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google drawings

INTRODUCTION

Google Drawings is such a fun and useful tool, it deserves it's very own lesson. It's an oft overlooked tool within the Google Drive suite of tools. This easy to use tool will help you & your students create posters, graphic organizers, infographics, blog post graphics, NASA planet posters, sticky notes and so much more.

If you've used any of the drawing tools in Google Slides (insert line, shapes, text boxes, etc.), you've already touched on some of the Google Drawing features. Google Drawings takes it up a notch with more graphics features. Anything you create in Drawings can be used in other Google apps and many other places as well.

Tony Vincent created a handy image comparing the Drawings and Slides.

venn diagram of google slides versus google drawings
Comparison of Slides & Drawings by Tony Vincent

EXAMPLES

Start with these examples of educational uses of Google Drawings to get an idea of what is possible.

  • Get Creative with Google Drawings – This post by Tony Vincent is the place to start. He includes a ton of ideas and examples. ( I took Tony's Classy Graphics workshop in Fall 2017. Highly recommended if you really want to dig into Drawings.)
  • Google Drawing Resources – Eric Curts maintains a page chock full of ideas and templates for anyone to use.

TUTORIALS

A short video by Jocelynn Buckentin covering some of the basics.

    • Getting Started with Google Drawings – Alice Keeler's introduction to all the basics.
    • Robin Limpert's Series of Google Drawings Tutorials
      • Introduction
      • Day 1: Background & Working with Shapes
      • Day 2: Adding a Text Box or Word Art
      • Day 3: Drawing Lines
      • Final post with links to all 7 tutorials
    • Step-By-Step Google Drawings Vector Portraits Lesson – Nice demo of techniques for drawing cartoonish portraits.

RESOURCES

  • The Noun Project – Thousands of icons available for free, be sure to follow their rules for attribution. Buy a membership and you don't have to include attribution.
  • Google AutoDraw – Use this magic tool to create simple images for including in a drawing or other document. Great for creating icons for infographics. Simply sketch a rough version of an object and AutoDraw will try to guess what you mean. You'll see a selection of icons across the top of the screen. Select the icon for the object you're drawing, color it in, resize it and save it as .png file. It does a great job. Here's my pathetic drawing of an apple and AutoDraw's version! Pretty nifty!
    apples
  • Do More with Google Drawings – Tutorials, templates, tips and tricks.
  • Visual Thinking with Google Drawings – Podcast on Google Drawings, resources listed on show notes page.
  • Google Drawings Cheat Sheet for Teachers and Students – Kasey Bell's cheat sheet. A PDF of the file is available here.
  • Tons more Google Drawing ideas, tips and tutorials from:
    • Matt Miller
    • Alice Keeler
    • Kasey Bell

A FEW PROJECT IDEAS

  • NASA planet posters – Follow along as a teacher steps her students through creating planet posters with Google Drawings.  Good introduction to Google Drawings.
  • Recovering the classics – Whether you participate in the official project or not, this is a fun idea for students. Create a modern cover for a classic title. Something that will spark interest.
  • Create Your Own Story Cubes with Google Drawings – Use Eric Curts' cube templates for creating a customized cube with your own photos, clip art graphics, text.
  • #BookSnaps with Google Drawings – YouTube video by Tara Martin explaining how to create this fun way to capture reactions to a book or other text that students are reading.
  • Sticky Notes – Try your hand at this and make some customized sticky notes. I did this activity when I took Tony Vincent's Classy Graphics class. I used bitmojis for some of my notes.  Noemi Reyes made a fabulous set for the workshop.

  • Create an Interactive Image – You can create interactive images by adding links within a Google Drawing. Very much like a ThingLink image. This post from Eric Curts explains the details.

  • Create Eye Popping Infographics with Google Drawings – Matt Miller's post includes a short video with tips and techniques.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

  • Try out Google Drawings
  • Play with the editing options – don't worry about creating a masterpiece!
  • Try one of the project ideas above, modify a template created by someone else. or something else you want to test out.
  • Download and save the image to embed in your blog post.

YOUR BLOG POST

  • Embed your graphic.
  • How did you like using Google Drawings? Do you have other favorite tools?
  • Discuss how you might use Google Drawings in school.

*TURNING IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT

  • Write & publish your blog post.
  • Copy the URL (webpage address) for your post.
  • Return to yourGoogle Classroom, find the assignment page for the lesson you just completed and follow the directions for turning in and sharing your work.

*Only for students participating in the workshop for PD credit hours through the Google Classroom.