Weekly App Review: Draw & Tell

Screen shot from Draw & Tell app

This week I’m reviewing Draw & Tell. Draw & Tell is an art and story telling app developed by Duck Duck Moose, a design team that now collaborates with the nonprofit educational organization Khan Academy. The app allows the user to draw or color an image then narrate and animate their work to make a story.

Intended Use: The app is intended for making art.

Target Audience: The app is listed as being appropriate for ages four and up and the creators recommend it for ages three to nine. The bright colors and simple interface make it appropriate for young children (under ten) to use by themselves. Care givers can also support even younger children by working together.

Usability: The interface is easy to navigate with a touch screen and does not rely heavily on text. The app allows users to draw and paint with a wide range of colors on a blank canvas, a patterned background, or a photograph from the camera roll. There are also premade stickers which can be placed on top of the drawing and moved around while recording a story.

Cost: The app is free to download and there are no ads.

Technical Requirements: Available for iOS.

Pro’s: The app is easy to use and engaging for younger children. There are sound effects and music which help keep the user engaged in their art making (these can be turned off from the home screen). After making a piece of art, the user can record their voice to tell a story. During the recording process, they can move stickers around on the page to create an animation. Saved pictures can be organized into groups which allow the user to tell a story with multiple scenes. Completed works can be saved to the camera roll then easily shared through email or text.

Con’s: The user has limited ability to customize the drawing tools in the app. The main difference between each of the tools (paint, colored pencil, and crayon) is the width of rather than the texture of the tool. It is helpful to have a fine, medium, and thick brush, however, they are all solid colors. There are many bright colors available but the user cannot blend or mix their colors within the app.

Is it worth it? This app is worth your time if you have or work with young children. It may be a natural fit for art therapy as the app can support both art making and age-appropriate processing whether that is labeling, telling a story, or making an artist statement. It has features which support the creation of both simple and complex narratives. I imagine that expressive arts therapists can incorporate music (played during the recording phase). The app may also be a beneficial tool if you work with families (e.g. parent/caregiver and child can use the app together to facilitate art and story telling to improve their relationship, send greetings to family members who may live far away, etc.).

The app is not appropriate for older children or most adults as the interface is purposefully juvenile. Older children may reject it as “babyish” and adults may feel infantilized. Krita, ArtRage, Procreate, and Art Set are affordable alternatives for more sophisticated drawings. Visionn, Just a Line, or Stop Motion Studio are more age-appropriate video apps for adolescents and adults.

Weekly App Review: iPastels

This week I’m reviewing iPastels. iPastels is a free app that simulates the experience of drawing with (oil or chalk) pastels without the dust and mess of traditional materials. The app also includes layering capability. This allows you to make more complex drawings by adjusting transparency, being able to erase items separately, and to draw on/trace from a reference photograph.

Intended Use: The app is intended for making art.

Target Audience: The app is listed as being appropriate for ages 4 and up. The app can be navigated independently by users age 12 and up due to the size, language, and complexity of the menus.

Usability: There is slight learning curve with this app due to the wide range of options and customization for each tool. On the main menu, each material and tool is depicted by an icon. The drop-down menus, however, are text-based which makes them less user-friendly for younger children. There is an in-app manual which provides more detailed written information about all of the tools and controls. The tools are somewhat pressure sensitive (tested on a phone with digits, not a stylus).

Cost: The app is free, however, there are in-app upgrades that can be purchased for $4.99 (e.g. wider range of paper colors, etc.). If you are considering this app for a school or on a device which restricts in-app purchases, you can download the iPastels School/Office Edition for $4.99 instead.

Technical Requirements: Available on iOS (iPad, iPhone, and Mac)

Pro’s: The app is powerful in terms of customizing tools for drawing and simulating the blendability of pastels. The layering function allows for precise control that I haven’t seen in many other free drawing apps. The number of lays, however, is restricted in the free version.

Con’s: The app’s text is available in English language only. The drawing area is fairly small on the phone and would require using a stylus for detail work. Alternatively, the app could be used on an iPad. Purchase is required to unlock some of the additional features including paper textures, photo tracing mode, eyedropper tool, unlimited layers, and geometry/shapes.

Is it worth it? The app has a lot of powerful features but would be most worth it for iPad or Mac users due to the limited screen size of most phones. There are plenty of robust tools for casual or beginner users on the free version. The paid version would be best for serious or advanced users.

Screenshot from the iPastels app on iPhone.

Weekly App Review: Drawing with Carl

This image was created with the Drawing with Carl app using the spray paint, water color, crayon, and scroll brushes in symmetry mode as well as monster eyes and mouth stickers. In the app, the mouth is animated and giggles.

This week I’m reviewing Drawing with Carl. Drawing with Carl is an art app for children developed by Tayasui (the makers of Sketches). The app allows the user to draw and paint with digital tools including pencil, marker, stamps, water color, paint/pattern roller, and spray can. A mirror mode allows the user to create symmetrical drawings. This features is great for faces and mandalas. There are also stickers with animations and sounds which bring your drawing to life. Users can even import and draw on their own photographs.

Intended Use: The app is intended for making art.

Target Audience: The app is listed as being appropriate for ages 4 and up and geared for children ages 6-8 to use independently. Younger children may enjoy using the app with a caregiver or therapist.

Usability: The interface is easy to navigate with a touch screen. The app allows users to draw and paint on a blank canvas or on top of an imported photo. Stickers also add an element of collage.

Cost: $1.99

Technical Requirements: Available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Pro’s: The app is easy to use, engaging, fun, supports creative expression, and available in multiple languages. The optional monster stickers add an element of sound and amplify the silliness which make it more entertaining for the user.

Con’s: Although the app could be enjoyable for kids and kids at heart, the look of the app skews on the juvenile side. Older children and adults may find the app infantilizing. The simple tools would not offer enough control and precision for more detailed drawings. The app is currently only available for iOS.

Is it worth it? This app is worth your time and money if you are working with younger children. It would not be worth it if you are working with older children or most adults.