Oh ! The magic drawing app

It all starts with ten colored shapes sliding on the screen. Suddenly, a few strokes of a pen turn them into funny or poetic drawings. As if by magic, a tree grows, a cat meow, a little girl starts to dance… Here is “Oh!” a magic drawing app signed by Louis Rigaud and Anouck Boisrobert. Those two authors adapted their pop-up book “Oh! mon chapeau”, published by hélium, France, and its whole crowd of colored animals and characters. (UK title: “That’s my hat”, Thames & Hudson).

What do you see in a triangle? A race car, the tutu of a little girl, the raincoat of an old man or the wing of a bird. Let’s launch the game…

A short introduction shows us the mischievous shapes jumping out from a hat and lining on the left side of the screen. Here we go! Slide them with your finger to the center of the screen and “ding!”, the shape comes alive and a drawing appears with a light animation. Tap it, the diamond shape turns and the roof of a house becomes a kite. A thin horizon line cut the screen in two and give a new choice to the player. Above, shapes will become houses, airplanes, or Martians. Below, they’ll become characters, vehicles, or small dogs.

Before creating our book “Oh! Mon chapeau”, we had the idea of the app “Oh!”, the idea that with a few shapes you can create a whole story. Once the book was published, we start working on the app. We wanted to offer a new way of creating a picture using the interactions of the tablet. As in the book, the graphic design is based on a defined range of shapes and colors. Through our projects, we always try to develop kid’s imagination. With this app, every kid can create a picture and imagine his own story. By manipulating the tablet, they can also discover how a simple image can be turned upside down and as by magic, turn into a new idea.

This is an app that triggers your imagination, by imagining how basic shapes like 〇▽□ can tell a story. I was surprised when the picture changed magically when tilting the screen 90°. Because the shapes are so basic, you can imagine into various shapes. There is no other app that teach you how exciting imagination is. In the next edition, it would be exciting if children can choose the shape each, and make that into a character or background to make a story.
Koji Ishikawa (Picture Book Author)