Doodle 4 Google is Here!

Thanks Charlyn Doyle for sharing this information with us!

FYI!  The Doodle 4 Google contest is open thru December 2, 2016

“What I see for the future…”

The 2016 Doodle 4 Google contest kicked off on Wednesday, where art-loving K-12 students from across the U.S., Guam and Puerto Rico are invited to bring their imagination to life in a doodle of the Google logo, using any medium they choose. The winning masterpiece will hang on the Google homepage for a day, where millions will enjoy it.

Students can apply here!

Art Made Easier with Hello Oil Painter & Hello Water Color

My father is an artist. When I was younger I remember going driving with him through the country so he could take photos of landscapes he wanted to recreate on canvas. He painted beautiful landscapes of bluebonnets, towering oak trees, farmhouses and fields. He tried, with much patience, to teach me his craft. Needless to say, I am not the artist he is, but I have found that I can channel my inner artist using apps on my iPad. 

Hello Oil Painter is an easy & fun oil painting app with a palette that lets you mix and manipulate colors. The free version doesn't provide too many colors, but with the mix option, you can create your own. 

Hello Water Color is a watercolor app with several brush types and a pencil to outline your designs. I was impressed by the realistic look of paintings. The full version comes with additional brushes, colors and colored pencils.

Download the free versions to see how you like them. The full versions are only $1 each. I think students would enjoy using these apps to create illustrations for books, projects or designs.

Channel Your Inner Picasso with Drawing Box

Drawing Box is a free drawing app with several tools and a million colors to choose from - maybe not a million colors, but close. There is also a paid version of this app for $2.99. I think it might be worth the investment. We'll talk about the paid tools momentarily.

In the free version you have access to various paper types and backgrounds as well as pencils, brushes, rollers, stamps, a symmetry tool and paint colors. You can create up to 6 drawings but each drawing can be saved the camera roll so once you've made your masterpiece you can save it and then delete it to make room for more.

The paid version provides more features such as color mixing, tool pressure sensitivity, importing pictures and the ability to export your drawing as a movie. This last feature looks really cool - it shows from start to finish how a drawing was developed. 

Overall, I give this app to thumbs up - even the free version is great. There are also Drawing Box videos available on YouTube you might want to check out. They show an older version of the app, but it will give you the general idea.

Shmoop.com

Shmoop.com isn't the easiest website to explain. It has so much great content that it's hard to know where to start.

Free stuff you'll find on the website - 
1. Study Guides for ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art & Music and more.
2. College & Career Help
3. Over 3,000 videos
4. Writing Labs
5. Teacher Guides

They also have online courses, test prep materials for SAT, ACT, PSAT and AP courses - these aren't free.

Shmoop aims to combine a teen-friendly, approachable style with academically rigorous materials. Here's a link to their video explaining a little more about their site - What is Shmoop?