Indigenous artist Emma Bamblett was on hand at North Melbourne's Arden Street headquarters on Monday morning to run an art class for players, coaches and staff ahead of Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

A Wemba Wemba, Gunditjmara, Ngadjonji and Taungurung woman, Bamblett is the artist behind the club's 2023 AFL Indigenous guernsey, titled 'Connecting Through Identity,' that the team will proudly wear this weekend against Sydney and in Round 11 against Collingwood.

She will also design an Indigenous guernsey for the club's AFL Women's team to wear in the upcoming season.

Bamblett took the opportunity to tell the players, coaches and staff more about the inspiration and meaning behind the guernsey design before they set out to create their own piece of artwork.

North Melbourne co-captain and Yorta Yorta man Jy Simpkin was among the players who participated in the class.

The 25-year-old spoke about the importance of Sir Doug Nicholls Round to him as he prepares to lead the team during the round as the first Indigenous captain in the club's history.

"(Sir Doug Nicholls Round) is really special for me, my family, where I come from and my community, and for the rest of the Indigenous community across Australia," Simpkin said.

"It's something that as Indigenous players we love playing in and it's probably the main round we look forward to."

While Simpkin admitted his painting skills needed some work, he said the team enjoyed trying a different activity to start the week.

"I'm not the best painter. I've got a bit of a shaky hand… but I think the boys have really enjoyed it. It's something we haven't done before," he said.

"Emma brought in a few canvases that already had designs on them. There were different long-neck turtles, sorts of fish, hills and landmarks (to choose from).

"I saw LMac (Luke McDonald) trying to do a bit of free hand… I'm not actually too sure what he was even trying to do, but it looked pretty interesting."