Stages of Artistic Development

Step #1

9-year-old boy 9-year-old girl

6-year-old girl 6-year-old boy

Step #2

In this drawing from a 9-year-old boy I first compared it with the Edwards stages of

artistic development and I think this drawing falls between the ‘pictures that tell stories: age 4-6

years old’ an ‘the landscape: age 6-8 years old’ because the students drawing definitely is telling

a story. There are word bubbles all over trying to tell us what is happening in their drawing,

trying to tell a story. I also think that it falls within the 6-8 age group as well because they have

created a landscape with the line drawn at the bottom for the ground and the sun up in the

corner with lines coming out of the circle. In the Lowenfelds stages of artistic development I felt

that this student fell in the schematic stage: age 7-9 years old. The drawing is on the ground

level with a lone drawn at the bottom and the sun is at the top of the page indicating where the

sky is. This student is now demonstrating realism through art by drawing with a purpose. The

images are very big and take up a lot of space on the page as well. I do think that this student

would fit at the lower end of the schematic stage and the middle to higher end of the landscape

stage. This student shows their knowledge of a landscape and what needs to be in their drawing

to show that. I do think that their people are defined in the face but not so much with the body,
arms, legs, and hands. Those are areas that would need to be more defined to be at a higher

age level.

Even though this drawing, by the 9-year-old girl, has very few objects in it I do think it

falls within the stage of dawning realism: age 9-12 in the Lowenfelds stages of artistic

development. The object is very tiny and not as large scale as younger ages are. There is

attention to detail within the grass blades, the petal forms on the flowers, and the leaves

coming off of the stems. Children in this stage become more aware of their art and can become

self-conscious of it so that could be why there isn’t much else drawn on the page. By just

looking at image and only seeing symbols of flowers I would think this student would fall in the

stage of symbols: age 3-4 years old, because there are only flowers on the page and that could

lead me to believe that this student realized that if they placed those shapes and lines on the

page that it could look like flowers. I do think that this student is older than 3-4 and I do think

they fall more into the category of dawning realism, because they know how to draw flowers

and the grass but everything is now tiny and neat and they may care about what others think of

their work.
 This drawing by the 6-year-old girl to me shows that she would fall in the category of the

stage of complexity: age 8-10 from Edwards stages of artistic development. The artist has a

know and concern for where the facial features are placed on the face and has them relatively

correct. I can see that there is some erasing that she did and that shows that she wanted this to

be well drawn and something herself and peers would like. She is showing great realism within

this drawing also by how we can tell that it is portrait and can see all of the facial features. In

the Lowenfelds stages of artistic development I felt like she fell within the pseudo naturalistic

stage: age 12-14 because this student isn’t just drawing objects that they have visualized before,

but she is drawing a portrait. She needs to look at someone or herself and draw

them/themselves by drawing the facial features correctly.

 The drawing from this 6-year-old boy I felt fell within the schematic stage: age 7-9 in the

Lowenfelds stages of artistic development. I think that this student felt there because they drew

on a landscaped form at ground level with clouds in the sky. Most of the objects are lined up

along the bottom of page. The image is spontaneous and large. I do believe they are also

showing signs of being in the stage of dawning realism: age 9-12 because of their tightness with

some of the images, the attention to details, and how there are more images in the sky than just

at ground level. In the Edwards stages of artistic development I think this student fell in the

landscape stage: age 6-8, because they have their landscape shown by the grass on the found

and the clouds drawn up in the sky. The drawing shows story without there needing to be words

on the page. I think this student falls perfectly into what I felt they did. This student has a big

imagination and can draw a story well. Even though they mostly kept things at ground level they

did venture out to draw images in the sky and a lot of them.

Step #3

I think that the information from the stages of artistic development can be very

beneficial especially for the younger ages (k-5). When young students express themselves

through drawing this can help a teacher to see where they may be at developmentally. If they

seem to be at a lower age level in their drawings then that could also correlate to their learning

and may help a teacher indicate that they may need some extra help. Vis versa if a student

seems to be developmentally ahead of their age based on the stages of artistic development

this could indicate that the student is at level or beyond in their learning. This can help a

teacher to see how far those students can go in their education.

 I do also think that some students do love to draw and make art all the time and

sometimes their art isn’t always looking at the same level as it did previous times. Sometimes

these stages can be confusing for students who aren’t always that consistent and the stages

can’t always be relied on for educational purposes. I also think that some students who are very

good at drawing and art could be developmentally behind academically. Vis versa for a student

who might not draw or create very well art but can be academically beyond their age.