It is a great idea to use graphics and multimedia to introduce students to programming. In the JVM world there is Processing. There is also a Javascript version p5js.
To me Python seems easier as a first contact language. It does not need compilation and no large virtual machine (like JVM in Processing). There are good REPL's (IPython, Jupyter) and a vast selection of libraries. Read-Eval-Print-Loop's allow a fast feedback when adjusting a specific detail. In combination with an editor that forwards lines to the interpreter in a terminal (vim,vscode), this is interactive coding.