this is something i started thinking of a while ago at work. as some of you may know, i work with people who have intellectual, neuropsychological (that's like ADHD or the whole autism spectrum) or psychological disabilities (or a combination of all three). some of them also have physical disabilities. now and then you do a little drawing and painting with them, but some - especially people with autistic traits - are reluctant to do messy things, like use paint of any kind or crayons that give of crumbles. more and more i've been thinking of introducing digital painting and drawing on one of my workplaces but i don't know of any good software. it has to be really simple and intuitive to use, as much as picking up a pen or paintbrush as possible. there are a few programs developed especially for this target group, but they cost a lot of money and money is scarce - so it also needs to be as cheap as possible, preferably free. a web app would be great too, since it takes a special license to install anything new on a council owned computer and last time i tried to just update the web browser it took three days before we got an okay.
sounds like an easy thing to find, doesn't it ? but us gimp chatters are used to solving problems and answering questions - if you have any tips, let me know!

probably you know already TUX PAINT; if not, you can have a look at it

One of the simplest (while producing full paint results) painting tools to pick up and use is probably MyPaint. Just start and put the pen to paper, so to say. As long as you understand the concept of picking a brush and selecting a colour (the absolute minimum for any type of coloured painting) you don't need anything else. Plus you can hide the interface completely if you want.
.
Griatch

You can change Gimp`s interface very simple.
Blend out some tools, only the basic tabs and colors....and so on.
I used Gimp portable.
But it is nothing easier than Mypaint!

i don't know if this will help. but this is a website that i used before i started using gimp. it's a free website for drawing. it is kinda like mypaint but no software to be downloaded. the only problem there is no way to save the picture but you can do a print screen. that's how i got my work off of it.

http://www.onlinesketchpad.com/

below is a picture i did on it a while back

thanks everyone! i've never tried mypaint, will do it as soon as i get the time now - from what you people say it sounds like it could be a very good choice.
chris f: that kind of gimp setup also looks great - which gimp portable is that? portable is of course a great idea for the work computers where we can't install things without special licenses. hmm... actually a combination of gimp and mypaint might be ideal, that would give some of the users a chance to paint without mess and the guys who work on the monthly newsletter might process their photos in gimp instead of in the #*$£#! program the council provides.
rdgracer: that site sounds interesting, but i went to try it and it says i need a plug-in. i haven't been able to find out what plug-in that would be, though. any idea what that could be?

AnMal - Loaded up the link with chrome and its asking for Java(TM)

I use allways the portable apps software. You can download the portable Gimp 2.8 and customize it.
I dont want to make it with my installation, so the portable version ist great for it!
For the newsletters i would use Libre Office.
Paint with Mypain, Photoediting and some graphics with Gimp, Newsletter with exelent pdf export Libre Office.
But i don't know about the people that you are workin with.
http://portableapps.com/

he4rty: aha, java. that may be a problem. thanks for telling!
chris f: that's the same one i use - i like the whole portable apps collection and use lots of them . then i should have no problem with this - just set up my own like you show it and copy it to some more usb sticks. and i never meant the guys actually make the newsletter in gimp - they have one of those specially developed programs for that, but they need something for editing thee photos they use and gimp would work great for that. if the other staff doesn't object, i might just start a small software revolution at work .

I know of Isketch, but it's a game with words and stuff, maybe if they were opened to learn new words or something to have an additional feeling of accomplishment..? http://www.isketch.net/
Probably not the best for this group of people, but you never know..You'd have more knowledge than me on that.

There is also rate my drawings, it's an online drawing website I have never used it but watching the power of it from others, looks pretty easy. http://www.ratemydrawings.com/

mokonafan: thanks for the tips, i'll check them out!

you may need java. when i went to it the other day it asked me to run it for that site.

rdgracer: thank you for looking into it!

it seems neither of the online apps were a good alternative for this group, but after trying out tuxpaint and mypaint i could see both of them might actually work very well for some of our computer users. we discussed it a bit and are now hoping for a license to download and install tux paint and mypaint, i've also been promised usb sticks to install gimp portable on and i will make the simplified setup that chris f suggested.

Out of curiosity, what "licence" are you hoping for - from the owners of the computers?
.
Griatch

griatch: yes. the joys of working for the council! i suppose i can understand they want to protect one of their biggest investments, but i often wish they had come up with a more functional way of doing it.