ABSTRACT
The art coordinator may prove to be quite receptive to the increased use of the computer in order to further children’s development in this subject and may well be persuaded that the use of the computer can: permit different ideas to be tried out quickly before deciding on a
particular design and different stages in its development which can be saved and returned to when needed;
allow cut and paste facilities to be used to isolate a particular area of the picture and sections of designs relocated, rotated and used to fill other areas;
by scaling up and down adjust the size to allow it to be used for different purposes, for example reduction of an image to use in a repeating pattern;
allow complex shapes to be rotated and viewed on the screen and this can help children gain an awareness of depth, shape and space;
allow many different colour combinations to be tried in a short span of time and the luminosity of the computer screen gives the image a dramatic strength of colour, especially when used against a dark background;
allow selected images to be printed and then form the basis of discussion for further development;
provide an opportunity to use previously acquired skills to recreate textural effects of painting;
allow several pictures to be viewed simultaneously and lead to discussions on what the original artists intended;
with a video digitiser, be used to compile a picture library.
