Are children’s drawings good art?
We often see children indulging into drawing as a hobby in their free time. This helps develop their skills at young age while also keeping them effectively occupied. But recently many parents have started to question whether it is right to let their kids draw when these drawings don’t actually resonate with them as art. Instead, they believe getting them professionals at a young age to help guide them would be better. Due to this debate a new question of whether a child’s drawing is good art or not has become a mainstream topic for debate.
Let’s now see from the discussion point of view!
The question of whether a child’s drawing is good art or not has different levels of explanation. First of all, it is important to understand that the term ‘good’ in art is purely subjective. There is no automatically ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art. All art depends on individual taste. Limitations in what someone else could have done in a more tasteful, polished, complete or professional way, shows that there are levels which do not reach the expectations of others. A basic example is the common reaction to ‘Modern Art’ by those whose tastes are limited to traditional realist depiction. When children experience freedom, they create art without notions of perspective, light values, or the desire to please others. On the other hand, those who have grown up in a world of photographic realism judge ‘proper art’ which they can immediately recognise and appreciate. So, to people like these, perspectively accurate, with pleasing compositional elements or aesthetic colours would be true art.
When concerned with children’s art, its important to keep in mind that art is a great way to treat anxiety and stress in children. It also positively impacts their cognitive and physical development. Most children use art as a vehicle for expressing their inner feelings and thoughts because they cannot effectively word it. Psychologists also believe that art is positive at any age. With that in mind, children’s art is highly estimated by psychologists and similar professionals, for its unpretentious honesty and emotional revelation qualities regardless of crude technique or presentation. A child’s art is done to please themselves, their parents, teacher or similarly favourite person, yet with no sense of value or quality assessment. They do not create their art with a sense of bias or to specifically impress anyone. They create their art to specifically please those they love and not necessarily every single pair of eyes on it. So, the real person to determine whether that art is good is either the child himself or the person who it’s made for. And in all its sense, yes, a child’s art is definitely good. The fact that they’re making an effort into appeasing someone the art is made for, should be enough ground to classify a child’s art as good art.
Finally,
You obviously, cannot expect professional level art from a child who has taken up drawing as a hobby but you can appreciate their effort nevertheless. It is also important to remember that your reaction to their effort also determines their psychological growth, so whether that art is good to you or not, in a child’s eyes, his art is good art.