Form 2 ICT

Scratch: Paint a Sprite and Draw an Image

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In Form 1, you used the Scratch cat. What if you could draw your own character instead, and make it dance, talk and play music?

The Scratch editor with the Costumes tab open. A list of costumes showing the digits 0 to 7 runs down the left, the paint editor in the middle shows a green pixel-style zero with drawing tools beside it, and the stage on the right shows a digital clock reading 00:00.
The Scratch Paint Editor (Costumes tab). Someone has drawn ten costumes, one for each digit 0 to 9, to make a digital clock. Notice the drawing tools to the left of the canvas.

Image source: File:Scratch Paint Editor.png (Wikimedia Commons)

In this post:

  • Painting your own sprite with the Scratch Paint Editor
  • Making more costumes by duplicating
  • Using Events, Control, Looks and Sound blocks to animate it
  • Drawing a picture with the Pen blocks
  • Two Scratch projects to explore, a costume animator and a quiz

Part 1: paint a new sprite

  1. Go to scratch.mit.edu and click Create (sign in if you want to save your work).
  2. Hover over the Choose a Sprite button (the cat face, bottom right) and click the paintbrush (Paint). A new, empty sprite appears and the Costumes tab opens.
  3. Use the drawing tools to create your character.
  4. Name your sprite in the Sprite box below the stage, e.g. Robo.
ToolWhat it does
BrushDraws freehand lines. Change its size with the number box.
LineDraws straight lines.
Circle and RectangleDraw shapes. Hold Shift for a perfect circle or square.
FillColours in a closed shape.
EraserRubs out parts of the drawing.
TextAdds words.
SelectMoves, resizes or turns part of the drawing.
Fill / Outline colourChoose colours with the Color, Saturation and Brightness sliders.

Make a second costume

A costume is one look for a sprite. To animate, you need at least two. In the Costumes tab, right-click your costume and choose duplicate. Then change the copy a little: move an arm, open the mouth or change a leg. Switching quickly between the costumes makes the sprite look as if it moves, just like a flip book.

Part 2: bring it to life with blocks

Block category (colour)Useful blocks
Events (yellow)when green flag clicked starts your script.
Control (orange)wait 1 seconds, repeat 10, forever
Looks (purple)switch costume to …, next costume, say Hello! for 2 seconds
Sound (pink)start sound …, play sound … until done. Add sounds in the Sounds tab, or record your own.
Motion (blue)move 10 steps, go to x: y:

Here is a project that uses costumes and sound together. Click the green flag to watch the dancer. Then click See inside on the Scratch website to look at the two scripts: one forever loop plays the music, and another switches to the next costume every 0.2 seconds.

Scratch project: 02 Moving a sprite to music (By changing costumes) by kunge.

Activity: costume animator

Try it: build a walking animation

Change the numbers in the script, then click the green flag. How does the wait time change the animation? What happens with more repeats?

when green flag clicked
repeat ()
    next costume
    move () steps
    wait () seconds
end

Part 3: draw an image with the Pen

Scratch can also draw. Click the Add Extension button (bottom left) and choose Pen. Then a sprite leaves a line wherever it moves while its pen is down.

  • erase all clears the stage.
  • pen down starts drawing; pen up stops.
  • set pen color to … and set pen size to … change the line.
  • Combine them with move, turn and repeat to draw shapes.

This project draws a big triangle made of smaller triangles. Click the green flag and watch carefully. The script repeats the same moves 3 times, moving and turning 120° at each corner. Can you see the pattern?

Scratch project: Drawing Exercise 3 by kunge.

Watch: the Scratch Paint Editor

This tutorial from the Scratch Team shows how to paint your own sprite.

Video: Create a Sprite with the Scratch Paint Editor – Scratch Team – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C_wblf4FIE

Activity: which category?

Try it: find the block

Which block category would you open to find each block?

when green flag clicked
wait 1 seconds
next costume
play sound Meow until done
move 10 steps
pen down
say Hello! for 2 seconds
repeat 10

Your challenge

  • Paint a sprite with two costumes and make it animate when the green flag is clicked.
  • Add a sound that plays while it moves.
  • Duplicate your sprite (right-click it in the Sprite pane → duplicate) so you have two characters, and change the second one’s colour.
  • Bonus: use the Pen to draw a house: a square with a triangle roof.

Self-check quiz

Click the best answer. You get feedback straight away; only your first click counts towards your score.

1. Which button do you use to paint your own sprite?

2. A costume in Scratch is…

3. How can you make a second costume that looks almost the same as the first?

4. Which block category has wait and repeat?

5. To draw lines as a sprite moves, you first need to…

6. In an animation, what does making the wait time shorter do?

Related posts on islandclass.org

Next: Scratch: Plan and Act Out a Two-Character Scene

Syllabus link: Forms 1–3 ICT curriculum, Module 5, Objective 5.5 – develop a program to draw a selected image.

Attributions to media used in this post:

Updates

2026/10/21

– Fixed the activity code so its buttons keep working.

© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.

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