With every new generation of Pokemon games, there is bound to be a series of side-games that don’t necessarily conform to the series’ RPG roots. One of these games is Pokemon Art Academy, a Pokemon themed iteration of the Art Academy series which aims to offer budding illustrators and general fans alike the opportunity to enjoy 40 lessons on how to paint, sketch and draw characters from the series.
Nintendo have today confirmed that this game will be released internationally in North America and PAL regions come July 5th, 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS platforms.
Pokémon Art Academy boasts 40 lessons in which players can encounter favourite Pokémon from throughout the series – even including those from the recent Pokémon X and Pokémon Y games – such as Pikachu, Oshawott, Charizard, Torchic, Fletchling, Fennekin and many more! Students can progress through four different levels of lesson, beginning with first drawings in Starter, discovering new skills during Novice and Apprentice, and culminating with mastering a new talent in Graduate courses. They will first learn how to draw colourful Pokémon profiles, then build up Pokémon out of simple shapes like a cartoonist. Later lessons introduce colouring techniques such shading, shadow and depth that bring drawings to life. For the first time in the Art Academy series, it’s even possible to add a finishing touch by placing completed artwork against a selection of backgrounds for dramatic effect.
Outside the guided lessons there is also the obligatory “Free Paint” mode which allows players to draw anything, with 100 reference pictures of Pokemon included for inspiration. They haven’t confirmed what these Pokemon are, but it is slightly surprising they don’t provide a reference for all 719 currently available in the series. Not an exciting title for me personally, but may appeal to fans of the series who are at least half-competent in drawing.
