CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper Rachelle Butner LTC 4240 University of Missouri

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper

In this paper I will be analyzing the characteristics of the picture drawn by a child shown at the bottom of the page. I will be taking you through what stages of drawing this child is going through based on how they drew the picture. This picture is a portrait of a male. The child drawing the picture decided to over exaggerate the mans facial features. The drawing has a very big head that is not proportional to the mans body. To go along with his rather large head, the child drew very large lips and nose. The child also drew glasses on the picture; maybe to resemble someone they know. The picture also looks very basic like it was drawn with either pencil or pen. Through this picture, I will be deciphering what stages this picture is in and what the characteristics stand out in it. By breaking this picture down, I will be able to figure out what the child could improve on and what their strengths are with drawing. The picture begins in the Gang Age and develops to the Pseudo-Naturalistic stage. This drawing has many different characteristics about it. Within these characteristics there are different aspects about them to help teachers figure out what level of drawing they are on and how to help them develop their drawing even more. In the Gang Age, Brittain and Lowenfeld say people that are in this stage can draw characteristics in their pictures like awareness of details (1970). The Gang Age is when drawers begin to realize the importance of realism in their drawings. Viewers can tell from the picture that the child has awareness of details because of the detail in the mans facial features. The artist drew eyelids, eyelashes, and eyebrows. The artist also drew nostrils and details the mans ear. This shows the artist paid a lot of attention to detail while drawing this picture. The viewer can also tell the child has an awareness of details by the pockets, buttons, and stripes down his shirt.

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER Brittain and Lowenfeld say that artists in the Gang Age are able to overlap objects, like they do in this picture (1970). Viewers can tell this child has developed the ability to overlap objects because the child overlapped glasses on top of the mans eyes. It is clear that they are glasses because the child shaped them in the correct size to tell they are meant to be glasses. Another part in space representation that Brittain and Lowenfeld say is in the Gang Age is beginning of interrelationships between objects (1970). The picture represents interrelationships

between the mans jacket and tie. This characteristic also ties into human figure representation in the Gang Age that says artists have mastered greater awareness of clothing details and body parts retaining their meaning when separated (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The picture represents these two aspects by the child drawing a mustache, a goatee and detailed his hair with putting lines up and down his head to show definition. Though there are Gang Age characteristics in this drawing. There are also signs that this child is advancing in their picture to the Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage. From the smaller details added in the picture explains the picture is becoming shorthand. Brittain and Lowenfeld say that drawing characteristics in the Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage is when artist are able to make their pictures with more shorthand work (1970). In the Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage is when the end product becomes very important to the child. This stage is the age of reasoning, meaning the pictures start to have more human figure representation. You can tell from this picture that the child is moving into this stage by the facial expressions they made that can vary in meaning and also the sexual characteristics over-emphasized (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970). The picture shows facial expressions by having the mans mouth smiling and big eyes. You can also tell the artist is over-emphasized sexual characteristics by the mustache, goatee, and the jacket with the tie.

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER All of the drawing stages have an estimate age range to which most children are at in the drawing lives. By discovering what characteristics each picture has by breaking it down by the

details within the pictures, a viewer is most likely to figure out what age range the child is in that drew it. The Gang Ages age range is 9-12 years old and the Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage age range 12-14 years old. By the signs of this drawing I would predict that this child is between the age of 11-13 years old. Although this technique works for most drawings, it doesnt work for all. Wilson, M and Wilson, B said that intellectual realism which is referred to the fact that children seemed to be drawing, at a certain stage is everything that was known about an object (1982, pg. 64). This quote reminds us that some children are at different levels of our artistic abilities at different times in our life. Some of us love to be artistic and draw so they put more time and effort practicing it. Other people dont find as much joy in it, so they dont practice it as much. According to Victor Lowenfeld and W.L. Brittain children progress through stages of development in their artwork in predictable ways, with wide variations within an age norm or stage. Just as reading and math levels vary widely in an average class, we should expect it would be natural for art levels to also vary widely (1970, pg. 41). I have learned that there are many details you can look for while watching for development in drawing for my future students. For the most part I will now be able to figure out what drawing stage the students are in and see what they need help in developing. From knowing the differences between the stages, I can teach my students the difference in them as well and teach them how to keep track of their own progress. Once they learn about the stages they will be about to talk about it with their peers and grow from others. Visual literacy in the aesthetic domain includes being able to talk about art in addition to making it. Adding talk about art as a component of visual art activities extend childrens experiences in, and understanding of, visual

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER messages communicated through media such as film, advertising and, of course, works of art

(Johnson, 2008, pg. 74). If teachers ignore these ideas from our students, they will not be able to grow and develop like they should in the arts. If the students understand more about their own development in the arts than the better they can grow in many different subjects in the classroom.

References Brittain, W. L., V. Lowenfeld. (1970) Creative and Mental Growth. New York, NY MacMillian Co. pgs 474-479. Johnson, M. H. (2008). Developing verbal and visual literacy through experiences in the visual arts. Young Children, 63(1), 74-79. Wilson, M., Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER