Running head: CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper Jenna R. Karr University of Missouri-Columbia

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER

Introduction Being able to understand the creative process of children and the artwork they create will provide many insights into how children view and understand their world. Through this analysis activity, I have taken a piece of artwork drawn by a student to try and assess where the student is within the Lowenfeldian artistic development stages. The stages are divided according to age discrepancies and the artistic description and development shown in the drawing. One aspect to consider is that the levels and age norm may vary depending on repeated instruction with making art and natural ability between each individual. As I interpret and think critically about the students drawing, the decisions made about this artwork were based solely on the artwork itself with no indication of the characteristics or personality of the child. Description/Analyses/Synthesis In the drawing there is an indication that the person is smiling because the mouth is drawn with the one dark line and slight curves at the end that could be interpreted as smiling for most humans. It includes the essential body parts that help to distinguish it from another object, such as an animal. This student drew a basic representation of a person but disregarded some body parts such as the ears, legs, and feet. The head could be described as floating or disconnected from the body because there is a slight space between the neck and the head. The student uses basic geometric shapes to distinguish each of the body parts, but the shapes are distorted to make the drawing fit the whole page. The body parts seem to be accurately placed on the torso of the human figure and the facial

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER

parts are included. The nose and eyes are not proportionate to the size of each other and of the circle that the student used to represent the head. It also includes some scribbles or shading on the left side of torso of the person. Without talking with the student about the drawing, I cannot accurately say that the dark diagonal lines were aspects of shading to show depth after the drawing of the human figure, or if they were scribbles from where the student had started her drawing of a human women. There is a distinction of the torso and neck area in the drawing where I believe that this student might have been trying to distinguish the representation of clothing on the person. From my description above and the description of Lowenfelds stages, this students artwork would be classified as being in the late Preschematic stage and the early Schematic stage. According to Lowenfeld (1970), Human figure representations includes distortion and omission of parts and people are looking at viewer, usually smiling (p. 475). He states, Clothes, hair and other details are expected by the end of this stage (Lowenfeld, 1970, p. 475). These quotes show that this childs drawing depicts what the human figure should look like at the Preschematic stage. In regards to drawing characteristics and space representations of Preschematic stage, Lowenfeld (1970) states, Size of objects are not in proportion to one another and objects are distorted to fit space available (p.475). The students artwork shows that the nose is not in exact proportion of the eyes, and the torso is drawn at a larger scale to fit the available space. The drawing has some depictions of being in the early Schematic stage. The drawing depicts a flat representation of a human figure, but shows that the arms are correctly placed on the torso of the body with the distinction of geometric shapes (Lowenfeld, 1970, p. 475). Analyzing the drawing of the student more closely allowed me to see how a child

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER

represents a person and what distinctions they are making in their drawing to progress toward a more detailed depiction of a human. In regards to my description and Lowenfeld artistic developmental stages, this students drawing would mostly like represent simplicity principles of Wilsons seven graphic principles. According to Wilson (1982), The most basic of all the graphic principles is the simplicity principle, which seems to direct the child to depict an object in as simple and undifferentiated a way as conforms to the childs expectations for the depiction of the object (p. 59). The drawing is in the simplest form of a portrayal of a human and even omits body parts that distinguish humans from other objects. Another aspect in considering the students development in art is the idea of embellishing symbols. According to Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County, The child in the embellishing symbols stage draws objects of particular interest, adding details only to areas important to him/her (1974, p. 55). The artistic work of this student is still in the beginning stages and has room to develop, as well as, the need for more artistic instruction to further develop his artistic abilities. Conclusion Through the process of deeply analyzing a students artwork I was able to describe and understand where the student is at in his/her artistic development. Understanding a students art development will support the teacher in developing lessons that teach to the interest of students. Identifying the artistic development of your student will allow the teacher to know and provide multiple means of expression as part of the universal design for classrooms. Identifying the stage which the student is at is helpful in learning how the student can be engaged and expresses themselves as they learn. In accordance with Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County,

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER

it is important for teachers to provide multiple experiences for students to visit and see different expressions of artworks and this opportunity would benefit the student, whose artwork I analyzed above, in furthering their artistic development (1974, p.55). Learning about what the student is drawing will also support the teacher in learning about their students in relation to their life outside of school. The consequences that teachers may face in ignoring the artistic development of their students would hinder the ability to build relationships and understand the student in a variety of ways. Getting to know the child as a whole will promote professional relationships, but also engage the student in learning more about concepts taught in the classroom.

CHILDRENS DRAWING ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH PAPER

References Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W.L. (1970. Creative and mental growth. NewYork.: Macmillan. Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1974). Beginning stages of visual expression of young children. In Art experience, development of visual perception, 1-4. Wilson, M., & Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching children to draw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall.