Linear and U-shape trends in the development of expressive drawing from preschoolers to normative and artistic adults.

Abstract

This study sought to explain the apparently conflicting age-incremental and U-shaped developmental patterns found for the merit of expressive drawing by examining the role of representational realism drawing ability in the observed age patterns. Thirty children in each of seven age groups from young children to preadolescence (4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 years) were randomly sampled. Two further groups (normative and artist) of 14-year-olds and young adults were included to assess expressive drawing shown late in development. Each participant completed three expressive drawings (happy, sad, and angry) and three visual-realism drawing tasks. The expressive drawings were assessed on five measures of expressive merit (overall quality, color, composition, line, and content) developed and scored by two adult artists. The data analyses were performed on those scores (i.e., raw scores) and those scores when statistically adjusted for performance on the realism drawing tasks. The raw expressive drawing scores linearly increased up to preadolescence. Linear trends continued for the artist adolescent and adult samples, but tailed off and declined in curvilinear relationships for the normative counterparts. By contrast, the analyses yielded a U-shaped curve in the merit of expressive drawings when those scores were statistically adjusted by realism drawing performance: young children and adolescent/adult sample showed elevated merit, more notably the later sample when artists were considered. The findings suggest the previously reported age-incremental patterns were influenced by a consideration of realism drawing ability in the assessment, while the Ushape curve de-emphasises representational realism in the content of the drawings.Expressive Drawing Development Linear U-shape Linear and U-shape trends 3 Linear and U-shape trends in the development of expressive drawing from pre-schoolers to normative and artistic artistsThe process of drawing promotes many psychological benefits for children, including visual thinking, observation and the analysis of subject matter, problem solving, imagination, expression, creativity, as well as more general habits of thinking such as perseverance, experimentation and reflection (Arnheim, 1969;Barnes, 2002;Burkitt, Rose & Jolley, 2010;Hetland, Winner, Veenema & Sheridan, 2013). Furthermore, producing the artefacts develops children's drawing ability, both for their representational drawing of the subjects depicted and their expressive drawing of emotional/conceptual messages. There is a general convergence in the literature that with age children denote subject matter in forms of increasing visual likeness (for reviews, see Cox, 2005;Jolley, 2010). However, there is a vibrant debate regarding the developmental pattern of children's expressive drawing. An influential claim for a U-shape pattern posits that very young children produce drawings of similar expressive quality to the works created by artistic adolescents and adults, with a dip in artistic merit in the intervening middle c...

Drawing development in mainstream and Waldorf Steiner schools revisited.

“…Several commentators have suggested that the -shape curve is dependent upon rating criteria and judges that favor a modernist perspective on art that emphasize expressive formal properties above representation (Duncum, 1986; Jolley, 2010; Pariser, Kindler, & van den Berg, 2008). Indeed, in a recent empirical study seeking to explain these apparently conflicting patterns, Jolley, Barlow, Rotenberg, and Cox (2016) found that age-incremental patterns of expressive drawing measures were observed without statistically controlling for variations in children’s and adults’ representational drawing ability (independently assessed), but patterns tending toward a U-shape curve were found with the statistical control.…”

‘A smile stands for health and a bed for illness’: Graphic cues in children’s drawings

“…Children’s ability to employ the aforementioned graphic cues has been associated with their understanding of the depicted themes (Brechet and Jolley, 2014; Brechet et al, 2009) and their representational drawing skills (Brechet and Jolley, 2014; Jolley, 2010; Jolley et al, 2016). Moreover, the majority of the related studies has shown that this is an age-related ability, since as they get older children are able to incorporate in their drawings a greater number and a larger variety of graphic cues (Bonoti and Misailidi, 2015; Brechet et al, 2009; Ives, 1984; Jolley et al, 2004; Misailidi and Bonoti, 2014; Picard and Gauthier, 2012; Picard et al, 2007).…”

Integrative Model of Children’s Representations of God in Drawings

“…The attachment style is certainly influencing the emotional dimension of a drawing, but there are other ways to approach it. Whatever the attachment style, children show a growing ability, with age, to express emotions in drawings (Jolley et al, 2016). Another aspect of this perspective concerns the emotional valence of the representation: Does the drawing express positive (joy, happiness) or negative (sadness, fear, anger) emotions?…”