking).

Deep AI Art

Featuring an image aspect selector as well as dozens of free and paid styles to choose from, Deep AI also includes an AI chatbot. While the site is easy to use, images may provoke user responses from “Where is the cat?” to “Is that two bodies, one head?” to “Direct from the uncanny valley to your computer!” The so-called Genius Mode might do better, for $4.99 monthly.

RESULTS: One of four attempts yielded a photorealistic feline head, which may or may not have been attached to two bodies (you be the judge). On the other hand, photorealism is overrated. Users are advised to go with the slightly surrealistic flow.

Fotor AI Image Generator

To use Fotor AI Image Generator, create an account or login with Google. After the first free images, users will need to buy credits or a subscription. Choose from among five aspect ratios and dozens of styles. Need inspiration? Browse the impressive library of images generated by other users.

RESULTS: Three out of four images were fairly photorealistic representations of cats, grass, and daisies. Note that the software has the most trouble with eyes when the view is not head-on.

Imagine

The polished Imagine AI website boasts a six-million strong user base and 70 million images generated. The free image-generating options are limited to a 1:1 aspect ratio and eight styles.

RESULTS: High-quality flowers, cat heads, and faces, with somewhat disproportionately small bodies.

Night Cafe

Night Cafe offers five different text to image algorithms, with varying results. Overall, the highly imaginative approach is better suited to flights of fancy rather than photorealistic images. A robust community of users supports a chat room, strong image library, contests, and more. Users can accumulate a fairly generous credit package by taking actions such as publishing their images or liking other’s images.

RESULTS: From Cubist nightmare (disfigured faces and bizarre eyes) to women with cat ears, Night Cafe's AI-generated images are nonetheless not without charm.

Stable Diffusion Online 

Fairly slow, but your place in the queue is always visible, as well as the expected time left. Fortunately, while the site proclaims “Freedom: No limitations on what you can enter,” graphic word prompts yielded a black image square only.

RESULTS: While the cats depicted are quite proportionate, detailed, and generally realistic, they are more akin to an illustration rather than a photograph. Nonetheless, if you have time to wait, the free version of Stable Diffusion is a good option to try. Pro Tip: Time of day is a big factor in how long you'll wait in the queue. Avoid rush hour.

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Although there is no replacement for getting your hands dirty with finger paints, technology can offer many ways for students to be creative when making art. In addition to creativity, technology can also allow students to explore and learn about art in new and engaging ways.

Some of the best free digital art tools are those from Google that help educators and students with teaching, learning, exploring, and creating art. The wide range of tools and activities available provide nearly infinite possibilities. 

#1 - Pixel Art with Google Sheets

Remember the old-school video games and their crude but charming digital art? "Pixel Art" is a style of drawing in which users create images out of a small grid with a limited number of colors. By forcing users to be creative within limitations, this method helps them to understand what’s essential to illustrate an item or idea. To create pixel art, users can apply color to the cells in a spreadsheet, using the "paint can" button in Google Sheets. To make the process easier, I created a spreadsheet template that uses conditional formatting - simply type letters in the cells and corresponding colors will fill the square. Learn more. 20-Color Pixel Art Template  

#2 - Mondrian Art with Google Sheets

Mondrian Art, named for the famous Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, is an abstract form of art that uses a regular-yet-irregular arrangement of squares and rectangles, often filled in with primary colors. Composed of lots of different-sized rectangles and squares, Mondrian Art is the perfect style to be created with digital tools such as Google Sheets. With Google Sheets you can merge cells together to make rectangles of various sizes, and then use the "paint can" button to fill them in with colors. To streamline the process, I have created a template that sets up the sheet so that the cells are all nice squares. Learn more. Mondrian Art Template  

#3 - Self-Portraits with Google Drawings 

(credit to Julie Lyle) 

Recently I came across an awesome activity from Julie Lyle on using Drawings to create self-portraits. Here’s the basic idea:  

• Create a Google Drawing and insert a photo of yourself.
• Next use the "Polyline" tool and the "Curve" tool to make colored shapes for all of the different portions of your picture.
• When done, you can then delete your original underlying photo and you will be left with a digital "clipart-style" image of yourself.

Demo video - "Doodle Yourself with Google Drawing" 

#4 - Mosaics with Google Drawings

(credit to Julie Lyle)

Similar to the self-portrait activity above, another creative way to make art with Google Drawings is this mosaic project. Rather than trying to make a realistic version of yourself, in this activity you transform a source image with colored shapes such as mosaic tiles or stained glass. Here's the basic steps: 

• Create a Google Drawing and set the background to black.
• Insert the photo you wish to modify.
• Next use any of the "Shape" tools or the "Polyline" tool to cover the image with quadrilaterals, triangles, or other shapes that fit your desired style.
• Leave some room between the shapes so the background can show through later.
• Color in the shapes to match the portion of the image they are covering (you can go with the default colors provided in Drawings, or you can use a color picker extension such as ColorZilla or Eye Dropper and then set a custom fill color).
• When done, delete the original image and voila! What remains are the colored tiles on the black background for your finished mosaic art.

#5 - Google's Arts and Culture

Google Arts & Culture from the Google Cultural Institute is dedicated to collecting and sharing art, photography, and primary source documents from all over the world and throughout history. Items are organized by themes, artists, mediums, movements, historical events, historical people, places around the world, stories of the day, and more. With Google Arts & Culture students can get closer to works of art and historical artifacts than they ever could in a museum. The digital items were scanned or photographed by Google using an ultra-high resolution camera so every brush stroke, letter, or similar detail is clearly visible. Even better, a number of the collections feature 360-degree videos and photos for an immersive experience. The mobile app version of Google Arts and Culture (Android or iOS) also includes a fun selfie option that searches thousands of artworks to find a match for your own face.  

#6 - Curator Table

Curator Table is one of Google's experiments that creates a massive virtual 3D gallery of artwork you can explore. You can use your mouse to simply browse, or you can use the search feature to pull out art for a specific artist, styles, or object. When you find the art you want, clicking on it will open a page with more details on that work. Try it here! 

#7 - Art Palette

A search engine based on color, Art Palette allows you to search through thousands of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and more, based on colors you choose. Students can then use the results to explore similarities and connections between the color-matching art. Here's how it works:  

• Click Launch Experiment on the Art Palette site.
• Select the colors for your palette from the color bar at the top.
• A grid of artwork that incorporates your colors will appear.
• Users can also click the "From an image" button to upload a picture—or use a webcam to take a picture for the site to match against.

#8 - AutoDraw

AutoDraw is a simple, easy-to-use drawing tool, with most of the typical features such as drawing, filling colors, resizing, adding text, and more. But wait, there’s a twist: AutoDraw includes Google's AI to help you draw by taking your squiggles and doodles, and offering to replace them with pre-made clipart-style images. Some possible uses might include:  

• Sketch notes
• Infographics
• Illustrating a story
• Creating a scene
• Desktop publishing (flyer, poster)
• Creative drawing

#9 - Just a Line

Is it possible to draw digitally in 3D? That's why Google created the "Just a Line" mobile app. This augmented reality app allows you to move through and draw in your physical environment. Here's how it works:  

• Install the app: Android or iOS
• Launch the app and point your camera at your surroundings.
• Use your finger to draw in the air a few feet in front of you.
• Walk around to draw in different locations.
• As you move around you can see your 3D drawing superimposed in your physical space.
• You can click the "Draw with a partner" button to let someone join you to draw together in the same space.
• You can click the "Record" button to make a video of your 3D art to share with others.

#10 - Doodle for Google

Way back in 1998, Google launched its first "Google Doodle." The company founders were going to spend a week at the Burning Man Festival and wanted to let people know they would be out of the office. So they changed the normal Google logo on the site to one that included the Burning Man logo for the second "O,” and now it has been a staple of the website to show creative versions of the Google logo to celebrate events, people, and ideas. Since 2008, Google has hosted an annual "Doodle for Google" contest, in which K-12 students create and submit their own artwork for the Google logo. Winners have their artwork displayed on Google's site, while earning valuable scholarships and tech packages for their schools. To participate, students combine any style of art with the things they are passionate about. Learn more.  

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow @ericcurts on Twitter.

To share your feedback and ideas on this article, consider joining our Tech & Learning online community here.

• Top Free Sites for Creating Digital Art
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In my work writing about the most useful free and low-cost tech tools for teachers, I’m always on the lookout for a resource whose authenticity and inventiveness shine forth like a lodestar. MakeBeliefsComix is one such site. That’s why when creator Bill Zimmerman reached out to tell me about a new section on the site, I jumped at the chance to learn more about it and how to best use comics with students. 

A multiple-award winning resource, MakeBeliefsComix provides an abundance of ideas and tools so that kids can express their creativity, feelings, and thoughts through comics. No artistic talent is required, as an extensive collection of cleverly drawn cartoon images—characters, backgrounds, speech and thought balloons, monsters, animals, and more—provide the graphic foundation for any comic. This remarkable comic-creation site is also free to use for all. 

T&L: How can teachers and therapists use comics and resources such as MakeBeliefsComix to help troubled students?  

Zimmerman: Over the years many educational therapists have used MakeBeliefsComix with students with special needs, such as autism and behavioral problems (see our Case Studies section). As kids’ anxiety and depression rose from the effects of the COVID19 pandemic and other problems, we began a series of weekly interactive MakeBeliefs titled ‘’MakeBeliefs to Help U Smile & Find Joy.’’ Here youngsters are prompted to find something positive to say about their lives or express their hopes. We just launched a HELP 4 STUDENTS section to broaden the communication options for school support staff, educators, parents and youngsters. The section includes help for mentally disturbed youngsters, LBGTQ+ students and those suffering distress due to racial or gender discrimination. 

A support person can work one-on-one with a student in using the comic prompts to build the student’s stories and use them as a jumping-off board for deeper discussion. A student may want to use the material strictly on their own to explore their personal issues and build up a personal portfolio of their journey in school and life. The key is to get the student expressing what is on their mind. 

How can a teacher best use comics and MakeBeliefsComix to teach?

Our mission with the site is to get kids to use their imaginations, to read, write and communicate their thoughts through comics. 

I would encourage a teacher to look with students on the homepage to get a sense of what the MakeBeliefsComix site is about. Then click to the most important page on the site – Create Comix! Students can explore the tools, characters, speech balloons, backgrounds, and other features available to create their comics.

When I’ve worked with schools, for the first comic, the students and I would create a three or four-panel story together. I might click on the characters and ask which one or two they’d like to choose. Then I’d then pull up two thought or talk balloons for which the kids would supply words. Sowly, but surely, we would build a story together. The class can also choose a theme for the story or use the comic strip to review material they had learned in class that day, or to summarize or storyboard a book they have been reading together. There’s a helpful video demo here. 

We also feature a special Comic Starters section in which we offer writing prompt panels to begin their comic. Kids can add blank panels to write their responses with their own choice of characters.

Sometimes it’s useful to break the class into small teams to work on a comic strip together. That allows them to gain confidence in creating stories while helping one another. Another idea is for the teacher to assign a book they all know and ask the class to extend the story after it ends. Having students work with each other on making comics is particularly effective in English Language Learning classes, where students are experimenting with a new language. And the task of filling in talk balloons in small chunks is not threatening. 

The Printables section on the site offers hundreds of printables on which kids can draw or write their thoughts and expressions. There is even an Interactive PdF printables category which enables students to write directly on the screen from their digital device. The printables can be a good warmup to creating a comic strip story. 

I would also recommend the eJournals section, which is made up of free downloadable interactive ebooks in which students can write their thoughts and feelings. The books, with their question/writing prompts, provide good structure for students.

Can kids who aren't fluent in drawing use the site?

The site is very empowering for kids who aren’t great at drawing their own comics. It gives them the ability to create stories by supplying them with more than 100 characters to choose from, with beautiful backgrounds and objects and other art resources to dress up their stories. In effect, each student using the site becomes an artist, a writer and an editor with the assistance of the prompts and tools we provide.

What do you want teachers and students to know most about the new MakeBeliefsComix resources?

All the resources on MakeBeliefsComix are directed in helping students, with the help of comics, find their voice in expressing their ideas and deepest thoughts.

I created something that I needed as a fearful young person myself who felt closed and locked in because of difficult family issues at home and didn’t have an adequate way or encouragement to express myself. I also had a terrible time learning how to read. I think young people have many things to say, some happy, some sad, which reflect their lives. 

The new HELP 4 STUDENTS section is geared to help those students with emotional problems as a way to deal with their issues by creating stories about themselves. Each of us has something important to say and creating comics, using comic characters as surrogate versions of ourselves, makes telling our stories easier.

Teachers might also find our Lesson Plans Page useful as well as our Ideas Exchange page in which educators share ideas on how they use the site in the classroom. There is an SEL section as well here.

Makebeliefscomix.com is fully free for all users, but does include ads. Do you have standards for the types of advertising that you accept?

Yes, we do! We're very careful about the types of ads we allow, making every effort to ensure ads are family-friendly. We work with our ad network technology provider, Google AdSense, to exclude dangerous products or services, inappropriate/offensive content and products or services that enable dishonest behavior, among other restrictions. We also block certain sensitive ad categories, such as gambling, alcohol, and other categories we've determined might be inappropriate for classroom or family use. Occasionally, we may block specific advertisements that fall outside of a blocked sensitive category but we feel the content may offend some of our visitors. 

I wish we didn’t have to have ads (we originally started in 2006 with none), but we needed additional income to keep the site going and expand its content. For example, we started with only eight comic characters when we first launched – now there’s more than 100 to choose from. 

Does Makebeliefscomix.com collect information on users who create an account?

When users create comic strips for free on MakeBeliefsComix.com without creating an account or logging into the site we do not collect any user information. When a user creates an account with a combination username and password we store the information so the user can log in to save, view and edit their stored comix. The only other information we collect are the email addresses users send us to log on to the system. We do not use that information or provide or send to others. As is the case most of the time when ads are displayed on websites, an ad network (ours is Google AdSense), uses non-personally identifiable information to better understand the effectiveness of ads. 

How has your background as a career journalist informed your vision of MakeBeliefsComix? Do you see an overlap between teaching and journalism?

I have always looked upon journalism as a way to educate people about the world and to help give them through my writing a voice about the important issues in their lives. For many years I was a senior editor at Newsday newspaper where I created a nationally syndicated Student Briefing Page on the News to teach them about current events and to elicit their opinions and thoughts. It was among the first newspapers in the nation to employ interactive learning techniques. 

At the same I also was writing more than 30 interactive books for youngsters to help them write about what was in their hearts and imagination. As a journalist I got paid to ask questions, and as a writer of books, I continue to ask more questions to encourage creating thinking. I have spent my whole life looking for answers.

In the early days of COVID, we created a Comic Starter on COVID and printed the comics youngsters would send us in response to the questions posed about how the virus affected their lives. There is even a Journalism Comic Starter page on the site to assess student opinion about news issues.

I encourage all readers to explore and test out the many creative features that establish MakeBeliefsComix as a standout educational site. Teachers, students and parents are invited to share their feedback via the MakeBeliefsComix contact page. 

To share your feedback and ideas on this article, consider joining our Tech & Learning online community here

AI art generators have become increasingly popular recently thanks to platforms such as Midjourney and Dall-E 2, which is owned by OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. 

While not having yet dominated conversations in education the way ChatGPT has, these tools for creating art also have important implications in the classroom. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) art generators create realistic images and/or illustrations in various styles based upon prompts provided by users. The digital tools have the potential to save students time with tedious work and could, in theory, help engage them, however, there are ethical concerns and debates about how best to use the technology in schools. 

“What's happening in the art community and in the education community is people are saying either this is 100% the end of the world, or this is 100% the coming of a new god, and there’s nothing in between,” says Erik Fox-Jackson, Interactive Learning Designer at Adelphi University as well as an artist and graphic designer.  

“Unfortunately, there are some bad ways of using it, but there are some good ways of using it too,” says Jaime Donally, an immersive learning expert. “People tend to just want to say one or the other, as opposed to really looking at it holistically and understanding that any technology can be used for good or bad.” 

AI Art Generators Raise Different Ethical Questions Than ChatGPT 

Fox-Jackson is a proponent of using AI technology in the classroom overall, yet cautions against using AI art generators with students. One reason is the legal issues raised by the technology, which draws from existing art online. “I think they're in sort of a legally problematic area that they need to resolve,” he says. 

While there are also ethical concerns around use of ChatGPT, Fox-Jackson says these are not as baked into the technology. “ChatGPT is a large language generator,” he says. “So it basically knows how to assemble coherent sentences out of information, which is a little different than images where the images are something that's proprietary. The words are only proprietary when they're assembled in that specific way.” 

However, ChatGPT can still commit plagiarism, although plagiarism isn’t as inherently a part of what it does. “There are times where ChatGPT looks at a specific string of words and goes like, ‘Yeah, that encapsulates it perfectly.’ And that's why students shouldn't use it to submit assignments,” Fox-Jackson says. “But as a learning tool, I think it's really valuable.” 

Ways AI Art Generators Can Be Used Right Now

Brett Salakas, a veteran Australian educator and HP Education Ambassador, believes there are already compelling ways AI art generators can be used in the classroom. 

For instance, in one writing and vocabulary lesson Salakas designed for middle school students, the teacher asks students to think about the main character in a story they would like to write. As a group, students come up with characters, which are often something silly such as a wacky cow. These words are then used as part of a prompt for DALL-E 2 and images of this student-created character are generated. “You’re demonstrating vocabulary, you’re scaffolding with the words, you’re setting the kids up for a successful writing lesson,” Salakas says.  

Another approach for using AI art generators is to examine some of the problems with the technology. For instance, Salakas says when you ask DALL-E 2 to generate an image of a doctor, it tends to show you men, and if you ask for a nurse, it tends to generate images of women. Interrogating this lack of diversity and representation in the response can be an interesting exercise. “There’s a conversation to be had about the data set of the AI that we’re using,” Salakas says. 

AI Art Generators: Potential and Pitfalls  

Donally sees tremendous potential for ways in which AI art generators can be used to create 3D immersive experiences that can be used with the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) lessons that are her focus as an educator. “We have the capabilities of being able to speak what we want to display in this immersive experience,” she says. “I think that is really powerful.” 

Ultimately, this could save time and lead to richer immersive experiences being created by educators and students. However, Donally acknowledges that since many of these tools are currently subscription-based, that will limit the accessibility in classes. The copyright issues also need to be addressed. 

Beyond potential legal implications, when it comes to art education in particular, Fox-Jackson believes AI art generators are not a great tool. “I think as often as possible students should stay away from image generators solely because this is students' only time to really experiment freely,” he says. Using such a tool seems to be the antithesis of fostering creativity.

While Fox-Jackson will use an AI art generator for presentations himself, he says he’s able to generate quality products because of his solid foundation in art and design. “As a person who's gone through art school, I've learned certain principles that I'm able to then feed into the image generator and get better results,” he says. “Because I've art-directed photo shoots, I know the kind of lens you would use for a great photo. Because I've taken color theory classes, I know that blue orange contrast is really exciting to the eye.” 

In other words, at least for now, an artist’s eye and human creativity is still an important part of the process of creating quality images. Good educators can help their students navigate these new technologies but they should always keep the emphasis on human creativity. 

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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.

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Top Free Sites for Creating Digital Art

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. Create Your Own Mondrian
   The Dutch artist Piet Mondrian was a 20th-century pioneer in abstract art, exploring the most basic elements of geometry and color in his artwork. Visitors to this simple site can easily experiment with creating art à la Mondrian.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. GIPHY
   GIPHY’s uncomplicated interface will have users creating original GIFs in minutes. The site also offers a library of GIFs to explore and download as well. Although not targeted to K12 education , GIPHY provides robust community guidelines to maintain a friendly, respectful environment free of sexual or violent content.
7. JacksonPollack.orgA 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.
8. 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.
9. 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 lessons 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.
10. Pixilart
    A free digital art creation and sharing site, Pixilart allows users to create retro pixel art, like the graphics of old video games. The site bills itself as a safe social platform for all ages, with drawings monitored before going public. Students can turn their artwork into posters, t-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise.
11. SketchpadAn 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. A download for Mac and PC is free for teachers and students.
12. Sumo PaintFounded to serve as an affordable online alternative to Photoshop, Sumo Paint offers a basic free plan as well as pro and education plans. The intuitive, well-organized interface makes it easy to start creating art instantly. Users can also consult dozens of brief how-to video tutorials.
13. 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.
14. Vectr
    This free vector graphic software provides lessons, tutorials, and even keyboard shortcuts. Think streamlined, simplified Adobe Illustrator, with six basic tools plus layers and the ability to import and export a file as a jpg, png, or svg. A cool collaboration feature is the real-time sharing link, which allows friends to watch as you create and edit artwork.

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Digital image libraries are essential to today’s teachers and students. Yet while stock image sites such as Shutterstock, iStock, and Getty Images offer an impressive selection of high-quality images and vector illustrations, these sites are typically beyond the budget of most school districts. 

Fortunately, the image and clip art sites below provide an extensive supply of moderate- to high-quality visuals for cost-conscious schools. Most of these sites are completely free, and most have a clear license/FAQ page explaining what uses are allowed or prohibited. 

15 Sites for Finding Images and Clip Art for Education

1. Find Icons
   A comprehensive source of more than 500,00 free vector icons and icon packs that allows users to search by keyword, size, style, color, or popularity. Bonus features include an image converter and discount codes for the stock image site iStock. 
2. Flickr Commons: The Commons
   The Commons, from the photo-sharing site Flickr, serves as a free catalog of the world’s public photos with no known copyright restrictions, contributed by dozens of government and academic bodies. Comments from Flickr members provide context and additional information for many images. Safesearch option available. 
3. FreePhotoBank
   This stock photo site offers hundreds of free stock images, all having a Creative Commons Attribution alone license. The pictures of FreePhotoBank are free to download, use, and modify with attribution. Search by image category tiles, such as buildings, flowers, or animals. 
4. Freepik
   With photos, vector images, Photoshop (PSD) files, customizable icons, easy-to-edit illustrations, and a beta online template editor, Freepik is a one-stop shop for free images and image tools. Free and premium content.
5. Gratisography
   Gratisography is a great resource for creative and quirky stock photos and vector images, highlighting unusual finds such as “Walking Hands,” “Scared Man,” and “Rhino Party.”  It's not only fun to browse, but also provides a clear, plain-language explanation of what users can and can’t do with the photos. 
6. Kaboompics
   A professional-looking site featuring free high-quality photos in diverse categories, from lifestyle to technology to healthcare. A nifty perk is that each photo includes a free downloadable complementary colors palette. 
7. KIdaha.com
   A fun, kid-focused clip art site featuring human and monster characters. Paid and free content. 
8. NegativeSpace
   A stylish and professional-looking site offering a wide variety of free, high-resolution Creative Commons CC0 photographs as well as free virtual backgrounds for videoconferencing and remote teaching. Be sure to check out the awesome abstract and outer space photos!
9. OpenClipArt
   One of the oldest free clip art sites offers a collection of more than 160,000 vector graphics, all in the public domain. Download as PNG or SVG files. Includes a handful of NSFC (Not Safe For Classroom) works. Artistic students or teachers can create an account and upload their own artwork.
10. Pexels
    A top resource not only for free stock images, but also free stock videos. Pexels hosts photo and video challenges for multiple categories, with professional photography equipment awarded to winners. Create a free account to collect your favorites and contribute your own images and videos. 
11. Photos For Class
    This education-focused site provides everything teachers and students need to find and use Creative Commons photos for school assignments. The four-step filtering process ensures that all images are appropriate for kids—and they make it easy to properly attribute photos.
12. Pics4Learning
    A safe, curated image library for classroom assignments, school websites, or any education-related project, Pics4Learning’s images cover a diverse spectrum of subjects, from American Sign Language to Fractals to Weather. Contribute your own JPEG or PNG images. 
13. Pixabay
    In just ten short years, Pixabay has grown to be one of the best-known and most comprehensive image sharing sites. Here visitors can explore and download collections of photos, illustrations, vector images, videos, and even music. All are free to download and free to use under the Pixabay license, which is a modified  Creative Commons CC0 license. Pixabay shines in another way as well—its blogs and forums keep users apprised of the latest news and tips to make the most of the site. 
14. Unsplash
    Thousands of free, sometimes ordinary—but often eye-popping—images include categories such as nature, current events, technology, and many more suitable for education use. All are free to download and use according to the Unsplash License. A fun feature for contributors is the “Made With Unsplash” page, which showcases creative remixes of its images. Unsplash provides strong support for its contributors, so it's a great place for young photographers to get started sharing their work. 
15. Vector Characters  
    A relatively simple site, Vector Characters focuses on character-based vector art in categories such as man, woman, child, robot, etc. For adding a touch of whimsy or humor to any school project, check out the Fruit Vector, Monster Vector, and Animal Vector categories. Free and premium content. 

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While every college and university faces challenges in adjusting to the new normal and what a hybrid learning environment will look like for students, perhaps most unique is the state of art schools at which hands-on requirements are integral to learning. 

We chat with Olga Stella of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, about how implementing a virtual desktop infrastructure is helping art and design students make the grade. 

Sketching a New Plan

“We had a stay at home order that went into effect in March,” says Stella. “We had about a week to transition 1,400 students to online experiences so we could comply with the state's order to close campus. Our faculty pivoted to finish the semester strong virtually, but we're coming back 8/31 to campus with a more intentional plan using tech to keep students on track.” 

The institution is a traditional art and design school, so in order to accommodate that necessary in-person experience, liberal arts classes are going fully online, while some other courses will be offered in a hybrid mode to reduce the density of people on campus. 

“When you think about art and design there's a lot of hands-on making and creating of work,” says Stella. “We have studio classes that require equipment—a glassblowing studio, a wood shop—so scheduling allows us to maintain appropriate social distancing within those facilities.”

Staff is reconfiguring the physical footprints so the classrooms are bigger and can safely accommodate students. At times, faculty and teachers may move between more than one room in order to help support the students as they work.

Starting With a Blank Canvas

“What's exciting is that we've never really done online before, so there's a number of things the college has really invested in,” says Stella. “One of the things is bringing in expertise from a firm to rethink how some of these classes work, how we can think about them from a virtual first perspective and rework for a hybrid or online-only experience in the fall. 

The institution is implementing the Dell EMC VxRail Hyperconverged Infrastructure, a new infrastructure that allows for quick and seamless updates of all the software packages students use to create their work, such as 3D design and modeling packages. 

“While students can download these programs, a lot of times their computers don't have the system requirements to run the software on the device itself,” says Stella. “By using the VxRail, we're basically expanding our computer lab into the students' homes or dorms or wherever they are working, thereby reducing density on campus (or in the physical computer lab) and making it as convenient and easy for the students to access tech, work on their projects, and do their classwork.”

Tech Provides the Palette

“I think people find it surprising at the amount of tech that is already used at design schools—a lot of the software packages are integral to creating the work,” says Stella. “Our students come from all different backgrounds, with potential inequality of resources when they are forced to work from home.” 

Adjusting with tech tools such as a virtual desktop allows students to access what they need to be successful as if they were in a seat in a computer lab. “You can't take the glass-blowing studio home with you, but the modeling package that the designers use, you can,” says Stella.

With some software programs, professors can use a video conferencing platform such as Zoom to share the student’s screen and use a 3D-modeling package to provide that constructive feedback in real time. It provides an opportunity for interactive teaching.

“We've done very intentional support bringing our faculty to a comfort level with the tech,” says Stella. “We want our students to feel empowered and supported in moving their lives and educational careers forward, and that this pandemic doesn't need to hold them back.”

Silver Linings

Implementing the virtual desktop infrastructure is providing challenges—and new opportunities. The IT team has wrestled with rightsizing the workstation infrastructure while also enabling students to use their own devices. 

“Beyond this unfortunate current situation, however, this will be a game-changer for our students,” says Stella. “Learning is so much more flexible because they will continue to have access to the high-end resources our school is known for, in the comfort of their own home and learning space.”

The platform is also an eye opener for new possibilities, including other kinds of programs that could be offered to make the institution even more accessible. “I think about working parents, students who are managing work schedules, those with physical challenges, even simple location issues,” says Stella. “We can now serve those students who might be living out of state with access to our faculty and our classes.”

What's Next

Investing in technology such as a virtual desktop is helping to optimize learning long term, not only through a wider variety of classes and types of students we can reach, but for faculty learning and professional development. Leveraging existing partnerships across a wide range of industries can also create opportunities to increase continuing education and certificate programs.

“Part of what we recognize is that we are passionate about creativity, we are passionate about the roles artists and designers play in society,” says Stella. “Part of what has driven us is that our world needs creative people now more than ever, to help create the solutions for the challenges we are facing, but also to help us as a society to process and understand what’s happening around us. And there's a lot to process and understand right now.”

Tech Tools Used

•  Zoom 
•  Blackboard 
•  RealVNC 
•  Labstats 
•  Google G Suite 
•  Various webcams 
•  Limited equipment loan-outs for local students without any computer at all 

• Best Zoom Shortcuts for Teachers
• Best Webcams for Teachers and Students

On April 25, 1901, New York became the first state to require license plates. Design your own license plate and driver's license to use when you play. Print them when you are finished.

Brought to you by Knovation, powered by ACT  

Wick Editor

Design interactive games and animations with creative online platform

Pros: The open-source online editor will help kids wade into the world of animation, game creation, and coding without an expensive software investment.

Cons: Being presented with a blank canvas may intimidate students; some would benefit from pre-created, editable templates as a starting point.

Bottom Line: A great starting place for aspiring creators to design and share engaging content.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Georgetown University was established January 23, 1789. Check out the etchings, lithographs and woodcuts featured in the virtual exhibition from Georgetown University's collection.

Brought to you by Knovation, powered by ACT  

Learn about the "art theft of the century," the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, in this exploration of the crime, the investigation of the suspects, and the return of the masterpiece to the Louvre.

Brought to you by Knovation, powered by ACT  

Today’s students have more access to sophisticated, professional programs than ever before. Thanks to new institutional models in educational licensing, undergraduate and graduate students across the disciplines can build fluency in established suites and emerging software programs. 

The equation changes dramatically after the academy, however. Aspiring artists who want to continue working with commercial tools can face financial burdens that extend well beyond student loans. 

Adobe, in particular, is a juggernaut. More than 90 percent of the world’s creative professionals use Photoshop. Adobe Creative Cloud mobile apps have been downloaded 310 million times, according to the company's 2019 report. An Adobe Creative Cloud single app subscription costs $20.99 per month, and the Creative Cloud all apps plan clocks in at $52.99 per month. After free trials end, stark realities set in for recent grads.

Forging a New Path

Interdisciplinary artist Sishir Bommakanti has a unique perspective on software, particularly 3D scanning and animation programs. Bommakanti received his undergraduate degree in Illustration at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida, and received his master’s degree at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minnesota. Both degrees focused on illustration, storytelling, and experimental approaches to image making.

“I focused on traditional drawing and painting for my studies,” he said, “but during that time, I learned animation completely on my own, as well as 3D scanning. I also started learning about point cloud processes to visualize data.” 

Hard Truths About Software 

With interests in various mediums, Bommakanti is passionate about open-source software and the open-source community.

“A reoccurring issue for students,” he said, “is their fear that they will lose access to their mediums of practice after they finish school. Industrial-grade programs are expensive, and students just coming out of school with debt, and learning how to work with loan repayments, are not thinking about investments to these programs.”

The leasing/rental model allows for monthly or yearly payments. This flexibility may appeal to some artists, but there is a catch. “Trying to freelance as a 3D animator involves paying a monthly or yearly license for a program, but then you'll need Adobe programs like Photoshop, Premiere, and After Effects, which is another subscription." 

If an artist is also developing a sculpture practice, programs like ZBrush and Mudbox are different from a standard 3D-modeling program. In some cases, a dedicated simulation program is required—yet another license. Users will need a license for a rendering solution, such as V-Ray, Octane, or Redshift. These various subscriptions can add up for an emerging artist who wants to pursue an animation practice, or a creative professional building a freelance business.

One solution is to pursue open-source programs. “I use Blender 2.8 for a lot of my work,” Bommakanti said. “Not only is Blender free to download, but it also has an incredibly strong community that allows for better plugins and optimization. Recently, its quality has been praised. Major animation companies are adopting it to help cut costs.”

Unity and Unreal are also "free-to-use" software, but with conditions. This approach allows artists and programmers to learn new languages and skills without steep financial commitments—or turning to piracy.

There is a healthy debate about the best possible path for software after graduation, but what is clear is that competency isn’t enough. Digital artists need access.

Scalability

Some open-source suites can be more difficult to find than commercial solutions, but taking the open route will ultimately help higher education students as they mature in their careers, Bommakanti said. “What you learn in open source can be adapted to other programs.”

Without lower-cost alternatives, Bommakanti worries that VR, 3D scanning, and animation will become cost-prohibitive skillsets. Workstations and peripherals are also significant investments. Exclusivity rather than inclusion will stymie broader innovation. The vitality and creativity of digital disciplines might suffer.

Experimental Practice

Exploring new methodologies and new software programs is integral to Bommakanti’s practice. He aims to push the 3D category in experimental directions, from capture and data visualization to collage. For Bommakanti, each mode can articulate a different message.

“My approach is more of a volatile chemist, creating chemical reactions with experimentation,” he said, but "there is always one thread of a story or event. I find myself leaning towards a narrative, regardless of medium or approach.” 

Through his unexpected practice, Bommakanti hopes to promote open-source, free, and affordable alternatives. 

“I personally didn't even consider this path until I was able to build my first computer. Even with a mid-range computer, one can obtain free platforms like Blender, Unity, and more affordable programs such as Agisoft PhotoScan to experiment with 3D scanning and volumetric filmmaking, without worrying about the price. These communities are built on support, and now being part of these communities, I'm posting my process freely as a thanks.”

Community Collaboration

Bommakanti often sends his 3D art to the subjects he scans as keepsakes while also viewing the digital artifacts as records of impermanence. “This is what we are exploring for the future,” he said, “how this tool can be used for accessibility.”

He pointed to a Unity developer, Keijiro Takahashi, who provides free scripts for the Unity community that can be leveraged for Photogrammetry. 

For Bommakanti, collaboration is also practical. “If I have the opportunity to create a library of point cloud assets from crowdsourced images, and I am able to use them for my experiments, I would, in return, send 3D data back for their own use.” 

3D for Documentation

3D scanning is used in documentation missions across the Middle East, and it can be controversial. “It's a layered discourse,” Bommakanti said, with myriad viewpoints.

“3D capture should never be a replacement for restoration,” he noted, “but purely used as a form of documentation that can help in the process.” Digital data—from a million pictures of a church or a 3D scan—will inevitably be edited, making exact replications impossible. There is another aspect to the restoration conversation revolving around mimesis and limits of imitation. “My stance is that 3D scanning is a tool of documentation, but not in restoration.”

Within 3D scanning models are point clouds—sets of data in space that contain the X, Y, and Z coordinates and RGB color information. One example of a complex dense point cloud video produced for archival purposes is the scan of an endangered Heritage Site in Syria.

Fixed Yet Unstable 

Particle emitters are used in 3D to make fluids, sand, particles and other reactions. Often used in a practical process for commercial, realistic productions, Bommakanti is utilizing particle emitters for experimental processes. The goal is to see how scanned environments and people look once they turn into particles that are constantly moving yet retaining some form. Inspired by the “literal atoms we are created from,” and micro designs creating macro structures, he is using test scans as tools of inquiry. Conceptually, his work is informed by “the unstable environments of dreams.”

Document to Distort

Bommakanti’s practice converges photography, collage, and storytelling sensibilities. He creates scans of his daily life—people he knows, places he sees, mundane events, and sights of the quotidian—knowing that they will be transformed.

“3D scanning gives me the opportunity to archive ‘the everyday’ and use the archives within an illustrative process,” he commented. “I am scanning these with the intention that they will be collaged, distorted, and be used as elements to build my own worlds.”

Data Meets the Mythological  

Both data-driven and divergent, Bommakanti's practice bridges the realms of the surreal, mythological, and wonderfully weird. Seeing raw data motivated him to contextualize it within an artistic framework. “How scientific data is visualized inspired me to make these 3D environments,” he said. 

The science of rendering is precise, however, and errors have become a binding factor in his practice. “I consider them happy accidents, to paraphrase Bob Ross,” he said. 

Capturing point clouds and rendering them knowing that they will not render accurately is a deliberate choice. The trial and error informs the process, and the method allows for controlled experiments. “I like to think of them as impressionism, where the impression of the scene or person is there," Bommakant said, "but is simplified in its form, like a Cezanne.”

Cinematic Eye

A recent project brings Bommakanti closer into the realm of experimental animation. In the video, he and artist Brian Heart mix point cloud processes with cinematic, narrative elements. “Eventually, the plan is to create an animation that feels like a dream world in which the camera travels,” Bommakanti said.

Margot Douaihy, PhD, is the author of three books. Her latest is Scranton Lace (Clemson University Press). Find her on Twitter @MargotDouaihy.

MORE INFO

Sishir Bommakanti
https://sishir.com
http://sishirphoto.tumblr.com/ 

3D Scanning Artists
https://www.instagram.com/huangwhsuan
https://www.instagram.com/eggnot1

Alexander Porter, Creator of Depthkit
https://www.instagram.com/alexicon3000

Az Balabanian, Photogrammetry Artist & Cinematographer, & Host of Research VR Podcast
http://azadux.com/photogrammetry 

Brian Heart  
https://www.instagram.com/brain____________________heart/   

Keijiro Takahashi
https://www.keijiro.tokyo

Volumetric Filmmakers Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/volumetricfilmmaking

The days of sending students home with crumpled up art projects are happily over, thanks to online Artsonia portfolios. Used by 50,000 schools, kids create online collections of their artwork that can be viewed at home and shared with everyone from grandparents to college admissions officers. Using the app and online storage is free and there are lesson plans available. Schools can use Artsonia’s ability to make everything from calendars and coffee mugs to jewelry and T-shirts as artistic fund-raisers.

Art is hard. It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s that sometimes I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s modern art that causes me trouble. Maybe I’m just too literal. The piece to the left hanging in Seattle’s art museum? I got nothing.

But with the help of an older sister and a daughter, both strong with the art force, I’ve gotten better at making sense of color, shape, perspective, of context and hidden messages. And with the help of a lot of bright people at places like the Smithsonian and Library of Congress, I’m also getting better at looking at art as a form of primary source information, as another way to understand place and time,

For the last few months, I’ve been highlighting the very cool way that teachers are using Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms to help students think about the Bill of Rights and contemporary issues. I love using interpretations of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere and Alonzo Chappel to talk about historical accuracy and encourage historical thinking. The National Portrait Gallery has been huge in showing me ways that we can use portraits such as the Lansdowne image of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart and John Brown in his US Army blanket by Ole Peter Hansen Balling. And who hasn’t used images such as John Gast’s American Progress to lead conversations about Manifest Destiny and the interactions between settlers and American Indians?

But I’m starting to believe even more in the power of artwork as story and primary source. So it’s always great to find another site and set of tools that help integrate art into instruction and learning. I recently ran across SmartHistory and am loving it.

Smarthistory believes that:

art has the power to transform lives and build understanding across cultures. We believe that the brilliant histories of art belong to everyone, no matter their background.

Art connects us to the world; it allows us to imagine, to create, to build and to inspire, and it shouldn’t be locked up in a textbook. Smarthistory takes you inside museums and outside to ancient temples and brings you into conversations about how to interpret and understand the images you’re seeing.

Now more than ever we need understanding, rigorous analysis, and nuance, and art teaches the critical thinking needed to better comprehend current events and their cultural and historical context.

Smarthistory is the window through which to learn about today’s biggest clash points: we interrogate faith, class, race, gender, and power through a study of art and objects from ancient times until the present. We help learners navigate their world by teaching the skills of interpretation and judgement to help them make meaning of the world around them.

If that doesn’t define our job as social studies teachers, I’m not sure what does.

There are tons of things to explore at Smarthistory. Jump right into in-depth explorations of different time periods found on the home page or hover over the Guides tab to jump straight into serious art history.

But be sure to save some time for exploring their Seeing America section, what Smarthistory calls a “portal to American history and art that examines the long history of the United States, from before European settlers to the modern era.” They do this by making “key works of art accessible for the U.S. history and social studies student.”

You’ll find lessons and suggested activities organized by broad themes, historical periods, or by common classroom topics such as Civil War or the American West. You can also view all the Seeing America content in one place.

Scroll down to get access to their Teaching Guides. I especially love their Guide on Rosie the Riveter. And it’s not just paintings. Their lessons and videos also highlight objects and artifacts. The The Triangle Trade and the Colonial Table, Sugar, Tea, and Slavery activity and video uses a hand-made silver sugar bowl to help kids understand how the connections between the European demand for sugar and the enslavement of Africans.

If you’re like me and struggle with getting it, Smarthistory can help. No matter what you teach, you’re going to be able to find resources and artifacts aligned to your content.

cross posted at glennwiebe.org

Glenn Wiebe is an education and technology consultant with 15 years' experience teaching history and social studies. He is a curriculum consultant for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, blogs frequently at History Tech and maintains Social Studies Central, a repository of resources targeted at K-12 educators. Visit glennwiebe.org to learn more about his speaking and presentation on education technology, innovative instruction and social studies.

Color Uncovered

Engaging ebook combines art with science in playful ways 

Pros: Cool optical illusions and surprising facts.

Cons: Could use links to web resources or other experiments on their site.

Bottom Line: Color Uncovered is a great way to enhance an art curriculum or to bring a more playful and artistic side to science. 

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

A few years ago, I got my first LEGO set for my birthday. At first, I didn’t know what to do. But after learning how to build the set, I really got into LEGO! Building with LEGO bricks became what I did all day, every day. Now, you can ask anyone who has known me for awhile: I love LEGO. I used to build with LEGO bricks alone, but now it's me and all my friends. Besides helping me make friends, LEGO has taught me more about history and art. 

Not long after getting my first LEGO set, my mom took me to my first Brick Fair, a LEGO fan event, in Edison, New Jersey. There I saw my first MOC (pronounced mock) built by Brickmania, a popular LEGO artist in my area. MOC stands for My Own Creation. MOCs are when people build things out of LEGO bricks that don’t have directions. They build MOCs from their own brains. I really enjoyed seeing all the talented LEGO artists’ MOCs. My favorite type of MOC were the historical MOCs, especially of battle scenes. I like them so much, I started to make them.

When I got home, I started MOCs that replicated moments in history. Making these MOCs has inspired to learn as much as I can about history, so I can build historically accurate MOCs. Currently, I’m working on a large MOC on the Battle of the Somme, an important battle on the Somme river in France during World War I. 

Through building MOCs, LEGO has helped me learn a lot about history and how to be a better artist. History is important to learn because the only way to improve the future is by learning from the past. If you want the kids of today to make a better future for everyone, they first have to know the problems of the past. LEGO helps me learn by making learning about the past fun and letting me show what I learned about history in an artistic way that hopefully inspires others to learn along with me. My goal is to my Battle of Somme MOC as cool as possible so I can inspire the next wave of kids like me to become historians and even artists. 

Being a good artist is important to making good MOCs because you have to tell a story to people without using words -- the way you arrange your LEGO brickss has to tell the story. I take great care to make my LEGO MOCs tell the story of the battles I learn about. 

Consider challenging your students to make a MOC next time they learn something in your class. Not only will they be able to show you what they’ve learned in a fun way, you’ll be helping them become a better artist and historian, too.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES  FROM TECHLEARNING.COM 

Top 10 Ways Toys Can Teach STEAM

Motivating Reluctant STEAM Learners: Changing how you assess can inspire students

Crazy Gears Provides Fun Introduction to Science and Engineering

Report from ASCD: Sessions Covered, Classroom Coding, Leadership Strategies and More

Top Ten Makerspace Favorites

Fun Characters Draw Kids Into Coding App

Green Screen by Do Ink

Versatile, easy-to-use moviemaker yields great results 

Pros: Tutorial video demonstrates "how to" and then lets kids manipulate it in the timeline for practice.

Cons: Requires some prep time to get started.

Bottom Line: High-quality movie maker has numerous uses for students projects.

Read more 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

Animation & Drawing by Do Ink

One-stop animation tool for beginners through experts 

Pros: Students can create their first animation in minutes, thanks to detailed tutorials and documentation.

Cons: Video tutorials are not available in-app.

Bottom Line: Accessible entry into animation for beginning students, but with enough depth to satisfy more advanced artists.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

Both my kids have always had a strong sense of art, of being able to create visually appealing pieces. (The Rowdie effort to the left by the oldest is not one of his best efforts, though it does accurately convey the family pet’s personality.) We constantly had crayons, painting supplies, easels, and all sorts of other artsy things in use around the house.

I wasn’t much help. My art skills have been described as “creative” and “abstract.”

Both kids continue to share their love for the medium and to help me think about art and artists. And today, a quick conversation with a high school US history teacher meandered down a path that focused on ways to integrate art into our instruction.

So it got me thinking a bit.

We often forget how powerful the arts can be in connecting our kids with social studies content and big ideas. Art, in all of its forms, is a great way to create emotion, generate connections, and build relationships. Whether viewing landscapes, portraits, or historical events through the eyes of contemporary artists, students can get a sense of time, of place, of interpretation that would be impossible using other forms of primary sources.

One of the quickest ways to incorporate the arts is to focus on the visual – paintings, drawings, and images. But I often notice it missing from the toolkits of many social studies teachers. And I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe we’re just not aware of the resources available or the kinds of questions to ask. If we’ve never thought too much about using artwork as an instructional tools, it can be hard finding a jumping off point.

So what can it look like when we intentionally integrate visual art into our classrooms? Try some of these ideas and resources:

Norman Rockwell has always been a favorite. So maybe start with this powerful example of helping kids envision his Four Freedoms embedded in the 1st Amendment using this article I wrote earlier this year.

Then head over to all of the different Smithsonian art museums for lessons, graphic organizers, and primary source sets designed just for teachers:

• National Art Gallery 
• National Portrait Gallery
• America’s Presidents
• American Art Museum

The National Council for the Social Studies has some helpful journal articles:

• Using Art to Teach History to Young Learners
• Creating Connections: Integrating the Visual Arts with Social Studies

The Kennedy Center instituted ArtsEdge as its educational media arm, reaching out to schools, communities, individuals and families with printed materials, classroom support and Internet technologies. They also have a handy mobile app.

EDSITEment is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Trust for the Humanities and offers a treasure trove for teachers in the subject areas of literature and language arts, foreign languages, art and culture, and history and social studies.

The Social Studies Arts Toolkit includes multimedia resources designed for use in K-12 social studies and arts classrooms. Be sure to browser through their nice PDF document of strategies.

And like my quick conversation earlier this morning, all of this stuff lends itself nicely to some engaging and powerful professional learning discussions with your peers. So during that next awkward silence in your department meeting, don’t be afraid to kickstart a discussion on how Leutze’s use of color and shading in his 1861 Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way is indicative of America’s moral values during western expansion. 

cross posted at glennwiebe.org

Glenn Wiebe is an education and technology consultant with 15 years' experience teaching history and social studies. He is a curriculum consultant forESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, blogs frequently at History Tech and maintains Social Studies Central, a repository of resources targeted at K-12 educators. Visit glennwiebe.org to learn more about his speaking and presentation on education technology, innovative instruction and social studies.

Snapseed

Extremely powerful photo editor will equally delight pros, amateurs 

Pros: Professional-level editing tools, including RAW image capability.

Cons: Assumes some familiarity with photo editing. Students must leave app to get all the help resources.

Bottom Line: It successfully walks the fine line of photo-editing features, offering satisfying experiences for those making quick edits and those crafting perfect images.

Read more here. 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education  

Here is a great tool that lets you androidify yourself. We can download it as an app or you can go to the website and create your own androidify version. 

You can make your character tall, short, blocky, skinny or small in different colors. You can style your android self with clothes, accessories, shoes or phones. Then you can make your characters laugh, dance, play or do all sort of other moves. When you are done, you can share your Android self on social media or you can download it as a picture or as a gif to use it on a ppt or on a word document.

We can ask our kids to create their own Android characters and describe them. We can create various characters and and ask the kids to talk about their physical appearance and what they can do.

We can create a class mascot using this tool or we can create a character together with the kids. We can brainstorm about his/her character traits, where s/he lives; her/his likes and dislikes, abilities and disabilities. Then students can write a story about this android character. We can also ask our students to create android characters for characters in the stories that they are reading. 

cross-posted at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org

Özge Karaoglu is an English teacher and educational consultant in teaching young learners and teaching with web-based technologies. She is the author of Minigon ELT book series, which aims to teach English to young learners through stories. Read more of her ideas about teaching English through technology and Web-based tools at ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org.

Autodesk Sketchbook

Impressive creation tool for teens serious about art

Pros: Impressive brush selections, professional tools on an easily accessible tablet screen.
Cons: There’s a learning curve for kids not already familiar with professional-level digital art tools.
Bottom Line: Gives students easy access to professional tools for creating digital art.

Read more here. 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education  

Although you might not recognize the name, you most likely will recognize the look. Mondrian Art is an abstract form of art that uses a creative layout of squares and rectangles, often filled in with primary colors.

This style of painting was popularized by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian during the early 1900's. In addition to influencing art, the Mondrian look has shown up in fashion, architecture, advertising, design, and more.

Because Mondrian Art is composed of lots of different sized rectangles and squares, it is the perfect style to be created with digital tools... specifically with Google Sheets!

As we have explored in many previous posts, Google Sheets can do much more than just crunch numbers. Sheets is a fantastic tool for writing prompts, online games, interactive learning databases, and more. Mondrian Art is just one more project to add to the list.

About Mondrian Art

Before creating your own art, if you would like to learn more about Mondrian, feel free to check out these two short but informative videos to get an overview:

The Mondrian Art TemplateTo help save some time, I have put together a Mondrian Art template in Google Sheets. You can get your own copy of the template by clicking the link below:

• Mondrian Art Template - Google Sheets link

You certainly do not have to use the template, but it has a few things set up to make the project easier:

[360 Degree Learning with Google Tour Creator]

Square cells

Normally spreadsheets have rectangular cells. However, to make Mondrian Art you will want to start with a base of all square cells, which you can then merge as needed to form the rectangles you want. In this template I have changed the columns widths and row heights to make all of the cells square.

• Use your mouse to select the rows or columns you want to adjust. To do so, click and drag over the columns or row headers.
• With the columns or rows selected, right-click on the headers and choose "Resize columns" or "Resize rows".
• Type in a new width or height value.
• Repeat as needed to get the sizes you want.

Thick Borders

Mondrian art typically has thick black lines between all of the rectangles in the finished work. I have already added these in the template, but if you want to do this on your own, here's how:

• Select all of the cells in the Sheet by clicking in the blank spot in the top left corner between Column A and Row 1.
• When you click this spot, all of the cells in the Sheet with be selected.
• Next, click the "Borders" button in the toolbar.
• From the "Border style" option, click the third choice down for the thick black line.
• Now click the "All borders" options to apply this style to all of the cells.

Primary Colors

Mondrian usually filled the rectangles in his paintings with primary colors. Later when you color your rectangles, you can just use the standard colors provided in the "Fill color" (paint can) button.

However, I did include a few custom colors in the template based off of actual Mondrian paintings if you wish to use those.

Step #1 - Merge Cells

As mentioned above, Mondrian Art is composed of many rectangles of different sizes. In our template, all of the cells are square, so what we need to do is merge cells together to create our rectangles.

To merge some cells, do the following:

• Click in a cell that will be one of the corners in your rectangle.
• Now click and hold down your mouse button, and with the mouse button held down, drag to select the others cells that will make up your rectangle.
• Alternately if you prefer to use your keyboard, you can click in one cells, then hold down the "Shift" key on your keyboard, and then with that held down, use your arrows keys to select more cells.
• Now with the desired cells selected, click on the "Merge cells" button in the top toolbar (or click "Format" in the menu bar, and choose "Merge cells" from the drop-down menu.)
• The cells will now be merged!

Note: If needed, you can always unmerge cells as well. Simply click on the merged cells, then click the "Merge cells" button in the toolbar, or click "Format" and then "Merge cells" and then "Unmerge".Keep repeating this process to merge cells into rectangles to create your design.

Step #2 - Color Cells

After you have merged some cells, you will now want to fill some of the rectangles in with color. In a typical Mondrian piece, the majority of the rectangles will stay white, and you will just fill in colors here and there. Of course there is no "right" way to make your artwork, as long as it expresses what you want.To fill in a rectangle with color, do the following:

• Click inside a rectangle to select it.
• Then click the "Fill color" button in the top toolbar (it looks like a paint can).
• You can now pick from any color you would like to use to fill in the rectangle.
• Mondrian typically used primary colors, and our template includes a few custom colors that closely match the ones he used. Again, there is no "right" colors to use, so be as creative as you wish.

Step #3 - Delete Unused Rows and Columns

Chances are you will probably not use all of the squares in the template to make your Mondrian Art. If you end up having extra rows and columns that you do not need, you can delete these extras so just your artwork if left. To delete rows or columns, do the following.

• Use your mouse to select the rows or columns you want to delete. To do so, click and drag over the columns or row headers.
• With the columns or rows selected, right-click on the headers and choose "Delete columns" or "Delete rows".
• Alternately you can click "Edit" in the top menu bar and then select "Delete columns" or "Delete rows".

Step #4 - Share Your Creation

When you Mondrian Art if finally done, you will now want to share your creation with others. There are several ways you can do this.Share the Sheet
You can share your Google Sheet just like you would share any Google file:

• Click the "Share" button.
• Enter the people you want to share the Sheet with and the permissions you want to give them.
• Or click the "Get shareable link" option to get a link you can give to anyone through email, social media, on your website, or such.

Print the Sheet
You can also print out you work of art as follows:

• Click "File" then "Print".
• Adjust the print settings as needed, including the "Scale" option to get it to look just the way you want.
• Print as normal.

Save the Sheet as a PDF

You can also make a PDF version of your Mondrian Art.

• Click "File" then "Download as" then "PDF".
• Adjust the export setting as needed, including the "Scale" option to get it to look just the way you want.
• Click "Export" to save the PDF.

Screen Capture the Sheet
Google Sheets does not have an option to export the Sheet as an image. However you can use one of many screen capturing tools to take a screenshot of your creation and then save that as an image. One good example would be the Chrome extension Nimbus Screenshot.

• To get a good screenshot of your Mondrian Art, do the following:
• First, follow the steps like you are going to print the Sheet, by clicking "File" then Print".
• Adjust the print settings as needed, including the "Scale" option to get it to look just the way you want.
• Now that you have a nice clean view of your creation, use the screen capture tool of your choice to take and save a screenshot.

For some fun math applications of Mondrian Art, you can have your students do the following:

• Area - Find the area in square units for each of the colors used.
• Fractions - Find the fraction that each color represents, and simplify to lowest form.

Once again Google Sheets proves itself to be a versatile tool for student creativity! Hopefully your students will find this to be an engaging activity to learn about Piet Mondrian and his influence on design, as well as learn some new spreadsheet skills, and express themselves through art. As always, please feel free to share examples of what your students make in the comments below.

cross posted at www.controlaltachieve.com

Eric Curts is an education trainer and consultant with over 20 years' experience throughout the U.S. He is an authorized Google Education Trainer and a Google Certified Innovator. Read his blog at www.controlaltachieve.com and follow him on Google+ and @ericcurts on Twitter.

Artsonia Kids Art Museum

Online art museum empowers students to exhibit, explain their work

Pros: Unique focus on exhibiting art (vs. other portfolio tools). The companion app is great for capturing and assessing students' artist statements.

Cons: It's most useful once an artist or school has uploaded a body of work, and if students include artist statements. The website's design could use updating.

Bottom Line: A well-loved digital art museum that allows students to share work and reflect on their artistic process while helping teachers assess student understanding of artistic concepts.

[Great Way for Kids to Hone Image Editing Skills]

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App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

Sumopaint

Impressive, easy-to-use tool for creating and editing images

Pros: Sumopaint is free, easy to use, and mimics many of the editing features found in more expensive image applications.

Cons: Some options are only available in the paid version, and there’s no filter for gallery comments, so kids could potentially find inappropriate content.

Bottom Line: Sumopaint can spark students’ creativity, encourage them to be artistic, and provide them with new, image-related tech skills.

[Free Platform Provides Simple Way to Discuss & Analyze Videos]

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App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

Quiver Education - 3D Coloring App

Augmented reality app adds some interactivity and learning to coloring

[Innovative Timeline Helps Students Examine Freedom Through Art, History]

Pros: One-time purchase price includes all sheets.

Cons: Only works with Quiver Education sheets, so students and teachers can't make their own custom AR sheets.

Bottom Line: This can make a great occasional lesson supplement, but ultimately the lack of customization and light learning hold it back.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

Bitmoji

Liven up communication with cartoon-style custom avatars

Pros: The variety of options means you can get an avatar that looks pretty close to what you want, and comment variety covers almost any situation.

Cons: Some Bitmoji options can be a bit racy for kids.

Bottom Line: Not necessarily a tool designed with education in mind, but tons of possible -- and fun -- classroom uses for creative teachers.

[Simple Tool Boosts Productivity of Teachers, Students]

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App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

The Knotted Line

Unique, artistic timeline lets kids explore freedom in U.S. history

Pros: Interactive tool encourages students to think about complex issues; includes suggestions for multiple classroom uses.

Cons: The unconventional approach to learning history could be challenging for some.

Bottom Line: Students will benefit from this eye-opening and interactive approach to studying history.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

Read more here.

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creatED by Crayola® is piloting its professional learning program in eight districts across the U.S. during the 2017-18 school year.

The districts piloting creatED are in various stages of arts-integration.

2017-18 creatED pilot program districts include:

• Alabama Education Association, Ala.
• Bartlett City Schools, Tenn.
• Clark County School District, Nev.
• Clayton County Public Schools, Ga.
• Dorchester School District Two, S.C.
• Indian River County School District, Fla.
• Prince George’s County Public Schools, Md.
• South Orange-Maplewood School District, N.J.

To learn more, visit http://www.crayola.com/education.

Ignore the ads to easily create and share sketches 

Pros: Wide selection of brushes allows kids to create amazing detail.
Cons: No way to disable the ads that appear on every screen.
Bottom Line: Easy tools and technology make a good artistic learning tool, despite the ads.

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By Common Sense Education

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.