Art Academy: Home Studio (previously known as Art Academy for Wii U) has had its release date set to June 25th, 2015 in North America during this week’s Nintendo Direct.
According to Nintendo, this version of Art Academy will include beginner to advanced lessons in different art techniques including the use of charcoal, pastels, paint, and colored pencils. Lessons are unlocked through gameplay.
Time-lapse videos of finished artwork can be uploaded to YouTube
Pieces of finished artwork can be saved to the Wii U SD card, as well as shared on Miiverse. The game also has a tool to create time-lapse videos of each art piece in progress, and these videos may be posted to YouTube.
On Nintendo’s site, Art Academy: Home Studio is currently priced at $30.00, though individuals who own the $4.00 Art Academy Sketchpad app already will receive a $4.00 discount when purchasing the game.
Is Art Academy: Home Studio worth the $30.00?
Some of the Nintendo fanbase doubts that the software is really worth $30.00. A thread on Reddit yielded some comments, including this one:
A look around the Internet reveals that there are, in fact, a few drawing tablets available for around $30.00. Paired with appropriate art software, such as PaintTool Sai, or Adobe Photoshop, a tablet may be far more versatile than the Wii U and Art Academy: Home Studio, although it may also be more expensive. The Nintendo related art lessons are also lost if opting for a tablet, but another quick scan of the Internet shows there are many YouTube video art lessons.
While game related art lessons seem like a nice concept, if I were really looking to hone my art skills (even if I am only going to draw video game characters!) I would invest in the tablet and software instead.
