LJN released VideoArt in North America in 1987 as an electronic drawing system for television rather than as a conventional video game console. It used a special controller to move a cursor and select colours, while buttons on the unit changed functions such as background, eraser or page. Interchangeable cartridges supplied line drawings of licensed characters and themes to colour on the screen. Its concept was unusual in the 1987 market: the television was used as an electronic canvas and the cartridge as a collection of illustrations, rather than as a medium for action games.