Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper 1

Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper

Abby M. Hartmann
University of Missouri











Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper 2
My group decided on the picture of the Mayflower to analyze. The black and white
picture depicts a man standing on the May Flewor while it is sailing. The ocean is two wavy
lines towards the bottom of the page and there are three fish swimming under the waves. The
ship is a large rectangle scribbled in black with the word May Flewor written on the top left
corner of the ship. It has a cube like sail coming up from the middle of the ship colored the same
way as the ship. The man is standing on the far right of the ship. You can see his circle head,
neck, and the start of his arms. He is also wearing a black top hat. The picture is pretty cute and I
would assume the artist was trying to draw Christopher Columbus sailing on the Mayflower.
I decided that the artist is probably in the schematic stage and around 7-9 years old. I
made this decision based on the stage chart by Lowenfeld and Brittain (1970, p. 48). They give
three stages, the first being human representation. They say that when children in this stage draw
people, the body is generally made up of geometric shapes and the arms and legs are in the
correct spot, but slightly exaggerated. The person drawn in our picture is pretty basic. They have
a round head with two dots for eyes and a line for a mouth. The artist drew a neck and two
shoulders to represent the arms. This lines up with what Lowenfeld and Brittain say because the
artist is giving the person some volume and correctly places the features. The person is also
wearing a black top hat. The next category in the chart is space representation. Lowenfeld and
Brittain describe this as the establishment of a baseline and two-dimensional objects being used
(1970, p. 48). The artist signifies the ocean by drawing two wavy lines at the bottom of the page.
This would be his baseline. The ship is drawn on top of this baseline and there are a couple fish
drawn below the baseline. This is also referred to by Wilson as the perpendicular principle
(1982, p. 58). The ship and person are drawn flat against the paper. There is no depth or three-
dimensional aspects to it. The final category on the chart is drawing characteristics. Some
Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper 3
descriptions Lowenfeld and Brittain give for this section are that the form is repeated, the
drawing shows concept, and the figures are flat (1970, p. 48). The artist draws basic forms like
the rectangular ship, square sails, and a circle head. One is able to tell what is being drawn and
what the artist is trying to portray. The scribbling in of the ship and sail also look similar to the
way the example pictures given by Lowenfeld and Brittain. One pictures portrays a man and his
dog eating and they are both scribbled in. Although the example picture is colored in a little bit
neater than the ship and sail, this may be another smaller characteristic of this stage. Again, the
figures are drawn flat on the page with no dimension. Wilson addresses the fish under the waves
with his draw everything principle (1982, p. 63). He says the children may sometimes draw
things that cannot actually be seen, which is exactly what the artist did. He knew there were fish
in the ocean so he drew them. One would not actually be able to see these fish in reality by just
looking at the water but they are still there. I also used the chart by the Maryland Board of
Education to tell that the artist is able to organize the picture correctly (1974, p.55). The artist
rendition of the Mayflower flows nicely and is all in right spot. The fish are under the water and
the ship is on top. The person is on the ship. It is all related and how someone would see it in
reality.
As a future teacher, I think being able to identify what stage a child is in artistically is
important. Many teachers dont know what it looks like for a student to be behind artistically so
they never work with a child on their drawing ability. This causes the student to not improve
much over the years and can cause a low self-confidence when it comes to drawing and
embarrassment for the child. If a teacher is able to tell that a student is struggling early on, they
can have the student draw during their spare time and give suggestions to help them improve.
The teacher can incorporate more art into the lesson to not only help benefit one student, but to
Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper 4
keep the lesson engaging and benefit all students. This will help the student take pride in what
they are creating later in their artistic life and confidence when their art is shown next to others.

















Childrens Drawing Analysis and Research Paper 5
References
Lowenfeld, V., & Brittain, W.L. (1970). Creative and mental growth. In Mizzou Media (Eds.),
LTC 4240 (p. 48). Location: Columbia, MO.
Maryland Board of Education of Baltimore County. (1974). Beginning stages of Visual
Expression of Young Children. In Mizzou Media (Eds.), LTC 4240 (p.55). Location:
Columbia, MO
Wilson, M., & Wilson, B. (1982). Teaching Children to Draw. In Mizzou Media (Eds.), LTC
4240 (p. 58 & 63). Location: Columbia, MO