Cheap Print Artist Disney: Mickey and Friends (Software) (Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows 95) Price

Print Art: Disney Mickey and Friends lets you make everything from party invitations to personal stationery, all adorned with the cheerful faces of Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, and other early Disney characters. Whether you want to personalize your calendar, build a scrapbook of favorite photographs, or print out customized stickers, this is the package that can get the job done.

At first glance, Mickey and Friends is yet another of the many graphic illustration programs clamoring for user attention. It has all the standard features: predesigned projects including bookmarks, finger puppets, and masks, lots of clip art for individual works, image-editing tools, and a variety of fonts. What distinguishes this particular package from its peers, though, is quality. Its image-editing tools genuinely increase a user's creative options without making the package impossibly difficult to use. Creating rainbow text, swirling banners, or layered images is as easy as clicking a button. Even young users will find they can truly create dazzling images from scratch, instead of merely editing the provided templates.

Another small but valuable point in favor of Mickey and Friends is that, unlike many similar programs, it does not assume that every home is equipped with a color printer, and thus seize up and crash when users attempt to print out their work in black and white. Though it is obviously preferable for a package of this nature to work in partnership with a color printer, the Mickey and Friends graphics retain their character and sharpness whether the color is there or not. The images themselves also cover an admirable range of artistic styles, increasing the choices available to users as they learn the fundamentals of design.

If Mickey and Friends has a flaw, it is that it has, in one respect, chosen a narrow scope for its graphic library. Images of Mickey, Donald, Daisy, and the other classic characters are included in great number, but users who want to work with newer characters, like those from Aladdin or 102 Dalmatians will be disappointed.

This is a small issue, however, especially given the overall quality of the program and the thoughtfulness of its design. These features mean that Mickey and Friends is possibly the most kid-friendly graphic program available today. --Alyx Dellamonica

PLATFORM:	Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows 95
CATEGORY:	Software
MANUFACTURER:	Sierra
TYPE:	Computer software (programs), Kids (Children), Graphics (Graphic), Home Publishing, Printing, Publishing
MEDIA:	CD-ROM
# OF MEDIA:	1
UPC:	020626712088