Drawing

The Development of children’s drawing.

From ages 0 – 11

Drawing stage 1- Scribbling

0 – 18monthsThere are 4 stages; • a) Disordered - uncontrolled markings that could

be bold or light depending upon the personality of the child. At this age the child has little or no control over motor activity. b) Longitudinal - controlled repetitions of motions. Demonstrates visually an awareness and enjoyment of kinesthetic movements.c) Circular - further exploring of controlled motions demonstrating the ability to do more complex forms. d) Naming - the child tells stories about the scribble. There is a change from a kinesthetic thinking in terms of motion to imaginative thinking in terms of pictures.

Drawing stage 2- Symbolic

2 to 4 years In this stage, children are

assigning meaning to the shapes they make. The shapes will stand for whatever the child wishes regardless of whether or not it truly looks like it. This stage can often extend beyond the age of four.

Stage 3- DescriptiveThis is sometimes called the recognisable symbols stage.

Objects are still basic butrecognisable as to what

they are. Ages 5-7

Stage 4- Visual Realism

When drawn objects closely resemble the actual object. Ages 8-11 becoming more

sophisticated.

Using different mediums

Children should be encouraged to experiment with a range of

different mediums.

Coloured Pencils These are just a selection of

mediums there are many more.

Charcoal

Chalks

Pastels Wax Crayons Pencils

Pens

Felt tip pens

Surfaces As well as experimenting with a range

of different mediums children should also have the opportunity to

draw on a number of different surfaces to see the different effects.

Paper

Card

Handmade paper

Canvas

Newspaper

Sugar Paper

Drawing in the early years.Drawing does not have to be confined to

simply holding a pencil or crayon and making marks with it.

Drawing within a medium can also allow children to progress, develop and

become more advanced with their drawing skills.

Drawing in mud!

With chalks on the playground.

Drawing in sand

Glitter Rice

TechniquesTone

Experimenting with tone- Tone refers to the level of lightness and darkness in a drawing.

Shading Is a process used in drawing for creating levels of

darkness or with a darker shade for darker areas or with a lighter shade for lighter areas.

Line The use of lines through different

mediums and thicknesses.

Fig Leaves, c.1941 Henri Matisse

Cross Curricular Links

Art can easily be incorporated into most

topics whether its based on geography, history,

English or maths, or any other subject.

A Roman Coin- History

Drawing Fruit- Science, PSHE.

Tessellating Shapes- Maths

Shape and Space.

Creating illustrations for

stories, storyboarding or

creating characters-

Literacy

Simple Maps- Geography.

SketchbooksA great activity to do with children of any

age is to create their own sketchbooks.

This can be as simple as stapling or clipping cartridge

paper together.

The children can then design there own front cover- to make it

their own.This gives the children ownership of their work and allows them to have somewhere to experiment and play

with a range of techniques and mediums.

The sketchbook can also be a good tool for monitoring children’s

progression and development.

Observational DrawingObservational drawing is

perhaps one of the most common drawing activities in

school.

This can be of whole objects.

Or of small sections of objects.

This encourages children to look more closely at objects than they

normally would.

PaintingPaint – exploring the potential of paint as a techniques: splodging, squirting, painting. Different media made available for exploring the paint e.g. toy car, feathers, sponges, pipe-cleaners, cotton buds, fingers, etc.

Surfaces – explore the different surfaces and the affects they have on paint. This allows children to develop their repertoire of mediums and techniques e.g. newspaper, corrugated cardboard, tissue, handmade paper, plastic, foil, fabric,

Colour Theory The basic principles of one colour theorists work is introduced here; the colour wheel described by

Johannes Itten in his book 'The Art of Colour'.

The colour wheel is a guide to how colours mix. Colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel are called complementary colours. The primary colours are yellow, red and blue. The secondary colours are green, violet and orange.

The tertiary colours are the browns. Children can soon discover that by mixing yellow, red and blue together in different combinations they will make many kinds of brown.

To darken a colour without using black add a little of the colour on the opposite side of the wheel.

Children will need to develop a clear understanding of the way colours interact in a dynamic way.

Mixing colours in Key stage 1Basic colour mixing skills.Let the children experiment. Some children may simply enjoy mixing colours and not apply them to paper. You could keep record by placing a piece of paper onto the wet , mixed colours (a mono-print). Show the children’s work value by keeping the colour mixing experiments for a display. Discuss all the colours the children found. You could begin to describe colours like ‘moss‘or 'saffron‘ and refer to DIY colour swatches?

Keeping a colour 'diary' is useful for children to reflect on the spectrum of colours the world is made up of.

Encourage accidents and chance results - Talk about how contaminating paints can turn into a muddy and undefined mess. Although, there are times when subtle browns and dirty greys are appropriate. There are other times when you want to encourage control, so that your pupils can plan their work and improve their technique.

Mixing colours in Key stage 2• Continue to help children to become more

aware of colour, and how it changes. Encourage children to keep a colour 'diary' which allows children to reflect on how objects in the environment change colour over time.

• Children could observe and record the changing colours of a tree in school over two months, take photos and compare the colours they have mixed. For upper key stage 2 this will allow the children to become sensitive to subtle changes in colour.

• For example, the colour of metal as it rusts; the colour of food as it rots; the colour of flowers as they die, the colour of fruit as it ripens, the colour of peppers as they age, the colours of the sky as day turns through dusk into night, the colours of a landscape view (for example, a hillside or mountain) as day turns through dusk to night, the colour of food as it cooks, colour changes as one chemical solution is added to another. (Cross-curricular links with Science.)

Websites• http://www.nsead.org• http://www.accessart.org.uk/• http://www.tate.org.uk/schoolsteachers/• http://www.npg.org.uk/learning/schools/primary-sch

ools.php• http://www.arteducation.co.uk/• http://www.artteaching.co.uk/ (Secondary based,

innovative ideas.)• Many great lesson ideas on Teachers TV.

Artists

Suggested Artists to complement drawing units:• Laurie Lipton• Michelangelo• Raphael • Quentin Blake• W. H. Auden• Winslow Homer• Picasso or Turner sketchbooks

Artists Here are a few Artists who would complement painting units of work: • Kandinsky - an abstract painter that shows a wealth of different colours. • Albrecht Altdorfer• Atkinson Grimshaw • J. M. W. Turner Artists who have taken the colour wheel seriously and made interesting work from using it:• Sonia Delaunay - 'Electric Prisms' (1914, Musée National d'Art Moderne,

Paris). • Paul Klee painted, 'Coloured Circles with Coloured Bands' (1914,

Kunstmuseum, Berne). • Georges Seurat used a scientific approach through Pointillisme and

Divisionism. • Seurat painted, 'The Bathers, Asnieres' (1883-84, National Gallery,

London). • Frank Stella• Gillian Ayres• Pupils will be excited by the colourful excitement of the Fauves (Matisse,

van Dongen, Dufy and Derain) and Robert Delaunay such as, 'Windows Open Simultaneously' (1912, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice).

• Paula Rego

References

• http://www.nsead.org• http://www.accessart.org.uk/