Wonderful sports day / athletic festival

[Art] Cool illustration ideas for sports days and athletic festivals

[Art] Cool illustration ideas for sports days and athletic festivals

Last updated:2025/5/21

Deputy Editor of RAG MUSICsasashina
Deputy Editor of RAG MUSIC. JFC-certified fact-checker. I’m Sasashina, a mom currently raising an elementary schooler and a preschooler. During my student years at Kyoto College of Science and Technology, I studied a wide range of fields including sound, lighting, and video technology, building a foundation in comprehensive stage production and creative expression. After graduation, I joined a music production company, where I still work, consistently building experience in production and engaging in a variety of music-centered tasks. Currently, I mainly handle articles for children, drawing on what I’ve learned about parenting and what I feel and discover through daily interactions with my kids. I hope my work can be of help to you, even in a small way!
A Vocaloid producer who is also a music writerAraki Jakkan
I’ve worked in a variety of roles—regardless of pro or amateur settings—including live event PA, cameraman for video and photography, restaurant staff, and logistics center staff. I now spend my days as a part-time writer. I’ve contributed to music and manga websites with feature/review articles, and wrote the liner notes included as a bonus for 1st PLACE Inc.’s “IA SUPER BEST.” As for my music background, I started playing guitar in junior high and focused on band activities during my school years. For over 15 years since then, up to the present, I’ve continued releasing original tracks as a Vocaloid producer. My areas of expertise are Japanese rock, Vocaloid, and manga.

Especially if you’re good at drawing, with sports day season approaching, your school might have asked you to design the cover for the sports festival pamphlet, right?

Designing illustrations that many people will see is tough!

You accepted the request but have no ideas… it happens all the time.

In this article, we’ve put together some cool illustration ideas related to school sports days!

Use the ideas here as inspiration and create your own original piece!

[Art] Cool Illustration Ideas for Sports Day and Athletic Festival (1–10)

Running Girl

Speaking of sports festivals, running events like relays definitely get the crowd going! Runners often end up on the festival brochures and posters, but for those of you aiming for a unique design, I recommend a “running girl.” Seeing a girl sprinting at full speed makes you want to cheer her on—and it’s a real moe point, too! By drawing a girl holding a relay baton from the front, you can create a composition that conveys the immediacy of the relay.

You can also express individuality by deliberately leaving it uncolored and drawing it in a manga style!

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Hakama Girls Cheer Squad

The Hakama Girls Cheer Squad design captures the charming contrast between cute girls and a cheerleading theme.

It’s perfect for anyone who wants a distinctive design for a sports festival pamphlet or poster! If you’re good at drawing people or like manga-style illustrations, be sure to use this as a reference.

The most important point in figure drawing is the pose.

You can use a mirror to model yourself, but asking a friend to pose is fine too! Try coming up with a striking pose.

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Do your best!

https://www.tiktok.com/@09suzu0728/video/7121677159793446145

At many schools, sports festivals often have a slogan.

Using that slogan as the theme can make it easier to design the pamphlet.

If you draw a girl with a headband and a ponytail like in the video, you can create a sparkling, youthful vibe! Turning “Give it your all!” into a speech bubble can also enhance the design of posters and pamphlets.

The overall impression changes dramatically depending on whether you add color or leave it uncolored, so it might be worth trying both a simple uncolored version and a colored version.

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Lion and Orca

When it comes to fierce and mighty animals, lions and orcas would surely make the rankings! If you’re struggling with designs for your sports festival pamphlet or poster, why not incorporate these two animals as design ideas? Since they have many contrasting aspects—land and sea, red and blue—they’re easy to build a design around.

You could design the text “Lion vs.

Orca,” split the background into red and blue, or depict the lion and orca in silhouette—there are plenty of layouts and concepts to explore.

Let’s create a pamphlet full of personality!

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Sketches of athletes

[Portraits] A thorough guide to copying athletes / Improve your illustration skills / Get better at drawing / How to draw

Sketches of athletes

Many people have probably tried copying (studies) as a common way to get started with drawing.

For students who are especially good at drawing people, I recommend doing studies of athletes.

Designing athletes for events like sports festival posters or pamphlets tends to draw attention! The key points are choosing the athlete’s pose and the composition.

It’s easy and recommended to use photos of athletes posted online as references.

It’s also a fun process to think about compositions while doing studies of your favorite athletes or athletes from various sports.

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white tiger

How about designing a white tiger with guaranteed impact for your sports day or athletics festival pamphlet? A white-and-black monochrome white tiger always looks cool, and even if you color the surroundings vividly, the focus will still go to the main subject—highly recommended! Even if part of it is cropped, drawing the subject as large and bold as possible makes the composition dynamic and helps convey your message.

Emphasizing the fangs and claws can also highlight its power.

Go ahead and draw a unique, cool white tiger!

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American comic style

Pop and cute! Here are some comic book-style ideas.

Beautifully designed illustrations are great, but this time let’s go for a pop and charming design.

Looking at the posted designs, you can see students and animals drawn with black lines on a white background, accented with pastel purple.

Items like chairs, buckets, brooms, and rags that evoke classroom cleaning time are key points.

If the theme is a sports day or athletic festival, then batons and headbands might fit, right? Be sure to incorporate these while adding your own twist.

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