One issue that keeps Wizardbrush from being taken too seriously is that it's a full-screen only program. Almost an unforgiveable sin among enthusiasts, this feature is, again, a boon to those who want family-friendly paint software. Parents don't necessarily want their kids clicking elsewhere. One minor quibble: although Undo has a keyboard shortcut, it didn't seem to work--only selecting Undo from the Edit menu actually performed the task.

Wizardbrush has an innovative tutorial gallery. Click a gallery and the program re-creates the piece of art on the screen as you watch. None of these galleries are especially brilliant pieces, but they get the job done. Paired with this is the ability to easily record your own galleries.

Layer support is built in, so it is possible to create a decent drawing with Wizardbrush, and it would be excellent in a grade-school or middle-school classroom setting. The lack of a windowed mode and at least one non-working keyboard shortcut keep it from greatness.

Note: This is a limited-use demo version with 25 uses; it is not otherwise restricted. The full version is $30.

--Steve Horton