If any of you are like me, school can stress you out and you look for any way to escape it. For a lot of people this is where the Netflix binging comes in or where your apartment suddenly becomes spotless, but for others, they color! This is no longer an activity attributed to little kids for occupying their time, but a big stress reliever for adults too. I know when I was looking for Christmas gifts this past winter, this was one of the number one items to get adults.
One artist that has been instrumental in this movement is Johanna Basford. Though she is a paid illustrator, she also doodles in her free time and found that there were plenty of people who were interested in coloring her doodles. She had put some of her doodles online for people to use as wallpapers and was approached by a publishing company to use her drawings for children's coloring books, but she took them in a different direction: adults. She has always believed that people have a creative spark within them, but that some need more of a direction than others. A coloring book is much less daunting than a blank page can be.
Johanna doodled solely because of the intrinsic motivation of the joy that she gained from her creations and freely shared her creativity with those online. This motivation allowed her to collaborate with a publishing company that loved her work and saw that clearly she did too. She states that she gains motivation for her different coloring books through fond memories of visiting her grandfather who was the head gardener at Scotland's Brodick Castle Gardens.
As it has been stated by Collins and Amabile, "creativity is motivated by the enjoyment and satisfaction that a person derives from engaging in the creative activity." Johanna delights in her work as she speaks on how she even enjoys coloring her own coloring books and enjoys collaborating with the people who color her books. Speaking on the collaboration, she says "I create the artwork and the owner of the book brings the color." On her website, she has colorers upload their creations and even picks the ones that she loves the most to post to her Facebook page. Clearly she is now paid to illustrate, but the dedication that she has to her fans and the love of creating the pictures shows how obviously she loves her profession and creations.
If you are interested in your own adult coloring book, you can find them at http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Garden-Inky-Treasure-Coloring/dp/1780671067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460943655&sr=8-1&keywords=johanna+basford
Collins, M. A., & Amabile, T. M. (1999). Motivation and creativity. In Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.) Handbook of Creativity.New York: Cambridge University Press. http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelzarrell/this-woman-created-gorgeous-coloring-books-for-adults-and-so#.ok6vEPm3B http://www.johannabasford.com/colouring-gallery
Anyone that has a Facebook has most likely been exposed to
one of Brandon’s fantastic blogs. Brandon Stanton is an American photographer
and blogger most famously known for being the founder and sole
photographer/writer of Humans of New York.
He has always let his passion take him on crazy life adventures. To quote him
directly, “I get really passionate about things. At some time in my life, I’ve
been obsessed or borderline-obsessed with saltwater aquariums, the baritone
euphonium, reading, piano, filming, financial markets, New York City, and
photography…. I took out $3,000 in student loans and bet it on Barack Obama to
win the presidency. A friend heard about this bet and got me a job trading
bonds on the Chicago Board of Trade… It went really well for a while. But then
it went really bad. Whoops. After I
lost my trading job, I decided to move to New York City and take portraits of
strangers on the street.”
It takes a special
kind of person to be willing to uproot his life every time a new passion comes
along. This is the textbook definition of intrinsic motivation. He doesn’t care
about wealth or fame. His only goal is to follow his passion, which is
currently Humans of New York. What is
especially impressive is that he had been studying history in college before he
was offered a job on the Chicago Board of Trade, a field not even slightly
related to history. It takes an incredibly flexible and creative mind in order
to be able to make that transition. And to top it all off he then lost his job
and followed his newest passion with absolutely no financial security.
Brandon started the Humans of New York Facebook page in
November of 2010. His initial plan had been to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers
and plot their portraits on a map of the city. After some time he had shifted
his purpose and began holding full blown interviews of the people he
photographed and including them in his blog posts. The posts quickly grew
famous on social media and his page now has over twenty million followers on
social media. On top of that, his book, Humans
of New York, reached the #1 position on the New York Times Non-Fiction Best
Sellers a month after it was published. So what makes an age-old practice of
interviewing people gain so many followers?
What makes his work beautifully creative is the culture in which
he operates. New York has a reputation of being one of the colder cities in the
world and Brandon is on a mission to turn up the heat. As he puts it, “It’s the
taking an atmosphere of fear and strangeness and uncomfortableness, and turning
that into an atmosphere of intimacy where people feel comfortable to disclose
in a very short amount of time.” Not only is his work creative, it acts as a
platform for which people can share their creativity and uniqueness. People are
allowed to express themselves to the masses through his interviews and photographs.
Here’s a video of how he approaches strangers on the streets of New York and
gets to asking them the very personal questions that make it into his blog.
When
he was fifteen, Gerard was held at gunpoint and put on the floor, execution-style.
This was not his first encounter with death, but he often recalls it as the
moment when he began to have faith that the world can change. However, his most
defining moment happened while he was working for Cartoon Network in New York. Gerard
was drinking and doing drugs, just generally unhappy with his life. Then, on
September 11, 2001, he was taking the ferry into work when the Twin Towers
collapsed. In his own words, “I saw bodies falling from the sky. I witnessed
people dying. And that’s when I decided to turn my life around. I called up
anyone I knew who had an instrument and we formed a band. Being on tour for the
first few years was bad. All we’d do is get drunk and do drugs, but I loved it.
Because I was doing something I loved with people I loved.”
That’s right,
one of the most well-known bands of the 2000s was formed on a sheer whim. With
pure intrinsic motivation, Gerard and his band mates just wanted to use music to
change the world. Contrary to most artists, the more popular the band got, the
less extrinsic their motivation became. They became known for their
anti-suicide, anti-violence (ironic when most of their videos feature the band
covered in blood), and just generally pro self-love. (Click this link to see
the scientific theory behind their music http://www.mtv.com/news/2193850/my-chemical-romance-extreme-music-study/).
The band even saved Gerard’s own life. With the help of his friends and the
support of his fans, he was able to become sober and get help for his depression
and suicidal tendencies. The video below is from MCR’s documentary Life on the Murder Scene, when Gerard
Way talks about his depression and how the band saved him (Despite the sad
topic, I personally find it extremely inspiring).
It
is possible that some of Gerard’s creativity came from his mental illness. He
also admits that he felt like he had to do drugs and alcohol excessively so
that he could be creative and perform well. However, I believe that he is also
just simply a creative person. Although Depression never completely goes away,
Gerard was stable for much of the later album’s productions. When he got sober,
he was also able to still create wonderful art and music.
"Helena"- Inspired by Gerard's late Grandmother:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCCyoocDxBA
Then, many people were extremely
upset when MCR ended, but Gerard didn’t care, further showing his intrinsic
motivation. He wanted to do what was best for his mental health, even if the
world (or some of his bandmembers) didn’t agree. But despite MCR’s end, Gerard
did not stop being creative. He’s the author/illustrator of two comic series,
and a co-illustrator of at least two more (still in production). He even
published his first single comic, On
Raven’s Wings, at fifteen! Gerard has also released a solo album, Hesitant Alien, which has a more David
Bowie/80s pop-inspired vibe.
("Drugstore Perfume" from Hesitant Alien)
("Hesitant Alien" Gerard with concept character Lola)
His
best friend and fellow band member Frank Iero has said, “Gerard is very
sensitive, but very, very, very smart. And sometimes you don’t always see it,
‘cause he’s not book-smart, he’s just an idealist, he’s like a genius.” This
shows that the people closest to Gerard, who know him on a deeper level,
understand the true depth of his creativity. It also shows that you don’t have
to be book smart to be creative.
(Gerard's drawings of MCR)
I think one of the most creative things a
person can do is to inspire it within others, and Gerard certainly did that. Through
his music and just his everyday life, he always encouraged everyone to find
their passion and be creative. Like Gardner
explains, there are many types of creativity and Gerard understands and
encourages this: “Make your life your art. It
doesn't have to be that you're an artist. I know I talk about art a lot, but I
mean a very broad thing with that. You could be a veterinarian, that's your
art. Find your art; find your thing you love.”
(Danger Days album concept)
P.S. Follow
him on twitter @gerardway for some philosophy, cats, music, humor, and more!
