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Author Topic: Unconventional Art Software  (Read 1190 times)
Corrupted Unicorn
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Rainbow Noodle Dance!Scrafty, I choose you!First 1000 Members!Joined 2023!
« on: May 16, 2025 @969.11 »

Give me your wackiest software to make art.
By art, I mean any kind of art: visual, written, audio, videos, whatever else you can come up with.  :mail:
We're not looking for industry-standard or the most complete software with lots of features: but we're looking for off-kilter, wacky and even fun programs.

Think less Photoshop & Krita, more MSPaint and KidPix  :ok:

Free software, browser-ready material and links are appreciated but not necessary.

Keep in mind, some of these are old software that might not be compatible with your current OS.

Here's my list, I hope you add to it!

Drawing/Paint Programs

Writing Programs
None so far... add some of your own!
WordArt, simple vector art features and Clippy are the wackiest elements I can think that were on a text editor software. Just to get your gears turning  :defrag:

Music

Animation

  • FlipAnim
  • Clipnote Studio
  • Microsoft 3D Movie Maker
  • Assorted "cartoon movie studio" games (too many to count: Simpsons, Spiderman, Tiny Toons, etc.)
  • Pencil2D
  • Disney's Magic Artist Studio (the Studio version only)

Games

3D Modelling
  • Vertex Meadow (online tool to create simple 3D worlds!)
  • SweetHome3D (for home interiors)
  • Paint 3D
  • SculptGL (sculpt & model on your browser!)
  • Disney's Magic Artist 3D

Assorted Other
These can do the "job" of other programs, but maybe they specialize in something that doesn't fit in other categories.

I poured everything I know and comes to mind onto this list. If you want your contributions to be added to it, just tell me along with your forum post!  :transport:

Let's give all Melonlanders tools to experiment, play with and make art, of course!  :unite:
« Last Edit: May 25, 2025 @851.82 by Corrupted Unicorn » Logged

Memory
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« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2025 @395.74 »

ooh these are all so cool~!

my laptop has KolourPaint on it (a KDE application - like MS Paint but for GNU/Linux) and i use that primarily to make things.
i do have Procreate on my tablet but i don't really like using it much for some reason. i just have it there like i do with Krita on my laptop - i never use it, i just prefer not to use it :P

i mean, Aseprite looks good, but i have no moneyyy!!  :ozwomp:  plus i make pixel art in KP as well lol
eh, i'd rather just wing it with KolourPaint. MS Paint was good but i can't tolerate Windows anymore at all unfortunately.
also my laptop has GIMP but it's entirely just for removing backgrounds on things.
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TheFrugalGamer
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Great Posts PacmanFirst 1000 Members!Pocket Icelogist!Joined 2022!
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2025 @669.43 »

I've actually created quite a bit of artwork in Microsoft's Paint 3D, which is a shame because it seems they now want the program to go away. It's pretty easy to use and has just enough functionality for me to feel comfortable using it with my very limited 3D modeling skills.
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ThunderPerfectWitchcraft
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Great Posts PacmanThanks for being rad!First 1000 Members!Joined 2023!
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2025 @779.57 »

For Music:
Sonic Pi and Supercollider - both are scripting languages that result in sound. Sonic Pi is rather simple, and was developed for the Rasberry Pi - getting it to run on x64 systems ain't that easy. SuperCollider is much more complex and powerful. Both are free software.

Many years ago, I made pictures with Project Dogwaffle. People who enjoy a retro experience might like this!

Also, while Blender is not exactly obscure, many people might not know about the 2D-Animation and the sculpting mode.

Shameless self-plug: Use the turtle if you want to pixelate anything!
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Corrupted Unicorn
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« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2025 @584.06 »

Updated the list with your suggestions, and added a smatter of my own! I've been researching a bit about the "Magic Artist" PC games from Disney in the 90s-00s... I'm surprised with the things they made apart from my well known Deluxe  :omg: A primitive 3D program for the kids and a primitive animation tool (ACTUAL animation, not just "put GIFs of Mickey and friends on the canvas). It only allows for 5 moving things and 5 frames, and it has automatic tweening between the frames! Sure, it's not much looking from a more professional standard, but I wish I had something like this as a kid to muck around with.

Other highlights include SculptGL, a tool that lets you sculpt/model in a browser, and Online Sequencer, which is what my BF is using to make music (he's so talented!  :ozwomp: )
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edea
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« Reply #5 on: May 25, 2025 @652.55 »

There were a lot of these on the NDS thanks to the stylus - Flipnote Studio's the most famous (Clipnote in your list is a recreation of it), and there's still an animator on YT with a decent following that uses it. Art Academy series also got its start on NDS, and there's a couple entries on the Wii U as well :wizard:

Personally, I really loved WarioWare DIY on NDS as well - was a full suite of tools to make microgames, including tools for audio AND visual stuff for your little games. Even had built-in distribution tools back when the servers were up.

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mittens
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« Reply #6 on: May 25, 2025 @704.79 »

i'm a fan of drawapp, it's a pico-8 app with very limited features (no layers, no undo/redo, etc) and is super fun to mess around in. it gives you a 128px canvas with a random palette each time you open/refresh it

seconding beepbox as well! (i use ultrabox (a mod of it) quite a lot)

i havent used this one in a while, but webchemy is pretty fun for making funky and optionally symmetrical sketches
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« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2025 @28.62 »

interesting that there's a JS recreation of KidPix.. i may have to try this out some day.

here are some of my suggestions for this cool list

a similar art program that has alot of that olden Win95 crust is Flying Colors - except this has some interesting colour cycling properties as well.
another drawing program is Drawpile, which is like Magma except without any paywalls

i have a music addition too - Bespoke Synth - with its rather novel node-based approach i use it for pretty much all of my music production nowadays



one area I have explored quite extensively for unconventional art software is the realm of Video Editors, and i have found some quite interesting tools, and some real stinkers. most of these have watermarks for that extra added quality

the first choice i'd go for is not exactly novel, but Windows Movie Maker. it's age and its lack of layers delivers quite a nonstandard look nowadays. there are 3 different versions of this: 2.6, 6.0 and Live
Vegas Pro 5.0 is alot of fun because of how stripped back it is compared to modern versions
VideoThang is a miserable pile of bones for a defunct video hosting site
MovieShaker is a video editor with inbuilt flash overlays, and it is extremely crusty
Video Edit Magic crashes alot and has a horrible pixellated looking aliased watermark
ZS4.. i have no idea how to use this one

there are almost definitely some video editors that i missed too, these are just the first few that came to mind right away
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Bleoaurgh
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« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2025 @661.04 »

technically not quite animation, but i've always wanted to see ppl make weird videos with opening night/american girls premiere

like... i want surreal queer horror with janky FMVs. is that too much to ask. i'm too much of a n00b to even fathom how to do this but i wonder if you could add mods to these? so u have custom characters n all that

if any of u enjoy making weird stuff with these programs and wanna do, like, a discord hang where we click around and make stuff together, hmu i want in
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