Reflection on Graphics Programs

Well, like the stereotypical business educator, I am not particularly artsy. My wife, daughter, grandfather, and great-grandmother are/were. As I type this, I find myself looking at the beautiful painting of a hilly area in Bohemia done by my great-grandmother in the 1950s. She must be laughing at my ineptness and lack of enthusiasm for some of our graphics sites. However, I do understand that at least one of these sites will be very useful and exciting for my Financial Life Skills 8th and 9th graders at Falls North.

Let me list and describe these sites in order of worst-to-first for me:
--Sketchcast--could not figure it out with a reasonable effort
--MyDrawings--very difficult for me to get started
--Jackson Pollock--much too abstract with too little control (you know us business-oriented people like to have some control!)
--Queeky--very confusing for me
--Comics Sketch--not my thing but I could see some students utilizing this in Financial Life Skills in our Consumerism unit. Instead of writing a complaint letter, artistic/creative students could use this to draw a comic in which a customer was appropriately complaining about a legitimate issue with a product or service. Students who learn better visually vs. writing could learn more from this. I will "play" with this before we do Consumerism in December. I may even have a student come in during their study hall and sample it before I offer it as an option to all.
--Art Pad--this was the first site that I could actually handle but mostly because I liked the text part of it. I found the brush and bucket parts boring.
--Mr. Picasso Head--fun site because I grew up with the first generation of Mr. Potato Head. I am curious how this site could be used in classes other than art. I am thinking of social studies and projects regarding immigrants, settlers, or workers.
--Cumulate Draw--This one is the winner for me! I can envision using this in our Stock Market unit so that students can visualize what a diverse portfolio (mutual fund) should include. Instead of just talking about companies from different industries, each student could create a graphic organizer, using companies and logos to dress it up.

I am currently playing with this site and have found the variety in sizing, colors, shapes, and lines to be strong with easy use. However, I am struggling with how to save finished files. I could not retrieve practice graphics from Wednesday and I am not clear on how I have been able to save one from today. I hope it continues to be there. I look forward to adding company logos (that is my artistic strong suit) from the Internet to the Cumulate Draw graphic. Great-grandma Julia would be proud!