Disney Art Academy

If you picked up Pokémon Art Academy last year, you can expect more of the same in the new Disney Art Academy for the Nintendo 3DS: Guided art lessons drawing some of your favorite characters. It’s obviously a fantastic game to pick up for kids who love Disney or art (and what kid doesn’t), but it’s surprisingly relaxing and enjoyable for adults as well.

Disney Art Academy offers mini-lessons in using the stylus to draw your beloved characters from a range of Disney and Pixar films. You won’t find only Disney Princesses here: From Mickey Mouse to Nemo to WALL-E, you’ll find characters from everyone’s favorite Disney movies.

Lessons start simple in difficulty, tracing lines and filling in colors to learn about expressions and portraits. Even the beginner lessons offer valuable art tips for young artists, like how the placement of eyebrows or turn of a mouth can affect the emotions the character is conveying.

As the lessons progress, the artist will even learn how to use layers to make their mini masterpieces step-by-step. Your little artists might be on their way to using Photoshop in no time.

While the appeal of drawing Disney characters is understandably aimed at kids, don’t be afraid to take a whirl with the stylus yourself. Much like the current craze of adult coloring books, Disney Art Academy can be just what you need to take your mind off your troubles.

Because there are no user profiles, you will have to use your kids’ account if you want to try your own hand at a lesson. You don’t have to save it, however, so their progress won’t be affected. (This might also be a point of contention if you have kids who share the 3Ds.)

Free Paint doesn’t include walkthroughs, so you and your artistic skills are on your own, but there are plenty of Disney characters with guides for you to try your stylus at. The more lessons completed, the more characters you’ll find in that mode.

Disney Art Academy is perfect for adding a little bit of learning about art to your kids’ summer vacation, and for your much-needed quick breaks when you can catch one.

Disney Art Academy is now available for a retail price of $29.99.

A promotional copy was provided for review purposes.

All images © Disney