Learn how to draw famous cartoon characters from video tutorials

Drawing now has excellent video Tutorials on how to draw some famous cartoon characters of the last fifity years.  Great Art Activity or just something different for a change.  Access it here.

MobyGratis - Free Music for Students

This site has copyright-free music by Moby that students can use for their classroom projects.  You will need to create an account and can access it here.

Soundation is another top audio app run straight from the browser

Make no mistake Myna is Garageband in the Browser for mine is a far superior product to Soundation but nonetheless Soundation is another great tool for those want to get creative on the web and make some music with minimal fuss.  Students and teachers can use this tools as a powerful online sequencer with 11 real time effects, 3 synthesizers, a drum machine and a fully integrated Sound Shop. It has both a free and paid version and is definitely worth a look if music is your thing.  Get it here.

Free Garageband competitor for Mac and PC

What is it: I have not really found a product that is even closely comparable to the quality and simplicity of Apple's Garageband for budding musicians and loopers and it would have to be a real selling point for Apple  to teenagers who want be creative and create something fresh and cool.  Well after about an hour of playtime I have to say that Aviary's multi track Audio Studio Myna is a close second and quite possibly the web cloud based applications I have yet seen.

This multitrack (Maximumof ten) recording studio allows you to record and edit audio through your browser without destroying your original file add a range of audio effects such as pans, loops, fades and publish the final product to your desktop or publish it online via your Aviary account.

Better still Myna comes with a library of riffs from Quantum Tracks that can be used for educational purposes, and a few sound effects from other sources. You can upload your clips to the service as well, and record directly from your computer take your pick.

Finally it looks great and will be a sinch to kids and anyone who has ever used a linear based editing suite such as Garageband, Vegas or Audacity.

How can I use this in the classroom: Make a podcast of a literacy task?- Make a Music track combine the two into a dramatical old style radio theatre piece or simply try and produce your first hip-hop track.  Really the sky is the limit with this one and I am sure you will be full of great ideas specific to your kids needs and wants.

My first impressions of this are that it is excellent and a must try for you and your students - Demo Video included below and Myna can be found here.

The purpose of this site is to  preserve and display specimens of American packaging from the 20th Century.  It has hundreds of articles and is a wealth of information for graphic design and social history students.  A great deal of information can be taken from the numerous 2D and 3D models.  Totally quirky and totally useless to many of most of the time but definitely worth a stop off for the creatively challenged teacher or student. 

This could easily be integrated into an English or social studies lesson to discuss key items from different eras.

Visit the American Package Museum here.