Design in the Mind of a Child

Designing and placement of illustrations start once you are born. I believe that children that start drawing at a young age tend to know where to place their subjects. For example, in their drawings they already know where to place subjects in the  foreground or know how to place  larger or smaller subjects in the current position on a picture.

When I worked with children in the senior year of my high school career, I was honored to receive drawings from students I tutored in the third grade. On the right, my student Jenny drew animals and a background and knew exactly where the placement for each subject is suppose to be. For example, she had a linear perspective because she placed the clouds above the heads of the animals and the ground below. She was even able to place the duck closer to show it is larger. In her illustration with the little girl, she was able to have a sense of balance and place the girl in the middle so that the picture would not be imbalanced.

On the left is an illustration by a boy that I asked to draw anything he wanted. He was able to use warm colors for the sun instead of outrageous colors that do not represent the symbol of the sun. Children are able to know what colors complement each other and what specific objects are "normally" colored.

Next time, take the time to notice art pieces by younger siblings, children, students, or even babies because it is really interesting seeing how their brain helps them put things together without them really knowing what they are doing. Who knows, maybe one day they will be the next famous designer!