Young Children's Human Figure Drawing: cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies

Forty‐two children aged between 2 years and 4 years 11 months were asked to draw a person. Their drawings were categorised as (1) scribbles, (2) distinct forms, (3) tadpoles, (4) transitional and (5) conventional figures. The first representational figures, the tadpoles, appeared at an average age of 3 years 1 month. It was predicted that if tadpole figures result from the complexity of the task rather than from a conceptual difficulty then tasks with reduced demands (a copying task, a jig‐saw task, and a dictation task) should facilitate the drawing of conventional figures. In fact, few conventional figures were produced and the tadpole form was highly resistant across the different tasks. Six of the children were followed longitudinally over a one‐year period from a pre‐representational to a conventional stage of human figure drawing. Spontaneous drawings as well as drawings from six test sessions were collected in order to check whether all children drew ‘tadpole’ forms before they produced conventional figures and whether the conventional figures were adapted from the tadpoles. Four of the children did produce tadpole forms; two did not, but were probably specifically tutored in the conventional form by a peer or parents. There were wide individual differences in the nature of the transition from one form to the next, but there was no clear evidence that the conventional figure had been adapted from the tadpole form.