Development of the graphic gestures

I am quite familiar with children’s drawings as my research project from 2n de bachillerat was about a personality test based on the drawings of a house, tree and a person from children. I spend almost a year readings books about the topic and I analyzed more than a hundred drawings, so I felt more interested about this subject than the others related with the psychomotor skills development as, through the development of the graphic gestures, I can understand the process of drawing during the early ages and how kids develop a graphic scheme. Even though I worked the drawing topic from a more emotional perspective, having more knowledge about other aspects related with the paintings of children are useful to upgrade the previous information I had about children and drawings. 

The importance of drawing is reflected in its significance. In a graphic representation is reflected the reality of the person who did it. Emotions have an important role in this subjective reality. We draw according to our experiences, to our values and beliefs, feelings. Culture is as well a key factor to understand the representation of a kid as he is most likely to represent what is on his mind according to cultural aspects related with his environment. 

If we relate the graphic representation of the reality within a child we must take into consideration that a kid can only draw what he is familiar with, what he knows and perceives, what he is interested in, and also the drawing is influenced by his motor skills. Concretely, the skills bounded with drawings are the development of the thumb and the pincer grip , perpendicular movements (flexion-extension) and rotary movements so they can draw circular forms. 

The drawing of any child goes through noticeable faces. Scribbles are the main element in a drawing of a child who has no more than two years old. In this first stage the child draws automatically what comes to his mind without planning it. Therefore, first comes the action and then the thinking. 

There two distinct kinds of scribble. The uncontrolled scribble involves disorganized lines done in a paper using a high pressure of the motor skills used, in this case the hand which holds the pencil with strength as the kid has not developed the pincer grip yet, without controlling with the sight what the hand is doing, moving the whole arm and shoulder to do the draw and in some cases even the whole body. Gradually the kid would learn to draw with the movement of the elbow, then using just the hand and finally the fingers. During this stage the child has no representative intention so his scribbles are done because of a pleasure issue more.

Six months later, the child keeps drawings and therefore he improves his skills. The kid begins by giving shapes to the prior uncontrolled lines. He is aware of the outcome that results from the movement of his hand on a paper with the pencil. If the previous stage was pleasant for the child, in this controlled scribble he has even more enthusiasm for the graphic gesture as they notice of what they are capable of doing with their hands. The student has visual-motor coordination and therefore he already has a representative intention with his drawings. As he is aware of the power of their motor skills, he plans what he wants to represent and he does. 

At the age of three the kid start giving a name to his drawings which means that he is able to explain and identify every aspect of his drawing even though for someone else’s eyes the drawing itself has no sense or meaning. Consequently, the representative intention is strongly increased as they draw elements that are part of their world. Related with the graphic development, during this third stage they are able to do closed shapes, such a square, and circular shapes like a Sun. They even use colors according to the reality. In previous stages the kid could have drawn a tree with purple leaves but at the age of three the child is susceptible to draw accordingly to the reality. Children even may plan what they are going to draw before doing it. One year later starts the pre-schematic stage in which the representations are more comprehension for external agents. The shapes are known and recognizable. Increasingly, the child is capable of drawing what he knows and remembers instead of just what he is able to see at the moment and the adherence of details is more significant such as the movement represented by some horizontal lines.   

Each time the kid draws and experiments he will perfect and improve his skills. During all faces, communication is an essential aspect as the child is mostly proud of his work and is excited to show it to some adult or peer, and explain what he has drawn. A positive interaction can cause a positive effect in the kid’s self-esteem and willingness to keep polishing his skill.