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Drawing is a highly multimodal process and its developmental trajectory broadly progresses from drawings that reflect mental models to recreations of visual perception. To tease apart the relative roles of the sensory systems involved in the development of drawing, one requires a model in which input is withheld from each system independently and then re-introduced when the other systems have matured. We have the unique opportunity to do this by studying visual development and skill acquisition in children born with curable blindness in rural India. After providing them with sight-restoring surgery, we longitudinally tested these children to measure multiple aspects of graphic production, including copying shapes and drawing known objects. We found that despite the presence of language to support shape recognition and age-appropriate motor control prior to treatment, sight onset itself did not immediately lead …