
Nintendo's latest foray into its Art Academy series will no doubt appeal to the arty and the creatively-minded, but that's not the only audience that can benefit from Art Academy: Atelier (known as Art Academy: Home Studio in North America).
This reporter has barely touched an art supply in ten years, and has never really had much of an interest in producing any kind of fine art, but having a go at this new title proved that being a competent artist isn't the pipe-dream many believe it to be.
Check out this video below where you can see what following one of the earliest lessons in the game can help you to produce, even if you have no previous experience. Moreover these are real techniques that can be applied to real-life artistry, no tracing or clever digital shortcuts allowed!
The ambience, the charm, and the visuals in the game are all incredibly captivating, as you can discover for yourself by reading our glowing review of the title.
Art Academy: Atelier launches on 26th June 2015 in Europe and Art Academy: Home Studio launches on 25th June 2015 in North America.
Comments (14)
Back when SketchPad came out I was so excited! I initially thought we would get this game +/- 1 year later...it took so long I bought an iPad and now use it to create art. I'll still buy the full version since it has lessons but its a bit late
@AlexOlney Art Academy: Ate-LEER? Are you consciously TRYING to p*** off the French? (it's pronounced Ah-tul-jay)
But seriously: nice drawing, especially if you haven't had any previous experience, so I'd say you have a right to be proud of it. Cheers.
Art lessons in elementary and middle school failed me so much. Because of that I always figured some people can draw and some people can't. Nope, I learned to draw from the 3ds art academy games, they really do teach you well. I eventually had to move on from it because the touch screens on wiiU and 3ds arn't pressure sensitive and I decided to work exclusively in colored pencil.
In just a few months I was making some good looking drawings, specially for someone with zero skill coming in. I've since bought a professional set of colored pencils and draw in my free time. I highly recommend art academy games to anyone who wants to learn to draw. You don't need any experience, and you don't even need to know the difference between a pencil and a rocket ship.
I can promise anyone can learn to draw with these games and the skills most definitely transfer to real physical tools.
@Yorumi I've learned that there are three types of people when it comes to arts. Those who are naturally talented, those who are technically talented, and those will no talent in it. The easiest example of this would be those that naturally are gifted at singing and can harmonize and do other things without real thought. Then there are people who can be trained to sing. Finally, there are those that cannot carry a tune in a bucket.
Most people can be technically talented at drawing, it is just that most do not want to invest the time or have the opportunity to be instructed in a way that they can understand. It's good to hear that Art Academy does a good job presenting technical drawing in a different way that makes it more accessible to people.
@Darknyht I think it's more that it teaches proper techniques. My experience with school(and this wasn't any kind of art school it was just the general art classes 5-12 year olds get) was they only teach to people with natural talent. Most of the classes consisted of things like "draw a picture of your pet," "paint a sun set," "look at a magazine and draw a picture from it," etc. People with natural talent obviously eat that up. Of course my pictures looked awful, so until I was 30 I figured I couldn't draw.
What art academy did was show you an image and then now we're going to show you the steps to draw this image. It shows you how to deconstruct things into shapes, how to mix colors, the theory behind color, how shading works etc. That's what made the difference, they assume you have no natural talent and it's their job to teach you the skills you need to draw. I could have learned to draw 20 years ago if someone had done that.
I eventually had to buy some more technical books and thing to advance further, art academy has it's limits(and like I say no pressure sensitivity). However, for people who have never been able to draw, stick with it for a few weeks and you will be blown away by what you're making.
It's crazy how Alex and I took the same lesson, but ended up with quite different results, stylistically. Mine's a bit boxier, bit sharper, because it's simply how I wanted it to look while I was going through each step.

Love how you're given the freedom to develop your own creative style.
@AlexOlney
So is this music you added yourself or one of the options for the youtube upload? Can't wait most of the game is predownloaded.
How much is it if you own Sketchpad?
@Nintenjoe64
I got 5 dollars off so it is 37. 29 or 37.49 without sketchpad before tax (I just came from the eshop from checking, I sometimes have horrible short term memory).
I am in Canada though so that is more than the US price. Wjth the Splatoon fiasco I don't if it's going to a direct conversion to pounds from US dollars or not.
@AlexOlney it is very nice
@Yorumi It probably varies with school and teacher. I took Art I-III in high school and it did a basic job of introducing various styles and techniques, starting with basic shapes and advancing. However, I am a very technical artist mainly with skill in capturing what I see, I almost completely lack the ability to create from my mind's eye. I also by far most comfortable with pencil or charcoal. So by Art III, I realized I couldn't really go much further in the direction they wanted to.
On the other hand, I cannot operate two things independent of each other musically which is why I cannot dance or play a drumset. Instead I had to settle for learning the cornet/flugelhorn.
@Darknyht yeah I figure it varries by school and all but my guess would be people who think they can't draw probably had a somewhat similar experience where anyone who attempted to give them instruction just failed completely at the task.
To add some mistery: where does the slice come from, since the apple is intact?!
@AlexOlney
Thanks for sharing, very nice work.
That shadow was looking particularly phallic for a while before you 'polished it off'.
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