Amaziograph

What is Amaziograph app?

Kids and adults alike find creating artwork both stimulating and relaxing. Not all of us have the artistic talent to tap into this satisfying activity, but Amaziograph is a unique take on an art app that confers a kind of creative ability on anyone that uses it. 

Users of Amaziograph use its simple drawing tools to build up intricate patterns. What might be a random doodle with pen and paper becomes an exquisite pattern when Amaziograph’s various tools are engaged. Symmetry, rotation, repetition and more combine and overlap to produce abstract art.

This review of Amaziograph focused on using it with an iPad and Apple Pencil. You can use the app with Android devices and other Bluetooth stylus types on all devices. The app doesn’t require a stylus, and you can create great images with your finger, but you’ll get extra precision and ease of use if you have one.

What we love about Amaziograph app.

It is almost impossible not to produce something beautiful once you start using Amaziograph.

It is amazing how the simple toolset, layers, and effects combine to produce unique artwork each time. At first, you might marvel at how random doodles can become so beautiful, but with experience, you’ll be able to aim for artwork that reflects what you have in your mind’s eye.

Despite the simplicity of the app’s tools and its clear layout, Amaziograph has an admirably comprehensive website to support its users. This website explains how the app works and how to get the most out of it because while each tool is simple, combining them holds massive potential for producing fantastic artwork. New users will be able to begin creating immediately, but by learning more and experimenting, they will begin to feel like they have more control over the outcome. Those people and kids who like the mesmerising build-up of intricate patterns and colours will be satisfied with the relaxing nature of working with the app to see what emerges.

Amaziograph is a lovely app for users to just do what feels right at the time. Concentrating on producing something within a certain style or aimlessly doodling are both calming activities.

What skills does it teach?

Amaziograph doesn’t directly teach skills or knowledge but has educational uses and user benefits. These will depend on how teachers and parents support kids with the app. Further details of how educational benefits might be derived from Amaziograph will be discussed later in this review.

What age is it appropriate for?

Children and adults of any age can enjoy using Amaziograph.

Is Amaziograph app easy to use?

Anyone who has used a simple art app or package should be able to pick up how to use Amaziograph almost instantly. It has familiar tools such as a brush, fill, and erase. Those new to art apps will find Amaziograph a great introduction as it is easy to work out through experimentation. Its similarity to more general-purpose art apps, including the use of layers, makes what users learn transferrable.

The different effects are easy to switch between and fun to explore. The app also supports you as you draw by recognising when you want to form, for example, a circle and completing your shape perfectly round.

How will students benefit?

Amaziograph is a relaxing app to use without any extra support and produces satisfying results. Kids who would like to draw but feel that they don’t have the skill or ability can enjoy the benefits of visual creativity.

Amaziograph is useful for kids to practise holding and using a pen because the app is most rewarding with a stylus. Kids will enjoy not repeating letters over and over but will still have the opportunity to create small and detailed symbols. They could even stick to letters but see them in a new artistic layout.

How will parents’ benefit?

Amaziograph is a good relaxation exercise. Over-excited kids will calm as they build up their complex images, choose colour schemes, and experiment with different effects. The app has the potential to hold kids’ attention for a long time. They can start using it instantly, either creating a new drawing or expanding on one they have previously started.

On long journeys and other times when kids want entertaining, they will enjoy the openended creativity of this app. Parents and those around the kids using Amaziograph will appreciate that it does not need sound and does not frustrate kids.

As a very cheap one-off purchase, this is a great app to treat kids with something new when you know they’ll appreciate something to do.

How will teachers benefit?

Although Amaziograph does not have much direct teaching content, it does have enough hooks for teachers to use creatively.

• The app’s simplicity and intriguing results make it a great way to introduce kids to digital art packages.
• Symmetry and geometric designs appear in the artefacts of many present-day and historical cultures. Teachers can explore these using the effects within Amaziograph as a fun way for kids to link creativity to their learning.
• The aesthetic possibility of geometry and the keywords used, such as symmetry, axis and more, will let creative math teachers bring an inspiringly creative aspect to their lessons.

What can Amaziograph app improve on?

Amaziograph has a layers function to make changes that won’t harm other parts of the image and to give you control over which elements of the drawing overlay others. It is easy to create a new layer manually each time you change the type of effect, but it is easy to forget — especially for kids. An option to have switching to a new effect automatically create a new layer would be very convenient.

As the app has such a comprehensive supporting website, adding some background information to inspire using the app in lessons would be helpful. Non-artistic teachers could use the app in art lessons, link some of it to geometry lessons, or refer to the use of abstract symmetry by historical and present-day cultures.

Good to know

Amaziograph is designed for use on larger screens and is best with a stylus. You can use the app without a stylus, but it works much better with one as the user has far greater control. On iOS, you can only download the app to iPads, not iPhones. 

The app’s images can be saved in common file formats such as png or jpg for standalone artworks. You can also save in the app’s own file format when you want to continue the editing process later and retain the layers. This allows the creation of templates which teachers could use to start kids off when using the app.

The easy output in common file formats also makes the artwork produced in Amaziograph readily accessible in other apps. Kids might use them as an element in other digital artwork, as backgrounds for digital books they have created or in any other way that their imagination prompts.

How much does Amaziograph app cost?

Amaziograph does not have a trial version, but its cost is at the lowest tier of outright purchase. For this one-off price, you get all of the app’s features and functions permanently.

Is Amaziograph app safe to use?

Amaziograph is a blank canvas on which its users can create, so all its content is safe for kids. The images created in Amaziograph are shareable, but this takes place through other apps and features such as AirDrop or Mail. The app does not link to social media.

Overall rating of the app.

Amaziograph is a fascinating app that you’re bound to enjoy using again and again. Don’t be put off if you don’t have a stylus for your tablet, as you can still produce art without it, but it is especially good with the extra control. It is difficult to put an educational value on Amaziograph because that isn’t its primary purpose, but we still recommend it for educational settings and uses. It is a great way to get kids creating and a wonderfully calming exercise for kids, parents and teachers.

At such a low price and as a participant of the Apple Volume Purchasing program, Amaziograph is excellent value. If any of the creativity described in this review of Amaziograph interests you or your child, download it. You’ll be glad you did.

You can download Amaziograph on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the Amaziograph app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.