Lauren Illies

ART 395

Stages of Artistic Development Analysis Paper

I chose to look at the 4 examples given on the D2L document. After examining each picture and
taking notes, I noticed many things about them. The first picture given was from a 9-year-old boy. This
picture consisted of 3 people standing by each other talking. One of the people exclaims that he found
life while the other two are saying that he is crazy. A few objects in the picture are labeled such as the
microscope and the people. Based on Edwards stages of development theory, I notice that there is a lot
of detail in this picture. Not only do the people have hair, faces, and labels to them, but they are
standing on a ground line and there is a sun behind them. There is also a bunch of small dots in a pile
labeled germ? This is the pile of objects that the person Anton claimed to have found life in. The objects
in this picture have been placed correctly and there are many words to show a storyline to go with it. In
Lowenfeld’s stages of development theory, this picture shows a groundline that the people are standing
on, along with a sky where the sun sits. I would say this picture fits more into the schematic stage
because of how everything is represented. The spacing in this picture is organized and there isn't much
overlapping. Overall, this picture fits in with the descriptions of both stages of development. Personally,
I think that at a glance, this picture looks like it could fit in with a lower group, as it looks a little
underdeveloped for a 9yr old, but it still makes sense for it to be in the schematic and stage of
complexity stage.

The second picture was from a 6-year-old girl. This picture was a portrait of a girl, possibly a self-
portrait. The photo shows a round head, with detailed facial features and hair, a neck, chest, and arms.
After reading about Edward’s stages of development, I notice that there is no landscape shown not a
picture telling a story. The artist seems to have made sense of the world and knows how things should
be placed. In Lowenfeld’s stages of development, the preschematic stage is shown. The object/person in
the drawing is accurately represented, and the person shows a round head with some arms. I would say
this is almost slightly advanced because a neck and chest is shown on the body too. Another reason is
that nothing seems to be floating in the picture. It is a portrait, so the body is cut off at the chest area.
Overall, this picture fits in with the preschematic stage. Just because of how it was drawn, it was hard to
fit it in with one of Edward’s stages. However, there was good detail and placement such as the
eyelashes, and the nose. For a 6-year-old this was an accurate and well done drawing.

The third picture was done by a 6-year-old boy. This picture shows a landscape photo that
includes a house, a tree, what looks like a train pulling flowers in a trailer, and a detailed sky consisting
of clouds, smoke from the train, and a bird. This fits in very well with Edward’s landscape stage of
development. This picture has symbols for each object, and everything is in a certain place to make the
whole picture make sense. Clouds are shown to represent a sky at the top of the picture and there is a
line at the bottom of the page to represent the ground, where the objects are placed. In Lowenfeld’s
preschematic stage of development, we can see how the artist has people represented by a head with
arms and legs. This looks like a stick-figure person. No objects are floating in the picture except for the
bird which is meant to be flying. All of the objects in this picture are represented well and have accurate
sizing. Overall, I would say this is more of an advanced preschematic stage because of the amount of
detail and accuracy shown throughout the photo.

The fourth picture given, was done by a 9-year-old girl. This picture shows a line of grass and
three flowers coming out of it. Based on Edward’s stages of development, this picture is showing more
realism, and slight detail. This would probably be something other girls around the age would enjoy and
it seems to be done very neatly. As for Lowenfeld’s stages of development, I would say this fits right in-
between the schematic stage and the stage of dawning realism. There is a ground line of grass shown
and it is all drawn very neat. The is no overlapping going on except for the flower stem coming out of the
grass. The student is beginning to draw very small and tight which begins to put her in the next stage.
Overall, this picture shows the very minimum and not much is going on. However, it looks neat and
small, and everything shown is accurately represented.

This information is beneficial in the classroom because if you know what stage your student
should be at by that age, you will know to be practicing certain skills to help them get to that stage and
excel at it. You can be practicing certain shapes or figures in the beginning of the year to help achieve
that goal and if the student isn’t showing that they are at that stage halfway through the year, you know
to jump in and work with that student to help them get to the level they need to be at. These stages of
artistic development are not just to show how good a student is at art; they also show how much a
student is understanding what is going on in the world around them.