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Drawings from Period 2: the coded realityThis period spans approximately from the beginning of the fifth to the end of the tenth year of life. Within this period, a further distinction can be made between the pre-schematic stage and the schematic stage.The Pre-schematic Stage |
 The boy who drew this stick figure has clearly reached the pre-schematic stage. The human figure still lacks a body and is randomly placed on the paper, amidst some scribbles. In the face, eyes, a nose, and a mouth are clearly recognizable. The arms are very long and attached at the top of the legs. Although the thick lines at the bottom of the paper appear to represent a ground plane, this is just coincidental. |
 Here we see a depiction of several family members. The girl is clearly transitioning from stick figures to linearly drawn human figures, characters with bodies. It's notable that the characters with bodies all consistently have belly buttons. Not all heads have noses, but a mouth and eyes are always recognizable. The figures are somewhat organized on the surface, but this could also be coincidental due to limited space, as well as occasional overlapping. |
 Here we see that the human figure is starting to become quite complete. There's a head with ears, eyes, and a nose; the mouth is not clearly visible. There is a body, and the hands have fingers. Feet are also visible. The use of color is still entirely random.. |
 In this drawing, there's still a tense, uncontrolled line quality. The use of color is cerebral and not yet naturalistic. The bottom of the drawing is used as the ground line, while at the top, you see a strip representing the sky. The squirrel is drawn from different perspectives to represent it as clearly as possible. The artist clearly has a physioplastic inclination. The child is still experimenting with schemas, as seen in the mushrooms and the gnomes. The boy suggests movement using a thick brown line. There's a sense of juxtaposition. |
 This 5-year-old girl is well on her way to developing a schema. She distinguishes between the characters using attributes, such as paying attention to differences in hairstyle. The line work is already fairly controlled, with the circles fitting nicely together. The human figures are all positioned at the edge of the paper and are still depicted statically. |
 In this drawing, the 6-year-old girl has used a combination of the paper's edge and a drawn ground plane. The chimney is placed perpendicular to the house, creating a sharp contrast. There's a sense of transparency within the house. |