Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone

Genre: Art Application

Players: 1

.

Review:

Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone is an Art Application released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. As with prior games in the series, this game provides players with multiple interactive tutorials intended to teach players how to draw and paint.

For those wondering what’s changed here since the original Nintendo DSiWare Art Academy games and their Nintendo DS physical release, the Nintendo 3DS entry in the series features an improved presentation with art tools that are capable of more nuanced use for more realistic artworks. As a result, I would say that Lessons for Everyone features more involved tutorials, and a much greater focus on painting in those tutorials (though drawing is still included as well).

With an improved presentation comes a more detailed pre-rendered version of series mascot Vince, a looped video intro, and the ability to swap the top screen between photos of objects you’re attempting to draw and the game’s demonstration of how to do so step by step. This is backed by some lovely instrumental music that creates a calm, relaxing tone for the game.

The tutorials themselves are useful but not rigid or overly-specific – players are told step by step what to do and why they’re doing it, but their works are not critiqued, and the skills being taught could be applied to anything. And much like the previous release of the game, both beginner and advanced tutorials are included here, along with the ability to purchase a dozen or so additional paid DLC tutorials for $2 each with each containing two “lessons” with topics ranging from specific subjects like drawing fur or reflections, techniques like pointillism, and art styles like Monet, Turner, and Van Gogh. It’s not comprehensive, but it should be a good start to learning proper art techniques that you can later bolster with a proper class.

There’s also an ability to simply draw or paint art using the game’s interface, free from the structure of lessons. However, this Application still lacks common features found in other art applications, such as copy-paste. At the very least, this game does allow players to store their works on the MicroSD card so they can more easily transfer those works to PC for later use.

When it comes to complaints, I feel like the level of detail this game adds highlights how insufficient the small bottom screen of the Nintendo 3DS is for creating art. Some of the more subtle details this game has the players making are hard to see, with stuff like smearing paint with water to create gradients, something that often doesn’t seem to be having any effect at all. Moments like these can definitely lead to frustration, and make you wonder if you’re doing something wrong, or perhaps if the game isn’t working properly.

However, for the most part Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone is a well-crafted handheld art tutorial Application, with a decent but somewhat lacking art creation Application. If you’re looking to brush up on your art skills while waiting for a bus or in the doctor’s office, this is a pretty good way to go, though it’s not without its flaws.

tl;dr – Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone is an Art Application that aims to teach players basic art skills. This game improves on prior games in the series with an improved presentation and more extensive art tutorials. The small size of the Nintendo 3DS’s screen makes this platform less than ideal, and there are still some conspicuously absent features this Application lacks, but overall this is an excellent way to get some simple art lessons on a portable platform.

Grade: B-

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Ben, Andy Miller, Exlene, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Talissa, Eli Goodman, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Ilya Zverev, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}