Calming colouring

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As you may have noticed around the shops nowadays, the coloring book is become increasingly popular with adults. It helps alleviate stress apparently, and makes people happier. which is why I am including an experiment to do with this particular thing. I am going to ask several people how they are feeling and write down what mood they are in. Then I will give them some black and white Line drawings I have done previously in my life and ask them to just spend an hour coloring them. Nothing else - they don't even have to finish them. Just to see if it helps calm them down and makes them feel more at ease. If possible I will get them to color as a group and see if that breaks down social awkwardness and see if it is more effective for people to relax and get to know each other , rather than it being tense and quiet. I could try and bring people together than don't necessarily know each other and see whether that is more effective? The point of this experiment is to see if coloring and doing art really does relax people and de-stress them. 

Here are some Photos of the books I'm on about in Tescos

To start with I interviewed each person to see how they were feeling already. Before the session.

Art Student : Toby Lee : I've just woken up from a nap so I'm a bit tired. Exhausted from uni . would like to nap again.

Geography student : Harry Bowley: Tired. stressed about dissertation.

Geography student: Will Atkin: Tired and stressed. Not majorly, but enough to care. I'm usually quite chilled.
 
Geography student: Libby Easden: Tired. I'm very full. I ate too much food. I feel hyper and hot and giggly. 

Education studies: Rachel Reeves: I'm in a good mood but tired at the same time, and slightly stressed about money ect.  

Education studies: Nicole S WH: I'm feeling organised and fairly calm. pro active.  




During session: At start of session everyone was slightly awkward. Five mins in everyone is laughing about drawing and coloring together. Seems to be working.  Ice is broken. Everyone is laughing and seem to be relaxed and having a good time. Everyone partaking in this test aren't that close to the other people that are. So it's to see if it makes them bond and relax too. 




Halfway through, people are helping themselves to cake and laughing. Good. They already seem a lot more relaxed than when they came in through the door and stood sheepishly in the doorway. 

They've got silent for a second. Now they're talking again. The boys seem to have all chosen the mermaid pictures and the girls all the dinosaur ones. 
Toby is silent the entire time apart from the odd snicker at a joke. They all are sharing experiences about work and uni and school. Laughing about myself getting bitten by the bat and the otter. 
They definitely look more comfortable now. 

"Michelle this isn't making me relaxed - its stressing me out!!!" Nicky, who is trying to color every little square. 

Laughing about coloring over the lines.

Toby handed sheet over and gave up because he colored over the lines. 

"Michelle I'm bored!" Nicky keeps wanting to give up because she colored over the lines. But I'm adamant they all keep going for ten more mins. That way they'll have been coloring for about 40 mins.  As it seems hard to get them to concentrate for more than that. Toby has given up. They're all laughing at each other's pictures.  Nicky has given up and is being silly and just coloring the picture in with blocks. Nicky has given up entirely now. I don't think Nicole is taking this seriously. Yes its meant to be fun but not a chore. 

Finished

I asked each participant what they felt like afterwards:

Nicky: I feel worse than when I came in - someone took the one I wanted to color so mine took too long. I got bored quickly. It was too intricate. I feel like i have to go do uni work to calm down. 

Toby: It made me feel hungry. It took a lot of effort and drained me

Libby: I feel very happy with my drawing. These pens are amazing. It did make me feel relaxed. I love coloring. I'd say it was a positive experience. 

Will: Chilled - relaxed. Not going to lie I wouldn't want to be in your situation as an art student. It wouldn't make me feel relaxed. I do feel more relaxed than when I came in. It definitely takes your mind off of things for a while. 

Rachel: It has made me feel more hungry - I feel relaxed and happy. I do feel more relaxed now than when I came in. I feel if I colored another one I would fall asleep peacefully. 

Harry: More relaxed. Got to distract myself for half an hour or so and do something else. 


Below are the photos of the pictures colored. Nicky and Toby I don't feel really took this seriously, but everyone else It seemed to have a positive effect on.


Guess whose is whose

Overall this task was an interesting one. I found it frustrating that a few of the participants refused to wholeheartedly get on board with this project, but it just taught me that coloring and art is not for everyone. The other four dived in head first and told me afterwards they had such fun and actually found it relaxing to not think about uni work for a while and distract themselves. This has taught me that the coloring to calm thing actually works. I can see now why its such a big marketing product. I would certainly be interested to create a coloring book. However as there is so many of them at the moment I feel its an overdone thing. This has taught me that using art can get people in a positive mental state (on the majority)  It also breaks down barriers and allows people to feel more relaxed around people that they don't know. It's something to have a laugh at.

References

(1) https://www.amazon.com/Calming-Therapy-Anti-Stress-Coloring-Book/dp/0762459603

(2) https://www.amazon.com/Art-Therapy-Colouring-Book/dp/1782432221/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=T3MYZ0BKH7KB22F75J0A

(3)https://www.amazon.co.uk/Really-RELAXING-Colouring-Book-Colour/dp/1908707321