Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. This is attributed to Pablo Picasso. It’s true about most of us. Even before we start with the alphabet, we learn how to scrawl and draw. But most of us leave the drawing pencil or the crayon behind while growing up. Second to playing a musical instrument, it’s perhaps learning how to wield a brush that’s on most wishlists.
Maybe, our own won’t come true but maybe we can inspire the younger ones in our families to pick up where we left off. Thanks to a variety of interactive art applications and fun art games on the web, we can reboot the appreciation of art.
Fun art games are a cool way of not only releasing our creative instincts, but they are educational too. Don’t drop the palette and the brush, but do check out these ten interactive art websites for some art games and interactive fun.
Art Detective (The Case of The Mysterious Object) is an art puzzle for kids hosted on the website of Tate Britain. It is a family of four art galleries exhibiting the UK’s collection of British art from 1500 and of international modern art. The Tate Kids section of the site has a lineup of 13 cool art games that you can check out.
The section devoted to the Tate Young has an interesting art educational tool called Saturation which a budding artist can use to understand colors down the ages from 1950 to the present day.
From one master to the next: Using this uncomplicated drawing app, you can create figures using elements of Pablo Picasso’s painting style. To get an idea, take a look at a few ‘Picassoheads’ in the Gallery section. Simply use the mouse to drag, drop, and arrange the elements to create heads.
This art and educational website is part of the world’s wealthiest art institution – The J. Paul Getty Trust. If you are in Los Angeles, there’s the J. Paul Getty Museum to visit. GettyGames gives you four art games and one activity to spend time on. Detail Detective teaches you to pay attention to details; Math Madness is about memory skills; Switch is about spotting the differences; and the Jigsaw Puzzles are what they suggest. All games are based on images taken from the world of art and architecture.
99Rooms.com is less of a game but more of a visually stimulating online exhibition of wall paintings, photography, and animation combined with sound (and backend programming). You have to switch on lights and gradually advance through each room. A sister project is Ana Somnia; both are examples of how many disciplines can come together and extend the boundaries of art.
The coolness factor of this art website is that you can create your own artwork, write a message, and send it to someone. From finger painting to paint tools like confetti and Jell-O, let your imagination run wild. Sounds like a unique way to send an animated ‘painted’ card for New Year (though the form was hanging on me).
iSketch is a multiplayer online sketching game where one player draws a sketch and others have to guess the word which explains it. There are several rooms each having a theme of its own and arranged according to the difficulty of the words. There’s a sketch studio too where you can draw your own sketches and sent to other users.
iSketch is not an ‘art’ game in its strictest sense, but it involves drawing skills and is whole lot of fun
Architecture is the most massive expression of art you can think of. In this online app you get to design a house from the ground up with the famed architect – Frank Lloyd Wright. He is regarded as the greatest American architect of all time. This web tool is a great learning aid for designing a house according to the principles laid down by Wright. Here you can design a house, walk through it in 3D, and then share it with the world.
Have you tried any fun online art games before? Do you think that it’s a great way to explore your (or your child’s) artistic side?
