Smart Photo Editor for Kids

[eadams Profile]

Yesterday I did some "artwork" with my 4-year-old grandson on the computer for the first time, and we both had a great time. We used the program Mischief for the drawing part, but we could have used any drawing program. My grandson wanted to draw a T-Rex dinosaur, but wasn't satisfied with his results, so in the end I took an Internet image and we scribbled over it.

trex mischief screenshot.jpg (139.83 KiB) Viewed 2292 times

I turned it into a neon monster with Topaz Glow, which I am trying out, and my grandson flipped out. He loved it! So I took the neon version into SPE and let him scroll through the effects. He added two effects: Infrared Winter by bdotsontfa and Cool vintage #3 by superdave. The result:

trex spe.jpg (697.83 KiB) Viewed 2292 times

The result is too neon-y and garish for my taste, but my grandson loved it and we had loads of fun. I realized that SPE is not only a tool for adults to enhance their images, but also a program that kids would love to play with. I would encourage anyone who has kids to let them try their hand at SPE!

Regarding the program Mischief - I bought it solely for the purpose of letting my grandchild draw on the computer. The user interface is minimal, therefore easy to master, and the canvas is infinite. This means I don't have to save every single drawing my grandchild makes before starting a new one (he never lets me delete anything). I only have to push the drawing to the side.

[Arwin Profile]

Yeah cool to see what they can do with SPE (and learning quick )

I've a nephew of 9 and when he is over, he always wants to play with SPE!
Firsttime he asked, I thought, yeah why not, go play and I will see where you would come up with, but after a while he said, Arwin I dont want to play with effects I want to create them, like you do..

Well, I told him that this part of spe is a bit more difficult to do, but did give him some directions to start with and although there are no master pieces (yet) he loves to connect nodes, play with the sliders and see things are changing in his image!

Just cool to see how he sees connections, how things work and learning, it really amazes me

Wonderful to see the creations of your 4-year-old grandson, I can feel his excitement and enjoyment!

Cheers,
Arwin

[andrewb2012 Profile]

Hi Eve,

Thanks for this lovely contribution that has been a inspiration to me such that I had a little play with some graphics that I created and posted the results in a new post called 'The Show Must Go On...'

Tell your very talented grandson how nice it is to hear that he is enjoying SPE and building the knowledge to create his own effects - now, I've said in the past that I wanted to encourage others to create and contribute their own effects, never thought for a minute that these might come from a 4 year old, but when we think of music, we know that many great composers started at a young age. So well done to him and to you for encouraging his artistic development which I hope brings him (and his family) great joy now and in the future.

I like how the motif was made and the fact that it was quite minimalist - which I think lends itself to digital manipulation. Topaz 'Glow' which I've just recently noticed, seems to produce results very similar to Redfield's Fractalius plugin for Photoshop - no doubt it has a wider range of effects. I like this kind of effect, but it can be very overdone - not in this instance - it certainly will appeal to a 4-year old as it is very dramatic! Just had another look - and 'jumped' when I saw it again! haha.

Thank for widening the target audience for SPE - which might now be in the range of 4-110+

Keep up the good work.

Enjoy your creative times with your gandson!

Cheers,

Andrew