Whether you're thinking about buying Art Academy: First Semester, trying to explain it to everyone else, or thinking about what lessons to do, it can be helpful to know a little bit about the structure of lessons in it. This guide will walk you through the Lesson mode of the game

First Semester is a DSiware title that can be played on the DSi and 3DS. It must be downloaded from the eShop. The cartridge version for the regular DS has the same lessons, but has no way to export a picture off the cartridge. The game has a second portion called Second Semester, which is the same price and covers more advanced topics. The engine, however, is exactly the same, so the two games' free paints are identical in everything but camera data.

The game has two modes: Lesson Mode, and Free Paint Mode. This guide is about this particular game's Lesson Mode. If you'd like to see what you can do with Free Paint mode, try looking in our folder, found here.

Within Lesson Mode there are a number of lessons, some of which have minilessons. This guide is primarily a guide to the lessons and mini-lessons of this game. Pictures of the end result can be seen here; each of these pictures won a group poll of pictures made during the same lesson.

If you're trying to figure out where to place your image in #Art-Academy-Users' galleries, please note that any lesson that appears in this guide goes in "First Semester Lessons" without exception. 

Lesson One: Tutorial (Apple)

Example by JMDespain

Media: Pencil

Topics: Controls, Tools, Pencil strokes, Pencil types, Pencil usage, Light and Shade, Background, Shadows

Lesson Two: Tutorial (Sunset)

Example by Dialektik

Media: Paints

Topics: Paints and Brushes, Warm and Cool, Brushstrokes, Reflections, Primary Colors

Lesson Three: Tree

Example by Malikyte

Media: Pencil and Paints

Topics: Toned ground, Underdrawing, Gesture, Movement, Essence, Shading, Construction Shapes, 

Lesson Four: Pear

Example by theacer250

Media: Pencil

Topics: Pencil techniques, light and shade, form and depth, chiaroscuro, still life, outline, grid use, position, proportion, value drawing, line drawing, highlight, layers, hatching, crosshatching, weighted lines, eraser marks

Minilesson Four: Pepper

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Example by PENvsSWORD

Media: Pencil

Topics: Rounded forms

Lesson Five: Lime

Example by Adrastia217

Media: Paints

Topics: Construction shapes, panes, underdrawing, line sketching, brush tips, blocking, building up tone, texture, sharp edges, midtones, reflection, smooth and rough light

Minilesson Five: Apple and Peach

Example by wateradept8

Media: Paints

Topics: Surfaces and reflections, surface texture

Lesson Six: Wave

Example by Padernoster

Media: Paints

Topics: Using water, movement, washes, form, transparency, overpainting, contrast, hard and soft edges, dry brush technique

Minilesson Six: Sailboat

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Example by Ridley126

Media: Paints

Topics: Water movement, brush strokes, warm and cool colors, highlight