Chapter 4: How to Boost your Creativity & Produce Brilliant Coloring
One pitfall every coloring fanatic shares is singularity. They flip through the pages of their coloring book only to notice that their works don’t have any divergence at all. In most cases, artists felt so comfortable using a specific color formula that this results in them applying the same on almost every page.
Yes, formulas exist, but what makes something original is not a structured guideline. Keep in mind that to produce anything brilliant, you must add creativity into the equation and it’s this part of coloring that must come solely from you. No amount of words, after all, can help you harness that. Instead, below are a few tips on how to boost your creativity.
Challenge yourself with restrictions.
Many have the impression that freedom sparks creativity. Dr. Seuss, however, proved otherwise. Someone made a bet with this genius that he could never write a story in fifty words or less. Apparently, Dr. Seuss took it as a challenge and cooked something up, which then resulted in Green Eggs & Ham. Despite containing precisely fifty unique words, this was heralded as the fourth best-selling children’s book of all time in 2001.
The lesson in this story is, when a person has no restrictions, he is bound to model his new work after his past successes; therefore, he is fated to create something less original. If, however, the person’s resources are limited, then it puts his brain in a state of overdrive. Just imagine how difficult it is to produce anything that is coherent in fifty words!
So for your coloring creativity and diversity, limit your colors. If you are used to coloring with mostly reds and greens, try sticking to greens only. Or, if you always use fifteen different colors, limit it to five and see what happens.
Think of the problem, not the solution.
Just a fun fact, Einstein admitted that given one hour to solve any problem, 55 minutes will be spent on mulling over the problem, and only the remaining five are spared for the solution. To further support this, according to research, creative people never actually run after solutions. Instead, they stick by the problem and -- well -- create more problems (sort of).
Therefore, never burden yourself with thoughts like “I need to make this pattern epic” or “This chameleon doodle’s color should be more striking than my friend, Anna’s”. Understand that in this frame of mind, you are actually trying to come up with a solution. Instead, focus more on the problem and think of other perspectives like “Anna colored her chameleon after her break-up; hence, the heartrending darkness. If I were in the same situation, how would I color mine?” In other words, always check your emotions. Ask yourself how you are feeling, or what you would feel when placed in an emotional situation. Make it a burden to feel. After all, you can’t solve anything by merely forcing yourself to come up with something epic. A work of art has to have content even if you’re just going to color a chameleon.
Dedicate separate time for research.
Some people gather ideas from Pinterest or Google Images as they color, hoping the inspiration will help result in something stunning. Researchers, however, have countered this habit and reasoned that it only promotes partial attention. In other words, it disrupts the continuous flow of creativity.
This does not mean, however, that research is completely prohibited. On the contrary, it is encouraged, only that it has to be done in a separate time. Before coloring, browse through many images, and take notes if you must. Only after you have decided and organized your head should you begin your coloring. As you do, you can flip through your notes just to review some of the points you made.
Think of it this way. Have you seen professional painters flip through a big book of famous paintings as they work? No, and it’s because every brushstroke comes from their heart and resolution.
Harness positivity.
Research suggests that a strong positive mood results in the best creative work of a person. They further noted that the feeling of love, or merely thinking of love, encourages creative thinking. Of course, there has been some speculation that negative emotions such as sadness, loneliness, despair, remorse, being brokenhearted and more also make a good foundation for a masterpiece (take for example Edgar Allan Poe, Adele and Taylor Swift). Apparently, however, as further noted by the same researchers, this only works sometimes.
This claim therefore encourages you to feel and be positive whenever you engage in coloring. Should there be days when this mindset is difficult to come by, try doing a few mood boosters before indulging, like exercise, listening to music or drinking a bottle or two.
Ask yourself, “What if?”
There is an actual term for this, and it’s called conceptual thinking. Basically, it’s about thinking of a situation, subtracting a couple of elements, then adding new elements to come up with one whole crazy idea. For example, if Mark Zuckerberg is a redhead, who would be the next president of the United States?
Researchers noted a short burst of creativity when the mind is tickled by such thoughts. After all, to get an answer to a crazy question, one needs to stretch their brain cells just to make connections from hair color to presidency. The questions don’t need to be strictly related to coloring. Getting the brain to warm-up for wild, out-of-the-box thinking is what’s being promoted by this mental exercise.
Daydream.
This is the most widely known mental activity that helps incubate ideas. In fact, this may be the easiest creativity boosting mindset because practically everyone does it. You may wonder, however, why it hasn’t worked for you. Or if it has, you didn’t get to utilize it much on your work.
Research suggests that daydreaming will only work as a creativity boost if you are already committed to a project. Furthermore, you should already have ample information before starting. This way, you have richer elements mixing in your mind when you daydream as you work.
Think of other people.
In a way, this contributes more to motivation than an actual creativity boost. According to one study, people who were told their work will be later on used by other people delivered more unique ideas, whereas those informed they are to use their own work didn’t extend any effort at all. Basically, you are more driven to produce something novel when you believe total strangers or even peers will admire and judge it once you are done.
Now, coloring is a personal project; thus, showing it to friends isn’t really necessary. As explained earlier, this fact makes it less exciting to produce anything worth applauding. If you want to follow this creativity boosting method, however, you can try dedicating the next coloring page to your favorite social media. Convince yourself you’ll be posting it on Facebook once you’re done or if you have a friend who’s going through a tough time, dedicate your work to her. Think of how she would enjoy a butterfly pattern, her favorite symbol. What colors does she like? Or how will you reflect her personality through colors?
These creativity boosting ideas can be done simultaneously or one-by-one. What’s amazing with each, however, is how it will benefit you in the long run. If you haven’t noticed yet, the above enumerated are actually mental exercises and are not instant solutions to activate the brain’s imagination. In other words, expect creativity in almost every aspect of your life by practicing these. Aside from coloring time, you may come up with groundbreaking ideas at work, or even in holiday house decorations like Christmas or Halloween.