Art Academy was originally a two-part training application only available for download via the DSiWare service since 2009.

[c] The full, retail version includes all ten lessons, plus minor additional features, extra mini-lessons, and an image library for art subject references.

The retail version of Art Academy was released in Japan on June 19, 2010, in Europe on August 6, in Australia on September 23, and in North America on October 25.

A new installment to the series was released on the Wii U's eShop in August 2013, called Art Academy: SketchPad, which gives users the chance to share their creations on Miiverse.

Although it was made for the Nintendo DS, Art Academy is not a real "game" per se, and so it does not feature any actual gameplay, but it does feature a mode which requires any user of Art Academy to progress through in order to unlock higher levels, similarly to most games.

In Free Paint, the player/art trainee also has access to a designated Image Library implemented in Art Academy.

The Image Library includes a categorized selection of 89 photographs which the player/art trainee can use as references and art subjects.

Alternatively, the player/art trainee can also refer to drawings and photographs (additional information below) stored in the Gallery.

Art pieces, whether in the Gallery or DSi Camera Album, can no longer be edited once saved.

The ability to store directly on the Game Card is convenient for original Nintendo DS and DS Lite users, but it is a disadvantage for Nintendo DSi (XL) users, especially since the DSiWare versions of Art Academy can store as many pictures as long as there is available memory in the DSi Camera Album, which can be transferred to SD cards and/or can be exported to Facebook.

The purpose of the Demo is to allow the player/art trainee to try an extra lesson offered in Art Academy, or to wirelessly send the same extra lesson to another local Nintendo DS console via DS Download Play, so that another user can try a demo version of Art Academy.

This same Demo lesson is also permanently offered via Nintendo Channel, but this is currently only for PAL version Wii consoles.

Compared to most raster image-editing software, Art Academy has a very limited selection of tools, although they emulate their realistic-counterparts very well.

One of these characters is Vince, an art tutor who provides the player/art trainee with step-by-step lessons through each stage, and is most helpful towards novice artists.

Sometimes showing off finished examples and comprehensible references, Vince also draws before his students to illustrate how each step in every stage of every lesson is practically done before giving them the chance to try it out themselves.

Bacon is Vince's pet and often appears during a loading screen, as he is also visible in the game's animated title card.

It was released in 2012 for Japan in September, for North America in October, for Europe in July and in Australia in August.

In addition, the Swan Lesson theme by James Hannigan is a track that plays on the Duck Hunt stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.