Halle Brenny

ART 396-54
Stages of Artistic Development
April 1, 2024
4 yr. Old Boy:
The first drawing that I have done was by a 4-year-old boy. I asked him to draw me a
picture, and the first picture attached is his. Since it is a bunch of lines and dots, I asked him
what he drew. He told me that he drew a tree, a face, and a Lamborghini. When analyzing his
drawing with Lowenfeld's Stages of Artistic Development, I would categorize him as the
Scribbling Stage. He is making random marks as he draws yet is still able to point out what he
drew and tell me about it. You can also see on the drawing that he has horizontal and vertical
lines and scribbles, but also has circular scribbles as he draws faces and trees. After analyzing his
with Lowenfeld's stages, I would say that he does fit the characteristics of the stage and is close
to being in the Preschematic Stage. With Betty Edwards Stages of Creative and Mental Growth,
he would be categorized as The Stage of Symbols. His drawing has a lot of scribbles; however,
he does have circular scribbles shown as well. He is starting to identify different things in his
drawing and is trying to create objects as he draws instead of a bunch of lines. After analyzing
his with Betty Edwards stages, I saw that he meets all the characteristics of the stage and is close
to Pictures that Tell Stories as he can tell me what he is drawing.

2 yr. Old Girl:

The second drawing that I have to analyze is drawn by a 2-year-old girl. I asked her to
draw me a picture, and I gave her crayons and a piece of paper, as she drew, she kept mumbling
to herself and I’m guessing it was about what she was drawing. As I analyze this drawing with
Lowenfeld’s Stages of Artistic Development, I would classify her as the Scribbling Stage. She
meets those characteristics with her age, and as she draws random marks on her paper. She is
also using fine motor skills as she has control of her body as she holds her crayon to draw on
paper. In the drawing, you can see that she moves the crayon both vertically and horizontally,
and sometimes even in a circular motion. I would say she meets all characteristics of
Lowenfeld’s stage very well and this is what stage of development she is at. When I analyze her
drawing with Betty Edward’s Stages of Creative and Mental Growth, she would be classified as
the Scribbling Stage. She meets this stage by the age of being over 1 and a half years old, as well
as by having circular movements and other scribbles on her paper. She mainly meets this stage as
she has random scribbles on most of her paper that I gave her.

6 yr. Old Girl:

The third drawing that I have is drawn by a 6-year-old girl. I asked her to draw me a
picture and she had a piece of paper, crayons, and markers, but chose to just use markers. When I
analyze her drawing with Lowenfeld’s Stages of Development, she would be classified as the
Preschematic Stage. She meets the characteristics with her age as she is 6, and she is also
representing objects. On the top of her paper, she drew herself and I. You can see that she drew
circles for our face, and our bodies are stick people drawn by lines. She then drew the ground
underneath us for something to stand on. On the bottom of the paper, she has a rainbow drawn by
curved or arched lines and colored in different colors. She also drew 2 hearts, one on each side of
the paper. I would say that she meets this stage very well as she represents objects and has
circular figures and figures which float randomly on the page. When I analyze her drawing with
Betty Edward’s Stages of Creative and Mental Growth, she would classify as Pictures that Tell
Stories. She meets the characteristics of this stage by her age as she is 6 years old. She also meets
this stage as she is trying to tell a story with her drawing. She drew 2 people, herself and I, as
well as a rainbow and 2 hearts. You can see in her drawing that she is trying to express herself
through the drawing and portray what she is thinking onto a piece of paper. I would say that she
meets this stage perfectly as she is telling stories with her artwork and is drawing people with
circular heads and lines as legs and arms. She is also drawing shapes as she draws a rainbow and
hearts.

7 yr. Old Girl:

The last drawing that I have is drawn by a 7-year-old girl. I asked her to draw me a picture, and
she chose to use markers on her piece of paper. When I analyze her paper with Lowenfeld’s
Stages of Artistic Development, I would classify her as the Schematic Stage. When I look at her
picture, it is evident that she is using more shapes rather than circles. As she drew the road on the
bottom, she drew 2 lines with 1 being on the bottom of the paper as she is organizing her space.
She then drew the bus on top of the road as a rectangle with square windows and attempted an
octagon for the stop sign on the bus. She also drew the sky on the top of the page as she
organized her space, then drew the sun below it as a circle, instead of a shape in the paper's
corner. After analyzing Lowenfeld’s stages, I would say she meets the characteristics of the
Schematic stage in multiple ways as she has more realistic perceptions of objects and space.
When I analyze the drawing with Betty Edwards Stage of Creative and Mental Growth, I would
classify her with The Landscape. She drew a landscape image, with the road on the ground and
blue sky on the top of the page. She uses a line to represent where both start and end and is using
the space of her paper in a well-organized way. She also drew a bus on top of or in front of the
road, showing that she has perception of space and organization. She also uses different shapes
to draw the bus. As I analyze the drawing, I would say she exceeds The Landscape stage as she
has perception of space and background, as well as organizing her paper in a well-drawn way. It
is also evident that if you were to remove the road on the paper, the bus would then be floating
and throw off the rest of the picture. Same for the sky as the sun would just be randomly placed
in the picture.
The Stages of Artistic Development would be beneficial in the classroom as I use
curriculum and plan lessons as it is a good guideline and base of knowing where to start. When
creating a lesson plan that contains art for a specific grade, I may not know what to expect from
my students. If I could use Lowenfeld’s stages and Betty Edwards stages, I could create a
baseline for my students based off their ages and create a project and rubric from that. This way,
I am not expecting my students to do more than they can, or the opposite, and underestimate
their abilities.
 Using these stages as I create a lesson plan can also be beneficial as I can also
differentiate to meet my student's needs. If I have a student on an IEP, I could look at their needs
and find out where they should be or what stage they should be meeting. I can also use this for
students who are excelling as I can help guide them to enter the stage above where they should
be at. I could use the stages in many ways to help write lesson plans, but these are just a few.