Richard Galbraith's Cartoon Workshop 1

Richard Galbraith's Cartoon Workshop 1 is a neat app for iPads that helps children learn to draw in a cartoon style. The app contains seventy two different cartoon drawings, each of which is broken down into steps to make it easier to copy and follow the process. A second iPad app, called "Richard Galbraith's Cartoon Workshop 2" is also available, which follows exactly the same format, but contains an additional seventy two drawings that can be used for children who want to learn more, or for variety of content. 

Throughout the app, the style is very simple and user friendly, and each of the cartoon illustrations is designed well to appeal to children. The themes will also be engaging to the target audience, with the first app containing simple drawings, heroes, villains, animals, cute cartoons and funky food, whilst the second app contains people, fantasy drawings, the sea, aliens, robots and cool stuff. Each category has twelve drawings within it, and the style and design is consistently high throughout both apps. 

Once a child selects the cartoon the would like to draw, they are taken through a series of very simple steps to draw one part at a time. The drawings are broken down well such that no individual stage looks too daunting to achieve, and the final step in each drawing is to add colour. For children who can read, there is written commentary alongside each step of the design, which sometimes includes hints that the child can use elsewhere, such as "the eyebrows make a big difference to the expression". Each app also has a short but useful tips section included. In the first app, this explains a little more about giving characters expression using different facial features, whilst the second app contains more general information about how to draw.

Although these apps do not have a wide range of features, they do have plenty of content to keep children engaged over time. The app is simple enough to let children use by themselves, and suitable for either a school or home situation. In schools, the apps could be used to support topic work or develop illustrations for written work, as well as more obviously in art lessons. The app will appeal to children across a wide age range, with its classic cartoon style. Although written commentary is available for those children who can make use of it, the app is so easy to navigate that a child who cannot read will still be able to access the content for themselves. Overall, these apps are well designed for what they set out to do.