There is a famous quote by Pablo Picasso on Child Art. “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain “artists” once we grow up.”
This line has a deep thought in itself… what can we do to nourish an inner artist in a child.
A child’s art may be a scribble or some random shapes or some human figures. Of course, they are not with great perfection but, most importantly by their drawings, children communicate with us. By asking their creations, we can read their minds and hearts.
In very simple words I can say, Child Art is about the creative process of making the art, and not about the end product.
The most important characteristics of child Art are:
- There is no specific way of how it should look. As an adult, we should not worry if the child’s artwork is not so pretty or doesn’t look like it is “supposed to”. There is NO right or wrong way to do it.
- A child’s art must be done genuinely by himself/ herself. It is very very important not to fix how/where they draw or paint things.
- The final output is completely according to the child’s idea. Even if he/she wants to fill the black color in a tree, as an adult…. we can only ask to the child “Have you ever seen a black tree?” And he’ll reply, “No”, but still wants to go for the black color in a tree, he can go according to his fantasy.
- While doing Art, a child must enjoy the activity. He/she must not feel the thing as drudgery.
At HOBBY CENTRE FOR ART, we always inspire students to observe and create instead of copying directly from the references. For that students need to observe a lot….. of course they do….. we just need to inspire them to create their observations, imaginations, and fantasies on Paper.
Children are naturally creative. It’s our responsibility to give them the freedom, materials, and space to let their creativity bloom at its optimum level.