Canny Minds Blog

New Children’s Laureate launches Campaign to get Children Drawing

Posted on 05. Aug, 2009 by Jenny in General

The new Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne , a children’s book illustrator and author,  is concerned that the pressure of national curriculum tests means priority is given to reading rather than drawing.

 
He believes that the two should be prized in equal measure and any failure to promote art could lead to a shortage of talented artists in later years. He has called for a day to be set aside each year for children to indulge their artistic side.

One exercise he wants to see brought in is one he played as a child, known as “the shape game”. Each child starts by drawing a shape then passing it on to the next to develop it as an illustration or drawing.

 ”Nobody’s ever talked about it but it’s a simple game which I believe is the essence of creativity. I’ve got nothing against reading but the two (reading and drawing) should go side by side.

Mr Browne, who is only the second illustrator to hold the Children’s Laureate post since Quentin Blake, pointed to Leonardo da Vinci’s habit of picking out battles, people and landscapes on an old wall as a sign that it boosts creativity. “You can say to a youngster ‘If you play the shape game, you can become an artist or a writer’,” he added.

Adapted from a Daily Telegraph Article, 5th August 2009

To buy The Usborne Complete Book of Drawing, click here

Photo Courtesy of Jean-Sien Kin

Tags: 6-12, Art, Children's learning, drawing, Learn Something New, male and female