A computerized method and apparatus are disclosed for determining the accuracy of written characters input by a user and whether the characters were formed with the correct strokes and complied with applicable rules and providing visual and audio feedback to the user. A computing device comprises a character comparison engine, rules engine, stroke engine, art rendering engine music engine, and vocalization engine and has access to a character library, rules library, stroke library, art library, and audio library. The computing device shows the user the appropriate way to write a character, allows the user to then write the character, assesses the quality of the character, and provides audio and/or visual feedback to the user in response to the quality of the user's work to provide positive feedback. The visual feedback can include step-by-step instruction on how to paint using the traditional Chinese outline or no-outline painting techniques.