Running head: A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper

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A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper
Abigail Rutz
University of Missouri

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Running head: A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper

Introduction
Have you ever looked at a childs drawing and deciphered what they drew or
thought critically about their advancement in art development? Typical individuals would say no.
Their usual response would be to look at the artwork, say good job, and move on, having no
intention to look deeply into what may have been put in front of them. What individuals do not
know is that you can learn critical information about a child from the art they produce.
According to Victor Lowenfeld and W. L. Brittain, children progress through stages of
development in their artwork in predicable ways, with wide variations within in an age norm or
stage. Just as reading and math levels vary widely in an average class, we should expect it would
be natural for art levels to also vary widely (Lowenfeld & Brittain, 1996, pg. 37). A child goes
through a series of stages with art starting from toddler age and exceeding to adolescent age. You
can almost watch a child grow through the creations he or she creates.

After taking a look at

a detailed drawing from a child, there are many theories and lessons that explain why he or she
may have used the design they did, and what stage they fall into. The purpose of the investigation
I looked into was to grasp sense of understanding for art development in children and figure out
the logic behind a child's artistic reasoning and thinking. It is of my previous knowledge and
belief that children advance through different levels when it comes to art. You can tell a lot about
a child by the marks they make in their creations and the symbols that they choose to use. Not
every child can be artistically skilled, but to a certain extent most children should follow a trend
in how they develop from scribbles to 2-d characters. The following image is an drawing that I
studied done by a young child child. Throughout the rest of this research paper, I will explain the
details in the image and relate the marks made to children's artistic development.

Running head: A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper

Method
The image that I chose, was given to us from our instructor. The drawings were collected and
copied from different ages. From the information listed in the article from Victor Lownefeld and
W. L. Brittain made it easy determine what stage in artistic development the artist was in. I
looked at many details of the character and setting that was drawn.

Findings
While looking at a child's drawing it is easy to simply say the drawing is of an
animal or person and end the story there. However, when taking a step back and looking a
creations of children there are several details that are overlooked. In the image that I chose to
study the child has drawn a typical playful scene. The main focuses in the picture are a stick
figure girl and a cat. The child has drawn the scene in black marker with harsh lines and at time
using scribble marks for the sky. For the main characters in this pictures, the figures are standing
on top of grass lines and next to a flower. It appears that in the sky of image, the child may have

Running head: A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper

mad a mistake and therefore chose to scribble a solid block of black. Below the black scribble
sky, a smiley face sticks out in the middle of the page. The child could have been drawing a sun
that smiles, which is a common trait in young children when drawing skies. Each part of the
drawing is easy to distinguish and state the intent of the idea, however most parts are out of
proportion and tend to resemble one of the younger age.
Once I studied the proportions of the characters in the image and the marks made,
I decided that the child who created this image was between the age of four and seven. This
information is according to the charts of Vcitor Lownefeld and W. L. Brittain. This stages official
name is the Preschematic Stage. In the Preschematic Stage, the shapes for things are geometric
and lose their meaning when removed from the whole (Lowenfeld & Brittain, 1947, pg.47). In
the child's drawing, the dress she used for the girl is a shaded triangle. The same theory goes for
the grass depictions, legs on the cat, and limps of the girls. In the pictures it is clear what the
child is wanting to show, but if the lines were removed from the scene, it would be unclear that
the lines represented arms, legs, and grass. Another indication that the child is in the
Preschematic Stage is the size of the objects are not in proportion to one another. The cat and girl
in creation are the same size, while the grass they are lifted up on, are just as tall as the characters
themselves about. After seeing the disproportion of the figures it brought me to a statement I read
in an article called Ten Lessons the Arts Teach by Eliot Eisner. It stated that arts celebrate
multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret
the world (Eisner, 2002, pg.3). From this quote it came to my attention that the way a child sees
the world is different from how adults view it. To this young child, it is apparent that the girl,
who could be herself, and the cat are important to her. The creator does not see an issue with the

Running head: A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper

odd sizes because they like whats important to stand out and be the center of attention. Other
authors that I have read have findings and opinions that can have affects of child developments
in art.
Although, Lowenfeld and Brittain has strong and detailed explanations for the
stages that children experience through art, they are not the only researchers who feel stages are
a major part of growing up. According to Luerhman and Unrath, Kerlavanges description of
stages of artistic development differs from Lowenfelds through her addition of a holistic view of
development, the idea that there is an interaction among different domains of development:
cognitive, social, emotional, physical, language, and aesthetic (Luerhman & Unrath, 2006, pg.
72). In this quote, Kerlavange is another theorist who has set stages for different age groups in art
development. According to the reading, the child that drew the black inked image is in The Early
Symbol Making Stage. In this stage children begin to develop their own personal vocabulary of
graphic symbols as they discover the power their symbols can have to represent and
communicate (Luerhman & Unrath, 2006, pg.73).
Conclusion
After digging into the material on different stages of development in art, the child's work that I
looked over seemed to be following right on track. All of the marking that appeared in the
creation followed typical guidelines for the layout of the stage. The child may not be advanced
for his or her age, but they are not slacking behind either. The child still has a sense of self, so the
critical thinking is lacking due to the fact, they more or likely drew a self portrait with their cat,
or animal they wished they had. TO further the growth in this individual consistent instruction in
art is necessary. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art form

Running head: A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper

employ some means through which images become real (Eisner, 2002, pg. 3). Without the arts,
children would have a mind with lacking creativity and ability to think outside the box on
problems. Art is an alternative for words, when it comes to describing a piece either they have
created or even someone else, words always seem to surface. Childs development in art is not
about being perfect, its about taking some type of progression whether it was a small amount or a
large amount. It can be tough in todays world because the popularity for the arts in schools are
decreasing, but all sorts of teacher can bring art into their classes.

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Running head: A Childs Drawing Analysis Research Paper

References
Brittain, W.L. & V. Lowenfeld.(1970)Creative and Mental Growth. New York, NY. MacMillan
Co. pgs 474-479
Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and
How it Shows. (pp. (70-72)
Unrath, K., & Luerhman, M. (2006). Art Education. Making Theories of Children's Artistic
Development Meaningful for Preservice Teachers, 66-72.