• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 11, age appropriate for kids over 12; suggested age 13.

• Is it any good?

  5.0

• Common Sense says

  Do-it-yourself animation site is supportive, safe, and fun.

Why We Rated This for Ages 13 and Up

The good stuff

• Educational value:

  Excellent tutorials and tools about online drawing and animation. No need to know Flash or other more complicated drawing and animation programs to use this site. Also, important information given about copyright and sharing work created online.
• User-created content:

  In addition to creating personal art and animation, users can also share their work or pieces of their work for others to use in their drawings (or keep it private, or just to view not share).
• Messages:

  This site offfers an easy, streamlined way to create, share, and get feedback on self-created art and animation online. Its community of users supports each other's creativity and seems to keep the art generally positive and within the PG-13 or G-rating. The site's spirit is very pro-art -- even if you think you can't draw!

What to watch out for

• Violence:

  A few of the images include violent themes. One of the currently most popular creations is labeled "warning: violent."
• Sex:

  None observed. But this site indicates that it is rated "PG-13" and its policy is to "remove any content that doesn't conform to PG-13 standard," but offers no guarantees that all will be indentified and removed. Since users can upload videos, it's possible they could contain sex comparable to what you'd see in a PG-13 movie.
• Language:

  None observed, but users can include words that would be comparable to what you'd hear in a PG-13 movie.
• Consumerism:

  Using this site is free, but virtual coins can be purchased with real money (400 for $5 or 1,600 for $20) to purchase special items, such as "premium props," from the bazaar that offer more art choices. So, while the site doesn't promote materialism, it doesn't ignore consumer culture -- or the fact that they could profit from it.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  None observed, but users are allowed to include any content that would be acceptable in a PG-13 movie, which could include mild drug or drinking.

How safe is it?

• Personal privacy:

  Site asks for birthday due to age requirement, but does not post it on users profile. Avatar, location and self-description can be added to profile.
• Online interaction:

  Other users can comment on and vote on the art (top vote getters get featured on the site's home page and blog).The site's editors moderate the site pretty hawkishly to ensure that the online interactions are positive or at least helpful.
• Parental controls:

  No parental controls, but a contact email address is listed.

What Parents Need to Know

About Do Ink

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