As long as there has been a mouse connected to a computer there have tools for making drawings on a computer. Here are five drawing tools that you might consider the next time you or your students need a free and easy drawing tool.

Graffiti Creator is a tool that I learned about from Angela Maiers on Twitter. Graffiti Creator is best described not as a drawing tool, but a text editor. Users type select a font style, enter a word, then edit the look of the word to make it look like graffiti. This would be useful for students that are looking for a way to customize the font of words that they use in a slide show presentation.

Bomomo is an interesting drawing utility that creates images out of controlled chaos. Users select a drawing utility then the Bomomo program begins randomly drawing. Users can determine where the drawing starts with their computer’s mouse. Users can also select general shapes and patterns to be drawn.

Art Pad (ArtPad is no longer online) and Sketch Pad are both blank slate drawing utilities. Art Pad and Sketch Pad allow users to select from a variety of drawing tools and painting tools. Art Pad has a neat playback feature that shows you the steps you took in creating your images. Both Art Pad and Sketch Pad allow you to share your drawings via email or in a public gallery.

Mutapic is another drawing that, like Bomomo, has users select a set of parameters then the program creates an image. Mutapic has far more options than Bomomo. The filter and shading options on Mutapic are particularly interesting tools for experimenting with shading and mixing of colors. This tool is no longer online.

You can read my previous review of Mutapic here and my previous reviews of Art Pad and Sketch Pad here.