Pokemon Art Academy Release Date (3DS)

The Pokemon Art Academy release date is October 24, 2014 in the U.S., exclusively for Nintendo 3DS. It will be available both digitally in the eShop and in hardcopy form.

Already out in Japan (June 19, 2014), Europe (July 4, 2014) and Australia (July 5, 2014), Pokemon Art Academy is developed by Headstrong Games & published by Nintendo as an edutainment game meant to teach you how to draw by using the popularity of the Pokemon franchise and it’s many characters as the vehicle to spark your interest in art.

Here’s the Pokemon Art Academy image gallery.
Click on any of these image thumbnails to see the full-size photos:


Pokemon Art Academy is made for all ages, both young & old. And will teach you art skills and art basics that can carry over from the game, and into the real world via various lessons that show you how. You then learn to draw by using the touchscreen on the 3DS.

Check out this trailer for Pokemon Art Academy.

Pokemon Art Academy is the latest game in the Art Academy series of drawing and art training software released for the DS, DSi, 3DS and Wii U platforms.

Pokemon Art Academy Airbrush Tool Gameplay Screenshot 3DS
Add impressive sheen to your art with the Airbrush tool.

Synopsis

Learn to Draw Pokemon!
In Pokemon Art Academy, players take on the role of a young aspiring artist who enrolls in the Pokemon Art Academy to learn how to draw Pokemon under the tutelage of Professor Andy.

Through ever-evolving lessons, players are taught the basics of art, from simple shapes and coloring to more complex methods like shading and blending. Along the way they are introduced to various tools they will use to create their art.

This Pokemon-themed installment of the Art Academy series offers Pokemon fans and budding illustrators alike 40 unique lessons to learn how to paint, sketch and draw beloved Pokemon characters in 2D. Along the way, students of Pokemon Art Academy can pick up actual illustration skills that they can transfer onto real canvas, or share their digital masterpieces with the world.

Pokemon Art Academy 3DS Sketches Montage
Become a Pokemon drawing master!

The Art Academy series made its debut on Nintendo DS in 2009, offering a comprehensive virtual art studio with a variety of realistically behaving art materials. Wield the stylus with tactile precision on the Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo 2DS touch screen to use a plethora of paint, pencils and pastels.

A hallmark of the Art Academy franchise is its easy-to-follow lessons with step-by-step guides that teach painting and drawing techniques. A friendly tutor takes students of all ages through these lessons, each of which breaks down complex-looking images into simple steps. Gradually, players pick up more new techniques that allow anyone to create artwork they can be proud of.

Pokemon Art Academy boasts 40 lessons in which players can encounter favorite Pokemon from throughout the series, such as Pikachu, Oshawott, Charizard, Torchic, Fletchling and Fennekin.

Pokemon Art Academy 3DS Montage Screenshot
Over 40 lessons to learn!

“The Pokemon characters themselves are among the most endearing and enduring aspects of the Pokemon video games, with everyone having their own favorite,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Pokemon Art Academy lets fans deepen their connection with these iconic characters by providing detailed lessons teaching how to draw them on their Nintendo 3DS or Nintendo 2DS in a straightforward and enjoyable way.”

Key Pokemon Art Academy Features:

* Players can learn to draw many of their favorite Pokemon from all known regions.

* Bring Pokemon artwork to life using a variety of tools.

* Create amazing pictures with step-by-step lessons.

* Once drawings are complete, artists can share their Pokemon art using Miiverse and local wifi.

* Post directly to Miiverse to show off your artwork with other Nintendo fans.

* Save art to an SD Card and print it out.

* The game is fun and easy for all ages and skill levels.

Pokemon Art Academy Menus And Toolbars Gameplay Screenshot 3DS
Here’s what the drawing menu toolbars & icons look like.

Here’s a little background on this little-known series for those unfamiliar with the Art Academy franchise (which is about to get a huge boost in popularity now that the Pokemon name is attached).

The first game in the Art Academy series was released digitally for the DSi service (the predecessor to the eShop for DSi & DSi XL handhelds) in 2009 as a two-part series called “Art Academy: First Semester” & “Art Academy: Second Semester“.

They included six and four different lessons teaching you how to draw by making use of the DS touchscreen (a unique feature at the time in the handheld system market).

Eventually Nintendo released an expanded version in hardcopy form for DS (simply called “Art Academy“) as part of their “Touch Generations!” Nintendo DS line in 2010.

A sequel with even more drawing lessons was released for 3DS in 2012 called “Art Academy: Lessons For Everyone!” (“New Art Academy” in Europe. Also the games go by “Artistic Taste Classroom” in Japan).

The series finally hit Wii U via the eShop in 2013 with “Art Academy: SketchPad“, allowing you to draw using the Wii U GamePad’s touchscreen, and allowing Nintendo fans to add color to their Miiverse drawings. SketchPad however scrapped lessons in favor of simply being a drawing tool.

A Wii U sequel to Art Academy: SketchPad, that includes lessons, was announced at E3 2014 but no details have been released at this time.

Pokemon Art Academy Outline Pen Tool Gameplay Screenshot 3DS
Use the Outline Tool to help in your creations.

I’ve always been an artist at heart, even though I can’t draw lick. During my elementary school years, starting in 2nd grade (about 7 or 8 years old) I began drawing and making my own characters. In those days, they were simply objects that I brought to life. These objects often had hands & feet, eyes & mouth, and that was about it. But I was proud of my creations.

Three that standout to me to this day are the characters I made called “Weldy Man” and “Windy”. The latter was… “the wind”, but in human form! To draw him I simply made a spiral for his head (think the Dreamcast logo) and gave him a Mega Man-inspired gunarm (8bit NES games were big inspirations in those days back in the early 90s & late 80s).

Windy, naturally, had the power to shoot wind out of his buster, he had a tornado attack, and a fierce powerblast that was a combo of “three tornados” with “lightning running through it”. Windy also had a high-pitched baby voice. Don’t ask me why.

Weldy Man on the other hand was simply the earth, with hands & feet. He was a gruff, heavy-hitting character who had “earth” powers (probably inspired by Captain Planet… “Earth! Wind! Fire! Water! Heart! When your powers combine, I AM CAPTAIN PLANET!” 😀 I loved that show).

I was inspired to draw Weldy Man by a poster of the Earth hanging on our 2nd grade classroom door. Amazing huh. Why “Weldy”. Cause the word looks similar to “World” silly. I just replaced the “O” with an “E”, took out the “R” and added a “Y”. Even back then I was practicing my English skills. A third character I remember was simply a red & white “Straw”, like you drink out of, with hands & feet and a eyepatch lol.

Pokemon Art Academy Paintbrush Tool Gameplay Screenshot 3DS
Use the paintbrush to add incredible realism to your art.

During recess, me and my two buddies would play “Characters”, where we brought these drawings to life, gave them powers, and created worlds and enemies to fight and battle. Inspired by Power Rangers (1993, I was in 3rd grade), I came up with the “Sponges”, they would appear like the Puddy in Power Rangers, and would enter the world via goo that would start appearing around us. Then they’d close in on us and we’d fight! They were, literally, giant sponges. Not even humanoid… Just big sponges who would “punch” and “kick” by bending the “corners” of the sponge. Yes I had an active imagination lol.

As I got older I eventually started making humans who simply had powers, being overtaken by the typical “Superhero” character archetype. Which is kind of a bummer looking back. I stopped drawing I believe sometime in Junior High (7th, 8th grade). I think I may have drawn my last character in Freshman or Sophomore year of High School. By the time I was a Junior & Senior age, my drawing days had come to an end.

My drawings were always very primitive, I had no natural talent (unlike one of my brothers), but my imagine is what made them amazing. Over the six years and many, many classrooms of ponderance and fierce sketching while the teacher wasn’t looking, I drew over 1,000 “characters” on paper and have kept all of them to this day.

I give that back story to illustrate how important art is to young kids. Even though I couldn’t draw to save my life, my imagination ran wild (often inspired by videogames, TV shows, movies, books, comics, animals, superheroes & anything else I learned about) and I did all I could to create amazing worlds and unique characters. When I played with toys (action figures) I would create “story arcs” that could last over several days or weeks, and came up with elaborate plots and backstories.

Pokemon Art Academy Story Gameplay Screenshot 3DS
Set off to become a famous Pokemon TCG artist!

This is fueled by art… That’s why I absolutely love the fact that Nintendo has gone to great lengths to create these edutainment style videogames. Remember Mario Paint? Nintendo has done this kind of thing for ages, and it makes me extremely happy to see that they are still doing it even today in 2014.

Pokemon is an extremely popular franchise that kids absolutely love. Pokemon, combined with this kind of art tutoring and drawing tools offered by Pokemon Art Academy, could literally be the catalyst that gets a kid into learning to draw. And for us adults like me, who left drawing behind a long, long time ago, it could serve as a re-awakening and re-introduction into the world of art.

I would love to learn how to draw. I consider myself to be extremely non-creative, but I know that is not entirely true. Somewhere up in that big brain of mine, are all kinds of crazy ideas.

Pokemon Art Academy Pastel Tool Gameplay Screenshot 3DS
Use the Pastel Tool to create depth.

I can’t wait to get my hands on Pokemon Art Academy, and to see if it re-awakens in me a desire to create art that I left behind in childhood.

I’m also very curious to see whether the drawing techniques and art lessons can really be translated from the game into real life, as they claim. And also want to see if the 3DS screen actually can be used to create incredible art.

I’ve seen others do it on Miiverse, so I suppose there is no question that it can be done…

Maybe it’s my stylus, but my 3DS seems to be extremely inaccurate when trying to draw. I’ve done it before using the Notes feature of the 3DS, and writing is extremely difficult because it’s hard to pinpoint the same exact position you were at while writing or drawing once you pick the stylus up and attempt to set it down again…

Either way, Pokemon Art Academy still looks like a fascinating game that is sure to get legions of new people into drawing who have never had the ambition to try it, or had that spark of interest, from any other drawing program or tool before.

This will also go far in getting the “Art Academy” name out there. I think once people see how amazing this title is, they will go back and look for the other games in the series that they missed out on.

Pokemon Art Academy Pencil Tool Gameplay Screenshot 3DS
Create impressive sketchart with the Pencil Tool.

Hopefully Pokemon Art Academy will be a big seller, and Nintendo and developer Headstrong Games can make other Art Academy titles based on popular Nintendo franchises.

How about a Zelda Art Academy, a Mario Art Academy, a Pikmin Art Academy, a Metroid Art Academy or a Star Fox Art Academy? The possibilities are endless! 😀

How excited are you for Pokemon Art Academy? Do you already know how to draw, or will this be your “introduction” to the world of drawing?