How to Make Digital Art, Illustrations, Animation, & Videos (For Kids of All Ages)

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Where to Start?

This blog post aims to give some kids’ illustration and art-making resources, apps., FREE software programs, and other resources for older kids (ages 10+) tweens, teens, and adult beginners as well. No design skills or expensive software needed!

The trick is to use templates and guides to help you start putting things together which will then help you generate even more ideas. Even if what you end up making turns out to be a bust, you’ll be in a much better place when you try again.

Have a look at my very best FREE resources and tools. In just 10 minutes I will have you (or your child) up and running making something new and exciting today. First here’s a quick video demo that will get you up to speed fast.

This lecture comes from my full course, Skyrocket Your Creativity: 7 Easy Ways. Learn More

Links for this lecture:

Canva: https://canva.com
Stencil: https://getstencil.com/
Wix: https://wix.com
Gimp: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
Powtoon: https://powtoon.com

Get FREE images, music, and video for your creative projects: Blog Post and Giant List

Bonus: Make a simple and easy WordCloud

Here is one below that I made recently just for fun to add to my About page on my website.

You can make one about your personality simply by adding a list of adjectives that describe you and easily turn it into fun word art. Or, if you add a ~ symbol instead of a space between words, it will let you make a phrase cloud like the one below that you can fill with “Fun Facts” about yourself.

creative soul wordcloud

See? You or your kids can make illustrations with text only and don’t even have to draw a thing. You can’t go wrong with a WordCloud. Don’t want to make it about yourself? How about any topic you choose then? The more creative the better.

Word Cloud Generators

What About an Illustration Course Made Specifically For Kids?

My online and offline students had been asking me for years if I had any self-paced video illustration courses that were child-friendly. I wasn’t even sure if I could make the transition from teaching adults (normally university students) to kids, but when American University of Myanmar was seen as a threat by Myanmar government officials and forced to close back in 2018, I was recruited by Thalun International School (who had the nicest computer lab I had seen in the country) and I began teaching kids digital media and illustration from Grades 3 to 11.

I learned a lot and was happily surprised at my young students’ work. Much of their artwork looked like it was done by university art students!

We mainly used free software, apps., and tools. I started getting away from my beloved Adobe programs while living and working in developing countries simply to help share art with more people who otherwise perhaps could not afford expensive software. It wasn’t until this pandemic when my sons, ages 8 and 10 started begging me to make them an online illustration course that I finally put together Gimp: Make a Digital Painting & Illustration Like a Pro Fast.

It was made with older kids in mind, but it’s also great for beginners, technophobes, and anyone who wants to feel and act more creative, even if they think they “can’t draw.”

Here’s the first lesson to help you get a taste of it.

Thalun International School (Grades 6-11). Yangon, Myanmar: Featured Work 2018 – 2019

Student illustration work from grades 6-10

Digital Illustrations and Image Morphs from Grades 7-11 (2019)  *More student work at our Thalun ICT Student Blog

illustration for kids course pic

This is my son Nico who was excited to take his very first self-guided kids’ illustration online course. It’s the one I made with kids in mind when I made my most recent Gimp course. He’s a bit younger than my intended target audience (ages 10 and up), so it’s always helpful to have mom in the next room.

More FREE Resources for Kids Who Want to Make Art, Illustrations, Music, and More

Do you have any kids’ or beginner-friendly art resources to share? Please do so in the comments or let us know what you recommend.