Crayola Make a Masterpiece
IBM	Ages 5 to 12

Rating Scale 5 = great,    1 = poor

Educational Value 3.5

Kid Appeal 4.5

Ease of Use 4.5

System Requirements

PC / Mac Price Survey

Product Support

Crayola Make a Masterpiece is similar in content to the extremely popular Kid Pix Studio from Broderbund. In addition to a plentitude of art tools ranging from the simple and familiar to the wacky and unique, Make a Masterpiece features a ‘Journal’ which investigates art techniques and highlights famous artists and their works.

Young virtuosos are invited into the Art Studio, where a blank palette surrounded by appetizing tools awaits. In addition to an array of basics (pencils, markers, crayons, chalk, oil and watercolors), creative talents are stimulated by stencils, stamps, backgrounds, starter photos and more. Animated stickers add a new dimension to on-screen creations. Neon lines flash with color, polarization and mosaic effect turn one picture into another. Paintings can be printed and saved, or annihilated with a screen-clearing blast. Those creations that are saved are hung in the program’s gallery, a virtual museum featuring the user--the most important artist of all.

Educational Value

Art software stimulates a child’s creativity, introducing him or her to art mediums that are difficult to explore away from the computer. With its expansive offering of tools, Make a Masterpiece allows kids to manipulate and experiment with color, texture, depth, shading, and more. It examines art technique in an easily understood guide, complete with examples of well-known works incorporating each of the various techniques.

Kid Appeal

Make a Masterpiece is a good, solid art package. Our kid reviewers spent hours investigating its every nuance, and were content to return to it over and over. "Every family should have at least one comprehensive art program of this type," recommended one parent reviewer, and "This is the kind of program that my kids will use most frequently over the years," was the forecast of another.

Ease of Use / Install

Make a Masterpiece installs easily on Windows 95.

Although program use is explained in the accompanying guide, SuperKids encourages parents to allow kids to explore the program with only minimal direction. Unstructured experimentation is the best way to truly encourage creativity and individual expression.

Best for... / Bottom-Line

With its abundance of art tools and options, Make a Masterpiece is on a par with Kid Pix, the current leader in the children’s art software category. Because of their similarity, buyers should let system compatibility, cost, availability and personal preference be their guides.

See SuperKids' comparisons with other art software titles, and the Buyers Guide for current market prices of the PC and Mac versions.

PC: Windows 95 or better, Pentium or faster cpu, 10 MB hard drive space, 16 MB RAM, SVGA monitor 640x480, Quad-speed or faster CD-ROM, Windows-compatible sound card.

Mac: System 7.5 or later, Power Macintosh or faster cpu, 10 MB hard drive space, 16 MB RAM, SVGA monitor 640x480, Quad-speed or faster CD-ROM.

Reviewed on:

PowerMac 6400/200 with 32MB and 8XCD

Pentium166 with 24MB and 12XCD

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