Indroduction Drawing like a child: An investigation into visual language found in children’s drawings and it’s employment by the illustrator as a method to engage and relate to the young reader. Why? I am interested in learning about how children make pictures. How a child will construct a narrative through picture making and play. My research will investigate how children draw at the pre-schematic age of 3-7 and the schematic stage of 6-11. I will be using my findings to investigate how certain picture book makers have used elements of children’s visual language in their work in order to relate to the young reader’s development level and imagination.
Left image: Christian Robinson Right image: Eric Carle
Practical Investigation Practical Research Counterpart: I want to synthesis my academic research into my own practice by breaking down the methods and techniques in which research has shown are employed by children in the pre-schematic stage of drawing and visual language development. I will categorize each technique into a constructed drawing task and use these findings in order to construct a short story book aimed at the 3-7 year old reader.
Left Image: Categorisation of children’s visual language taken from Hafiz Aziz Ahmad and Lee Soo-Min’s research ‘Telling Stories using Children’s Visual Language’.
Practical Brief Rationale: To break down the elements of children’s visual language as found in my research in order for me to further my practice as an illustrator and ultimately increase my understanding of how children relate to pictures. Brief: Each element found in the ‘Vocabulary of Children’s Drawings’ will be used to create 10-20 quick drawings over the course of one day. The fairy tale ‘Humpty Dumpty’ will be used as a catalyst for which to build narrative around these investigative drawings. This story has been chosen as age range of 2-7 relates to the pre-schematic age in which the research is taken from. When & What: Drawing research will take place over the course of one week in order to keep findings successive. Drawings will each be recorded in an A3 staple bound book. *Brief for next stage of collaborating drawings into book form is not yet written, any tips or help would be great!