One of the first recognisable things that children draw is the human figure and it remains a popular topic throughout their school years. It is usually composed of a number of parts, drawn in sequence and fitted together in a particular spatial way. Typically, the head is drawn first and consists of a contour, which encloses the facial features. The body is drawn below the head. The legs are often, but not always, added next and then the arms last. Hair, hands and feet, and other embellishments may also be included. Older drawers already know how to draw such a figure, even though it may not be very sophisticated and may turn out to be rather sketchy and more like a cartoon. Very young children, however, have to learn how to make this drawing and it is by no means a simple process. They have to decide which components to include, remember these key body parts, decide which order to draw them in, know where to locate each one on the figure, choose the appropriate kind of line or shape for each part and know how to fit them together. And of course they need adequate visuo-motor skills and cognitive abilities to be able to bring all this about.

In this chapter I will review the research on children’s developing ability to represent the human figure in their drawings and the extent to which this reflects their knowledge of the human body. I will discuss the various influences on its development, including the culture that children grow up in as well as their own individual characteristics and experiences. Understanding this development and the influences on it is important for those professionals working in an educational or therapeutic context who use children’s human figure drawings, as without such knowledge they may underestimate children’s ability and misinterpret their emotional state. A fuller account of some of the data, claims and arguments referred to in this chapter can be found in Cox, 2005.