Creativity Express: Let's Start with Art!
© 2008 Madcap Logic
Elementary and middle school art teachers, take note of this collection of videos and tutorials, designed to work well either in or out of a classroom setting. "Let's Start With Art" is the first of four CDs, each with a collection of interactive art lessons. The other modules include Inspiration Activation, Form and Figure, and Dream in Color. We only reviewed the first CD: Let's Start With Art. After you sign in, you see a collection of 17 art lessons that cover "big ideas" such as "art as language" as well as practical topics like mixing colors, lines, movement, eyes, shape and form. For the Movement lesson, you can watch a collection of short videos (all in Flash) that illustrate the main ideas of the program. Those familiar with the online GeeArt program may recognize some of the content. Each lesson includes a set of interactive puzzles that might ask you to drag and drop a line of action onto an existing picture, or to choose a picture that best matches the type of action illustrated in a scene. At the end of each unit, a quiz is given, followed by right/wrong feedback on each question, and the chance to do the section over for a better score. Good scores are rewarded with artist cards, which can be collected over time. Individual records are kept, making this a great tool for teachers. Other content includes a glossary of key art concepts, an art gallery, and a portfolio for importing saved artwork. The program comes bundled with the ShareWare version of the New Zealand-made creativity program, ArtRage 2.5 (with many of the main features disabled), and teasers to purchase the full version -- a detail not fully disclosed on the box. All in all, this is an excellent collection of art tutorials that would enhance either an informal or formal visual art curriculum.
$30, Windows, Mac OSX
Teaches: art, visual creativity, drawing, sketching, light, motion, shapes
CTR Rating: 92%