New Art Academy
Waaay back in the day, my sister bought me a Nintendo DSi imported from Japan. I saw a game called Art Academy for it and really liked the idea, as it seemed to be a fun way to learn how to draw. So I bought it, but when I got back home, the game wouldn't run.
I returned to the store and they told me that Nintendo had this "fun" regional control to prevent people from buying/playing games from other countries. Luckily, they gave me a refund (which they didn't have to, because it wasn't their fault). The result was that I had to pirate every game I wanted to play since there was no guarantee that they would work on my console. I guess in the end it saved me a lot of money so I'm not going to complain, but what a great sales strategy from Nintendo.
I never managed to pirate Art Academy due to its anti-piracy software. However, a few months ago I found a second-hand copy of New Art Academy for the 3DS and this time I could get it and play. What a great find after all these years!
New Art Academy is a game where the idea is to learn how to draw (duh!). But in my opinion it's done in a fun, progressive way. The base game has two courses: beginner and advanced. Each lesson within those courses consists of two paintings that you have to complete in order to learn something specific. And as you progress, you learn various concepts and tools. The first drawing of a lesson guides you step-by-step. The second drawing only gives you tips to follow as a reminder of what the steps were, but lets you make you own choices.
So for example, it has a lesson to learn how to draw living creatures. In this lesson, you have to draw a horse, which seems pretty complex at first. The teacher goes step-by-step, showing you how to get the lines in place, how to apply the base colors, how to add highlights, etc. Each step is fairly simple to follow, and the final result is very satisfying.
In the beginner course, you learn how to use the tools (mainly pencils, oils and pastels). It also teaches you how to understand the basic shapes of what you're drawing, how to take points of reference, perspective, some color theory, etc. The advanced course goes deeper, letting you decide which tools/colors you want to use. Instead, it teaches how to make good compositions, draw fabric, architecture, faces, etc.
The game also had DLCs, which I managed to buy right before the eShop closed. So if anyone reads this and it's considering the game, keep that in mind. Those DLCs were more specific, with stuff like painting fur, feathers, glass...or even mimicking the style of other artists such as Van Gogh.
For now I've only finished the beginner course, and that already taught me stuff such as painting clouds and water. The things I learned really worked when using the tools in Clip Studio Paint on my laptop, so it has been very useful. And because I actually have to practice the concepts, it works better for me than regular online courses, since you can't move on without completing the paintings first. Now, if only I was able to finish a full drawing outside the game...!
Oh, and once you finish each lesson, you can also put your drawing in your gallery. I really like seeing all the paintings I've made within the game; it makes me feel quite proud of myself. I didn't find a way to share the gallery itself, which presents your paintings as if they were in a museum that you can navigate. But I figured out how to export my paintings from the game, so here are some pieces from my gallery:
