Show KNOW YOUR OWN OWN- CHILD NOTES ON CHILDRENS CHILDREN'S DRAWINGS fly y Mil DU ALBERT Lor LOYAl AI CILo E I Drawing In early childhood Is 15 the expression of a totally different Ps psychological process from that I which Is la responsible for Tor the tho drawIngs draw- draw I Ings lIngs of 01 later childhood and adult life For or or the themore more mature Individual individual- drawing Is obviously ob an attempt to represent on paper the objects of 01 the world about him For the young child drawing has no such pUr purpose ose It Is merely a a. delightful pastime with chalk chalIe or a pencil In which the child makes lines curves and angles at random without any efort ef- ef ort lort whatsoever at creating s. s likeness likeness like like- ness of the thing hl w which he Is drawIng draw draw- Ing orI Indeed c the fie fiew external r s r reality G concerns th the child so little that hat he seldom takes the trouble to Co glance at t what ho he Is drawing either be before before before be- be fore during or after the completion of of his efforts Ins Instead cad the child draws what he means thinks and feels not what he sees seeS seeS- Drawing for him is a a. direct expression of ot his his' own Inner motor Impulses totally unrestrained b by any effort effot to conform with reality real real- ity The dots lots and dashes with which he decorates the paper mean to hint him the thing that he ho was thinkIng thinking thinking think think- ing about at the moment ho he made them So long as they are sufficient surn- surn I dent to mind re-mind him of 01 the object object- he was drawing they are sufficient for Tor his purposes thus the earliest I drawings of ot children are are In the I strictest st s sense enso of the word sym sym- bols They are In no sense drawIngs drawIngs drawings draw Ings as we adults understand that t term erm i L And It Is this very freedom fredom which L I the child possesses possesses possesses- w a to draw a thing i g spontaneously as he perceives It ii without any effort at accuracy which accounts for the great pleas great pleasure pleas pleas- I. I ur ure which all children find In the use tise of ot pencil and paper Somewhere between between- the ages of ot I I three and five depending of 01 course 1 upon the Innate artistic of ot otI I I the in child there appear the thc first crude efforts at re representing represent res nt- nt ing the form of ot the objects which the he child sees about him Usually It ItIs ItIs Itis Is a man which the child first attempts to accurately portray And AndIn n In this Intermediate stage be between pure symbol formation and true I drawing we note two very interestIng interest- interest InterestIng InterestIng Ing characteristics To wit The relative Importance of or the tIle map maps malls s I parts will depend not upon their actual size but upon the Importance Importance importance tance which the child attaches to them and secondly the relative position on of the parts garts of ot the man nay may or may not correspond with the natural plan Thus the man of a year old may possess a a. head several times Umes larger than the rest of ot hs his body and if It th the child happens t to have recently been particularly Im Impressed Impressed Ito Ito- pressed with a friends friend's prominent nose he will more mote than likely find that his man possesses a noso nose which quite com completely dominates his face Nor is there any certainty that this nose will vilI be placed be below below below be- be low the eyes and nd above the mouth Then chen gradually with the beginning begin begIn- ning of 01 the s school period the child becomes conscious of the Inaccuracies r CI s pf pt hi hi his J pencilled representations Efforts at accuracy with conscious copying from a model begin to manifest themselves And true drawing has has' begun Most fost of ofus us however possess but buta a a. limited ability to Accurately portray por Jor- or- or tray on paper that which we see see with wIt ou our eY eyes s. s We b become ome sc aged with the the poverty of ot our own efforts An And 1 thus for tor most of pf us as adults drawing is robbed of the spontaneous joy which It possessed In the days das of early childhood Copyright by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate t |