How To Interpret Children’s Drawings
The interpretation of emotions through drawing is based on psychoanalysis. And it is precisely an interpretation, it is not an exact science although it can give you clues about what the child feels. We must be extremely careful when we talk about children’s drawings, adults often see circumstances that children do not, that happens because adults handle concepts that children do not.
It is essential to respect spontaneity and not correct or impose perfectionist stereotypes. Children’s drawing should be a way of joyful and free expression. However, there are aspects to consider, such as the principle of the baseline. Characters and objects need an explicit foothold on which to stand, a ground or base line, which will have its counterpart in the sky line.
One of the most recent and complete studies on children’s drawing in Spain, Eugenio Estrada Diez’s research on “Children’s plastic expression and contemporary art ”, confirms the importance of this feature. From 1,382 free drawings of Aragonese boys and girls between 2 and 9 years of age from both urban and rural, public and private centers, Estrada was able to establish that at 2 years of age 75.58% of the drawings they still lack a conspicuous baseline or foothold.
At 3 years, 12.50% of the obvious and from then on they will resort to different strategies that become more important at one age or another. They support their figures right on the bottom edge of the paper, without explicitly drawing a baseline for 52.17% at 4 years. They draw a baseline, a few centimeters away from the lower limit of the paper by 32.97% at 6 years. And at 8 years old, 35.6% draw a ground plane.
Attentive to children’s drawings
Other experts take into consideration the size of the drawing, which is associated with the child’s vital energy, its tendency to expand or retract. Those who are withdrawn draw small pictures; extroverts often draw pictures that take up 50% of the page, says one study.
“ The child’s personality is reflected in subtle aspects that show the child’s feelings and attitudes, for example, pressure on paper or a thin, light line that is continually erased indicates insecurity or emotional instability. With regard to color, healthy children with greater balance tend to use warm and well-defined colors ”.
-Ricardo Regidor, psychoanalyst-
The direction of the drawing is another aspect to consider. Normally if the drawing is directed to the left it denotes introversion and distancing, and to the right, communication and extroversion.
Experts also look at the location of the drawing : if the drawing is at the top of the page, it usually indicates that you have a tendency to fantasize, to devise. But when they put it at the bottom they indicate that they need security and that they are clearly realistic.
On the right side he is usually outgoing and forward-looking, and on the left introversion and inhibition. When they place it in the center it usually indicates that they have good self-control, that they are realistic and objective.
Aspects of child’s drawing
Stroke pressure: If it is very strong, it can indicate aggressiveness, impulsiveness, and if it is weak, depression, shyness, inhibition, etc. But, in the pressure of the stroke there are other elements to consider, warns Carlos Viscuña, clinical psychologist and specialist in evolutionary human development and special education.
The Venezuelan Viscuña explains that the way in which a child takes the pencil and exerts pressure on it has a neurological basis. “When a child holds the pencil in an unconventional way, that is to say different from the tripod clamp or upper clamp, I recommend that their parents do a neurological evaluation, to be calm. It can be a small alteration that does not have to be transcendent ”, says the specialist.
However, some psychology articles assure that it is also important to look at the shape of the stroke. Straight lines are usually more typical of aggressiveness, although also of those who have a strong control of their emotions. Curved lines are more typical for girls, they indicate softness, sweetness, emotionality, etc.
In the same way, they suggest paying attention to the continuity of the line : when the lines are fragmented, they can indicate insecurity, difficulty in social relationships, overprotection of parents, etc. When they are continuous, they report that they are more self-confident and outgoing children, without sociability problems.
