At Inklish we obviously like to draw but we were really interested and a little shocked to learn the amazing role that drawing plays in human cognitive development.
Drawing is a natural human activity in which we create ‘external representations of thoughts’. Children do not need to be made to draw, they usually start scribbling with little to no encouragement and in fact, as most parents can attest, discouraging them from scribbling (especially all over walls and kitchen tables) is a much tougher task.
Drawing has been shown to aid cognitive development, it teaches hand-eye coordination, and is thought to be the first step in teaching us to write. Unfortunately however, as cool as it is, drawing is often not seen as a priority in high school and it is in high school that most children stop drawing. But drawing is a wonderful skill and feel all parents should continue to encourage their children to draw, paint design etc. all throughout school.
Apart from the cognitive and developmental advantages we described earlier drawing is a vital skill in many modern jobs and industries (beyond the obvious of ‘being an animator’). It is used in fields like medicine to record observations, in science to document experiments, in architecture to illustrate buildings and map out space, as well as in technology and design industries where drawing is used to conceptualise yet to be realised products.