Drawing: Developing drawing skills
Developing shading skills and drawing techniques to create botanical-inspired digital drawings.
Introducing our new drawing units!
Kapow Primary is thrilled to announce updates to our drawing curriculum for Years 1 to 6.
These enhancements include a clearer and more structured progression of knowledge and skills, increased opportunities for skill reinforcement, broader exposure to diverse artists and new educational videos for both teachers and pupils. This unit includes exciting new elements, while retaining some aspects of the current drawing unit Drawing: Growing artists.
In January 2026, the current Year 3 unit Drawing: Growing artists will be archived and replaced with this updated unit Drawing: Developing drawing skills.
For more details on these updates, see the Art Progression of knowledge and skills (pages 29-32) and the Art Long term plan (pages 18-19).
Unit outcomes
Pupils who are secure will be able to:
- Use their observation skills to describe specific shapes, textures or patterns in objects.
- Shade with a reasonable degree of accuracy and skill following the four shading rules.
- Use mark marking to show texture and details.
- Use simple shapes to sketch the basis of their drawing before using lines and marks to add detail and texture.
- Apply shading skills to show areas of light and dark (tone).
- Apply line, shape and tone with digital tools.
- Save and present digital artwork.
- Use materials to create a design inspired by The Sun.
Suggested prior learning
*Updated* Drawing: Understanding tone and texture
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Lessons
Lesson 1: See like an artist
Lesson 2: Shading
Lesson 3: Take a closer look
Lesson 4: Imagination in bloom
Lesson 5: Paper to pixels
Lesson 6: Every picture tells a story
Key skills
Generating ideas:
- Generating ideas from
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Key knowledge
Formal elements:
- Form: Three dimensional
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Key vocabulary
blend
even tones
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Related content
Unit resources
Vocabulary display – Art and design Y3: Drawing: Developing drawing skills
A display version of the vocabulary from the unit 'Drawing: Developing drawing skills'.
Knowledge organiser: Drawing: Developing drawing skills
Aimed at pupils, two pages providing key facts and definitions from the unit ‘Drawing: Developing drawing skills’.
Subject resources
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Cross-curricular opportunities
Mathematics: Geometry – properties of shapes.
Science: Light, Plants.
