Young Children's Ability to Adapt their Drawings of the Human Figure

Abstract

5‐year‐olds, 7‐year‐olds and 9‐year‐olds were asked to draw three figures, one standing still and facing them, one standing still in profile and one running in profile. Half drew from imagination and half drew from models. The 5‐year‐olds made fewest distinctions in the way they drew the figures, the most notable being the greater spread of the legs of the running figure. With increasing age, more features were used to differentiate the three figures. There was little evidence of 5‐year‐olds adapting their figures in the presence of a model. Only among the older children was there a significant effect of the presence of a model when the 7‐year‐olds and, to a greater extent, the 9‐year‐olds drew their running figure with bent arms and legs and also with more transparencies and partial occlusions.