DRAWING ANALYSIS

PRACTICE

Maria Estvez Rodrguez

Maria Casas Alonso
Irene Baeres Rovirosa
G.71B
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
Preschool: from 3 to 5 years old

This drawing is done by a boy who

attends 3d year of preschool. In it
there can be identified two bodies of
what appear to be two boys. They are
really similar to each other, except for
the fact that they have opposite
colours. For instance, the first one has
all the body drawn using the black
colour, except for the hair and the
glasses, and the other one has all the
body coloured in orange except for the
eyes. The most surprising factor is that
they both seem to wear glasses and
are connected by their hands. This
factor can be due to the fact that the
own child wears glasses and is
somehow representing himself.
Despite its primitive precision, it can be
observed one facial expression from
one of the characters, which is smiling.

The author of this drawing is a girl who attends fifth year of preschool. There can observed
three bodies that represent humans, which seem to be very similar to each other. They have
different measures, the first one is the tallest one but, it is very closed to the floor, the second
one is the shortest, but it is situated in a higher platform than the first one, and the third
figure is the tallest because of the highest platform. We can identify two girls and a boy,
because of the length of the hair and the skirts. Probably the girl is drawing her own family,

her mum on the left side of the

paper, the girl situated on the
middle of the drawing, and her
father on the right of it.
The differences between she and
her mum is the height and the fact
that the one in the middle is
wearing two bows in her hair. All
the faces are happy and composed
by the eyes and a mouth. The
predominant colour is the blue.

Initial cycle of primary education: from 6 to 8 years old

This drawing is made by a girl who is in the first grade of primary school. In it we can identify
a girl playing with her dog in a garden, as the bottom of the picture seems to be made of
grass, next to a house. In the top of the drawing there is a sun, some clouds, a blue sky and
a rainbow. The house is not painted but it has a door and chimney from which there is
smoke coming out. The most surprising and fantastic item of the picture is that it is full of red
hearts, one of which is smiling. This can be due to the fact that for the girl her own house is
somewhat that is closed to the feeling of love.
Also, a pink and yellow butterfly is flying across the house.
Regarding the faces of the characters, they are only composed by the eyes and the mouth
and all seem to be happy. The rainbow has all the colours that are needed and it has a cloud
in each extreme. The predominant colours are the red and the white because the majority of
the drawing is not painted.

This drawing is made by a boy who attends second year of primary school. In it we can
observe a conflictive situation, in which there are two characters that are fighting and there is
one that is encouraging the quarrel. We can see that the character that is executing the
fighting action is the smallest one, in comparison with the one who is receiving the attack.
Also, the one who is encouraging the fight is on the side of the one who is winning.
It is worth to mention the advanced level of precision showed in this picture, which has
recognisable features, real colours used to paint and dress up the characters, and real
expressions of surprise and pain. However, the proportions are still confused, as the arms,
hands and the body of all the boys seem to be a lot bigger than the lower parts (legs and
feet).
Another important fact regarding this drawing is that it is not only a simple design, but the
representation of a scene, with real dialogue expressed by the characters. Therefore, at the
time of this drawing, the child started to dominate the his writing skills.

This drawing is done by a girl who is on the second grade of primary school. We can
observe ten different characters, all very different, painted with different colours and trying to
represent the diverse cultural races. They are situated above the grass and below a blue sky
with happy clouds and a happy sun. The clothes are very related to the culture of the
characters. Theyre all happy and holding hands. This is a very colorful drawing but the
colour that predominates the most is the brown. It shows a high level of elaboration, because
of the many elements and because of the meaning the girl wanted to transmit, as the fact
that they are all from different races and that they are holding hands, seems to express
toleration and respect to other cultures.

The author of this picture is a boy that attends second grade of primary school. It has a title
which is the ambulance and there is the drawing of what seems to be a van, which we
identify as the ambulance. Behind it there is a boy, maybe the boy himself who is drawing it,
and he is pointing at the vehicle. It cannot be identified the reason of that action though, but
the most surprising item is the fact that the sound that does the ambulance is written in the
drawing, therefore the child knows to do the connection between the sound, the lights and
the ambulance.
In general terms, we believe that the child wanted to transmit a scene of danger and
emergency, with a lot of expression from the only character, which seems to be disturbed.
Also, in our opinion, the use of the colours is very wise chosen, due to the fact that they are
clearly identified and are very striking, which matches the situation of the drawing.

Medium cycle: from 8 to 10 years old

The author of this drawing is a

boy who is in the fourth year of
primary school. It can be
observed the design of a plant
with a lot of details in it. The
child uses plain colours to
represent it and a really
advanced level of precision.
The plant has different kinds
of leaves, which can be
recognised, and also, its
flower pot is precisely drawn
with a handle, so that it can be
transported.
The accuracy of the drawing
drives us to the conclusion
that it was made by looking to
a real model of it. Also, the
motive of it makes us think
that it was induced, like a
classroom
activity
or
a
homework assignment.
It shows a high level of
elaboration, in the sense that it
has
more
recognisable
elements, and the proportions
are more credible, as well as
the colours and the shape. Also, it demonstrates a very accurate representation of the
reality, and what the child is able to observe.

This drawing is made by a girl that attends fourth grade of primary school. It is meant to
represent a snowy night, in which appears a girl in the center of the picture and a boy above
the mountains with another one who is carrying a sled. We believe that the idea of the
drawing matches the intention of the child, as there are the typical items we may find in a
snowy scene, like the fact that the two characters are warmly dressed, they both wear winter
clothes, and there appear what seem to be Firs, which shows the knowledge that this child
has of the winter season. Also, there can be identified the Christmas tree, a snowman at the
right side, two little houses at each side with a chimney, and a path that goes from one
house to another with a deviation that takes to the mountains, as well as all the scene
covered in snow.
Despite the fact that it cannot be considered an example of artistic precision, we believe that
the motive and the details of the drawing shows the maturation and the age of the author.

This drawing is made by a girl who is in fifth grade of primary school. It can be clearly
identified the situation of the painting, that represents a beach, in which there appear up to
eight characters that are interacting with the scene. It can be recognised a sailing school
above the picture, a bridge which are crossing two of the characters, and two other of them
playing with sand at the right side. Also, at the bottom of the picture, there are two individuals
trying to fish with some kind of fishing instrument. What is surprising about this drawing is
that the characters are done with a high level of precision, in contrast with the surroundings,
which seem to be painted following an abstract tendency. Another fact worth to mention is
that we believe that the coloring of the scene matches with the intention of the child, as well
as the facial expressions of the characters, which seem to have a good time.
We can also see that this girl had already some notions of the space, as there is logic in the
space distribution of the characters, which could be considered as real.

COMMENTARY

Due to this work we believe that is important to have a serious awareness about the
childrens drawings, because they are the manifestation of their feelings, in which their
create their own space for their reality, as well as expressing the desire of being valued and
proud about what they have created. Also, sometimes the emotional and psychological
states of the child influence the drawing, and therefore, it can be really helpful in case of
educational intervention.
However, the drawing practice not only depends on the mental state of the children, but also
on the physical growth. That is why if the motor skills are still not developed, the child may
not have much precision or practice while using the pencil or colour, and the picture is going
to be more basic. This is the case of the first drawing, that, in comparison with the other
ones that are made by older children, the lines are not that defined, and the colours and the
proportions are unreal. Also, regarding the motive of the painting, it corresponds to the stage
of drawing to which the child, for his age, belongs (Representative stage). That is because
the drawing is a representation of a subjective realism, like for instance, as the kid who
draws it wears glasses, the characters of the picture wear them too.
In this sense, the second picture is also related to this kind of motive, due to the fact that the
girl represents her own family and herself, although in this case the level of precision and
elaboration is higher than the first one, because the child has 5 years old, instead of 3, and
therefore, she is on the Representative state, but she is more centered on the conceptual
realism.
Nevertheless, there are other aspects that are important regarding the development of the
children in the case of drawing, like the cognition, in which they draw what they know and
perceive in a realistic or symbolic way. In this sense, it is worth to mention that the third
drawing has both elements. First of all there are the realistic items like the house, the girl
and the dog, but also there are some fantastic elements mixed with the realistic ones, like
the butterfly, the rainbow and the hearts. In comparison with the first one done by a girl, this
last has more consciousness about the environment of the drawing and the external
elements apart from the principal characters.
The third aspect to take into account regarding the drawing analysis is the affective one, in
which the child draws what he/she is interested in or what he likes or dislikes. For example,
in the fourth drawing, the child draws a scene of a fight, which can be interpreted as
something that he dislikes, and, in comparison with the other drawings, this one is the most
expressive one, because all the characters have a recognizable expression of pain, anger or
surprise. In this case the child is also in the Representative stage, in which he has
conceptual realism.
This fact can also be related to the sixth drawing, in which the character has an expression
of surprise or alert, and it seems like the scene of the ambulance represents something he
disliked.
Regarding the fifth one, it is made from the perspective of a cultural and social reflection,
and therefore the child draws her own perception of the reality. In reference to this picture it
is important to mention that, despite the fact that the artistic elements are not as elaborated
as the ones of the other paintings, the motive of it shows a high level of maturation.
In relation to the aspects that influence the drawing of the children there is the artistic
education aspect, in which the child is trained to draw in a certain manner. Regarding this

fact we can consider that the seventh drawing is the representation of this aspect, because
observing the precision and the motive of the picture(which is the only one in which there is
not the representation of a person), seems as if this painting was induced by a sciences
practice or assignment. Therefore, in this case the children is forced to draw some kind of
details and items that are more useful while studying plants, so it is a trained drawing, an
artistic education of some kind. In this sense, the author of this picture would belong to the
Communicative stage, because there is an analytic intention based on objective observation.
We can also talk about the ninth drawing inside this aspect, as the precision, the proportions,
and the distribution of the items, seem to be placed very accurately in comparison with the
other paintings, taking also into account the clarity of the expressions and the actions of the
characters. Therefore, we believe that this girl has had some artistic training, which can be
related with the artistic education aspect.
In reference to the eighth drawing, the author belongs to the Communicative stage, because
she is 9 years old, and also because her drawing has a clear representative intention inside
her subjective dimension, as in the picture does not seem to be anything out of a normal
conception of a snowy day, and takes into account every detail of it, with a right selection of
the colours, that contribute to the understanding of the scene.
In conclusion, we have observed the evolution of the drawing skills of the children depending
on their ages and development. First of all we have seen the change from the scribble to the
ideographic representation, in which gradually it is possible to identify the content of the
shapes and figures. Then, we have witnessed the change from the drawing to the writing
skills and representation, which can be identified in the fourth drawing, in which the child
represents a scene using dialogues, as well as in the sixth picture, in which the child writes
the sound of the ambulance.
Another issue we would like to mention is the differences between the drawings of the girls
and the boys, which we believe that are very stereotyped, as in the drawings of our girls
appear more often their houses and families, as well as fantastic shapes more related to the
feminine mind, like hearts and rainbows, while in the case of the boys, they seem to be more
disposed to draw items more related to violence, using plain colours and conflictive
situations.