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Parents' Guide to

Animation & Drawing by Do Ink

By Amanda Bindel, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Impressive animation tool; a bit complex for newbies.

App iPad Paid Education
Animation & Drawing by Do Ink Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

  • Animation & Drawing by Do Ink App: Screenshot #1
  • Animation & Drawing by Do Ink App: Screenshot #2
  • Animation & Drawing by Do Ink App: Screenshot #3
  • Animation & Drawing by Do Ink App: Screenshot #4
  • Animation & Drawing by Do Ink App: Screenshot #5

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What’s It About?

ANIMATION & DRAWING BY DO INK opens into the gallery, which includes any saved work and a couple of ready-made examples. The gallery includes clips of completed animations, drawings of still images, and compositions of animations. Kids click the plus sign to create a new drawing or composition and can access the gallery to pull in more drawings or compositions to add to the new composition. The help screen progresses from "first steps" in how to create a composition using existing drawings to how to use the shapes, color, and vector-path tools to create more advanced, original animations. Do Ink animations can be exported for use in Green Screen by Do Ink presentations too.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (1 ):

Animation & Drawing by Do Ink can work for beginners and experts alike. Beginners can create an impressive animation in only a few minutes, and experts can create custom animations with original drawings using advanced features. However, beginners may have a moment of panic when looking at that white screen surrounded by tools, so the tutorials are a must. Unfortunately, the in-app tutorial is all text and lengthy enough that some kids might give up. Having the video tutorials in-app would be nice, but it is helpful to watch the tutorial on a different screen while playing around with the app on another. The library of clip-art-like images is impressive, but don't worry if something is missing -- that's what the drawing tool is for. Saving and sharing creations is easy too.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how animation has changed with technology, from each sketch being hand-drawn for every movement to a tool like this easily creating animation.

  • If the written tutorial is hard to follow, show kids the tutorial videos available on the Do Ink website.

App Details

  • Device: iPad
  • Subjects: Arts : drawing, film
  • Skills: Creativity : combining knowledge, imagination, making new creations, producing new content, Tech Skills : digital creation, using and applying technology
  • Pricing structure: Paid
  • Release date: April 8, 2015
  • Category: Education
  • Topics: Arts and Dance
  • Publisher: DK Pictures, Inc.
  • Version: 4.5
  • Minimum software requirements: iOS 9.0 or later
  • Last updated: October 30, 2019

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