This study examined the role of visual imagery in the centripetal execution principle (CEP), a graphic rule that is related to the drawing of complex figures that are composed of embedded geometric shapes. Sighted blindfolded children and children with early-onset low vision and early-onset blindness copied raised-line drawings (using only the haptic modality). The results revealed the dominance of the CEP in the sighted and blind groups, but not in the group with low vision. They suggest that the CEP is not determined by visual imagery, but by a more general mechanism that is based on children's perceptual experience.