By ten or eleven, a child’s desire for realism is in full force. Children exclaim that their drawing won’t come out right, which means it doesn’t look real. This is usually where a good art teacher makes all the difference. Children need to break out of what they think they see (the memorized symbols from childhood) and learn to draw from observation. Many art teachers wish for children to be freer and more imaginative in their work at this stage – including myself until I read this. It appears that this is going against the natural development of drawing and we should be fostering realistic drawing skills in children when they are wanting them. What the child wants is to know about light and shadow, perspective and form. If a child cannot learn to draw realistically at this age, many will give up on it completely, thinking that drawing is a talent they don’t possess. Sadly, they will never progress onto adult drawings. Perhaps this was the case for you.