Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper

Amy Albritton LTC 4240: Art or Children! "ec# 0$ Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper The ability or children to create art and %nderstand drawings de&elops at di erent stages in their li e# Their ability grows and changes when social! emotional! physical! and cogniti&e growth ta'es place ()ric'son * +o%ng! $,,-.# According to /ictor Lowen eld and 0#L# 1rittain! the progression thro%gh these stages is predictable and at each stage there is a &ariety o artistic approaches# 2owe&er! these stages are on a contin%%m and a child is ne&er set on one stage# Depending on the drawing! a child co%ld be in between two stages! e3hibiting de ining actors rom both# 4or teachers! it is important to be able to analy5e and describe a childs drawing so that ed%cators 'now how to acilitate their instr%ction to help progress the child %rther in their artistic ability# The partic%lar drawing that will be analy5ed thro%gho%t is a simple! lat drawing o a h%man ig%re# There is no dimension gi&en and the drawing seems to ha&e been prod%ced by a child who is in between two stages: The "chematic "tage and the 6ang Age# This drawing can be described as simple and lat# 7t is easy to see that this drawing is o another person or perhaps a sel 8portrait# The body c%ts o at the waist! and the hands are not drawn# The ig%re is wearing a short slee&e shirt with an interesting! detailed collar# 7t appears to be a drawing o a male beca%se o the &ery short hair# All the acial eat%res are present! howe&er! the ears ha&e also not been drawn# The body is made %p o geometric shapes s%ch as a sphere or the head and eyes and rectang%lar shapes or the arms and body# Thro%gh these attrib%tes! h%man representation is e&ident in the schematic stage# The arms are correctly placed along with the correct representation and placement o the yes! nose and mo%th# A strong component o this drawing is the detail o the collar# This child oc%sed closely on this detail and made s%re to capt%re e&erything he or she saw# This aspect is related to the proportions that depend on emotional &al%es in the schematic stage# The achie&ement o a orm concept is

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper accomplished in this drawing and beca%se o these speci ic attrib%tes the child co%ld ha&e ranged rom se&en to nine years o age! which is speci ic to the schematic stage (1rittain * Lowen eld! $,90.# 2owe&er! this drawing does not %lly represent the schematic stage beca%se it does not ha&e all the characteristics listed by 1rittain and Lowen eld# This drawing o a h%man ig%re is &ery controlled and planned o%t# The child had an idea o how to approach this and seemed to draw their representation o what they see# There is &ol%me in this drawing! which is represent by the di erent proportions o the shapes# 7n :;a'ing Theories o Childrens Artistic De&elopment ;eaning %l or Preser&ice Teachers< by L%ehrman and =nrath gi&es a short description o the symbol ma'ing stage! which pertains to this drawing# :>"ees a contin%o%s b%rst o symbol de&elopment with more de&eloped detail and di erentiation! accompanied by symbolic rather than arbitrary color and the de&elopment o a &ariety o spatial representation>< (L%ehrman * =nrath! 200-! p# -?.# As mentioned earlier! this drawing has e&idence o symbol de&elopment and eno%gh detail to be descripti&e o what this drawing is# The eyes! eyebrows! nose! and mo%th are realistic symbols that represent acial eat%res! howe&er! they are represented in a simple orm and de initely co%ld be %rther de&eloped# "patial representation is also in its simplest orm beca%se there is no :gro%nd< or :s'y< b%t there is 'nowledge o where this ig%re begins and ends# The ne3t stage in a childs artistic de&elopment is the 6ang Age# The 6ang Age is present thro%gh ages nine thro%gh twel&e and is :The Dawning o Realism#< 1rittain and Lowen eld de ine this age with ha&ing greater awareness o details! attempts at showing depth thro%gh si5e o ob@ects! and less e3aggeration and distortion o body parts (1rittain * Lowen eld! $,90.# Thro%gh care %l analysis! it is easy to see the in l%ence o the 6ang Age in this drawing# The awareness o detail is e&ident beca%se o the speci ic placement o the acial eat%res and the

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper e3act detail that is shown in the shirt collar# 7t is clear that this child is representing the awareness o detail in the gang age# The si5e at which certain ob@ects are drawn also shows how this child dealt with showing depth# They clearly %nderstood that the eyes sho%ld be slightly smaller than the nose beca%se they are %rther bac' on the ace# This childs drawing o the h%man ig%re is &ery realistic beca%se o the acial eat%res and the depth at which ob@ects are drawn# There is also less e3aggeration and distortion and less omission o body parts# 2owe&er! the child is not %lly de&eloped in the gang age beca%se he or she le t o the ears and the hands# 2owe&er! it is %nderstandable why the hands were le t o beca%se there clearly was not eno%gh room le t on the paper# 4or the ears! the child might ha&e tho%ght that the hair that was drawn was :co&ering< the ears or they simply orgot! it is hard to tell# As mentioned earlier! this drawing is basically lat! howe&er! the child ob&io%sly has con idence in their placement! which also depicts the gang age# There is &ery little shading or shadowing in this drawingA the hair is shaded in to show color and there is small shadowing in the nose! b%t that is it# The child has 'nowledge that there is shadowing on a h%man ace s%ch as in the nose! b%t they didnt go any %rther in showing the depth in the h%man ig%re# 1eca%se this drawing is so lat! 7 eel as i the child is wor'ing thro%gh the simplicity principle# This drawing is ar more comple3 than a three8year olds simple drawings! howe&er! this child 'ept the eat%res simple! no shading! and not m%ch depth# The simple dot within a circle ser&es as the eyes or this child! which is e3pected# :The most basic o all the graphic principles is the simplicity principle! which seems to direct the child to depict an ob@ect in as simple and %ndi erentiated a ways as con orms to the childs e3pectations or the depiction o the ob@ect< (0ilson * 0ilson! $,?2! p# B?.# "omething else that stands o%t in this drawing is the childs 'nowledge and e ort in ma'ing the h%man ig%re :loo' right#< This child has de initely

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper grown in his or her artistic de&elopment beca%se o their ability to correctly depict a h%man ig%re (0ilson * 0ilson! $,?2.# Tho%gh 7 contin%e to mention the lat! simplicity o the drawing! there is clearly e&idence in the childs ability o wor'ing thro%gh :real li e< depiction# As a %t%re ed%cator! it is &ery help %l to ha&e learned o the di erent stages and aspects a child wor's thro%gh while de&eloping their artistic ability# Cnowing that children progress at di erent rates and 'nowing that they can mo&e in between stages helps me in deciding how to go abo%t ostering my st%dents artistic abilities# 7 an ed%cator is %nable to %nderstand a childs simple drawing! then how wo%ld they be able to oster de&elopment properly# Thro%gh this analy5ing e3ercise! this ga&e me a per ect opport%nity to see a childs drawing and ig%re o%t or mysel what the ne3t steps 7 wo%ld ta'e# This partic%lar child wo%ld de initely bene it rom learning how to create depth and more detail# 0or'ing thro%gh shadowing e3ercises and oc%sing on the detail they see when they loo' at an ob@ect will help in their de&elopment o art#

Re erences )ri'son! ;#! * +o%ng! 1# ($,,-.# 0hat e&ery ed%cator sho%ld (b%t maybe doesnt. 'now# School Arts, 96(2.! 40842# Lowen eld! /#! * 1rittain! 0# L# ($,90.# Creative and mental growth# Dew yor': ;acmillan# L%echrman! ;#! * =nrath! C# (200-.# ;a'ing theories o childrens artistic de&elopment meaning %l or pre8ser&ice teachers# Art Education, 59(3)# -8$2# 0ilson! ;#! * 0ilson! 1# ($,?2.# Teaching children to draw. )nglewood Cli s! DE: Prentice8 2all#

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper