painting and coloring only in black

Post Reply New Topic

Do any of your children only use black crayons or paint when making art?

The reason I ask is because I did when I was about 3-6 years old. I only started using color in my art after repeated pressure from adults made me realize that I was doing something wrong and would only be left alone if I put lots of bright colors in my art. Around that time I also lost any interest in creating art -- I had really loved painting beforehand and had my own easel and paints in my room. I only began to regain interest in art when I started doing micro-macrame and needed different colors to make patterns in the work.

I have wondered for many years why I only wanted to use black in my art. Once I discovered asperger's, I naturally wondered if that was the cause and so I'm asking. I've done multiple academic searches and all I was ever able to find is that it's a sign of high childhood stress and is primarily observed in children living in active war zones.

But autism comes with a lot of stress, I think particularly in childhood, and that's why I was wondering if anyone's children are only using black and what, if anything, their doctor has to say about it and whether you've been isntructed to try to steer them away from it or let it run its course. Just trying to understand myself better through the experiences of other children and their parents (instead of the usual way it goes: explaining myself to help parents get more insight into their children!) and I hope I haven't intruded or posted this in a bad or incorrect place.

I think that it should run its course, like all other childhood things.

What can you say about the academic/medical implications of it? Did your doctor discuss it with you at all? Did your child eventually move to colors on their own? How long did they stick with only using black? Were they pressured at school to change?

When I was a kid, I actually did not like using black in my drawings. But now, as an adult, I think that some artwork in grayscale (a technical term for black and white with shades of gray, as opposed to pure black and white) can actually look better than full-color artwork. Ditto for photos, especially portraits. You may have had that opinion too; you liked the alternating pattern of light and shade that comes with coloring only in black. But try explaining that to concerned NT adults.

I could never stand black and white or grayscale pictures as a child. Everything had to be color. Even as an adult it irked me when I showed a sketch of a meerkat family to my parents and they wanted me to not color it. It's my picture I should color it if I want too. In school, I was always getting in trouble for coloring things the "wrong" color. For Groundhog Day in kindgergarden, we were supposed to color a picture of a groundhog. I was told to do another one because groundhogs were not blue. The teacher only said the proper groundhog colors, brown or black after she scolded me for being creative. I've never seen or heard of a black groundhog. Another time we had to color a picture of an elephant and were told to use black. I colored mine purple because I thought black would be ugly. My teacher made me feel as if I had commited a murder but my parents loved my elephant. I should have left it white and said it was an albino but that probably would have been "wrong" too. My first grade teacher made us color things white when the paper was already white and I never could understand why.


We were supposed to do a picture of the past in second grade and I did a Mesosioc scene. The kids told me I was wrong because my dinosuar was orange. They said I should have used green. I expected the teacher to come and stick up for me but she scolded me as well and said I should have used green. Just extactaly does she know what color dinosaurs were? Scientists use modern day birds and reptiles to get ideas but they aren't sure and Mrs. H had aparently never seen an oriel or a gilla monster before. Schools really do kill creativity and out of the box thinking or at least try too. It's alright to be a bully but heaven forbid someone color something the "wrong" color.

On Nurse Jackie, her daughter did that. The school then diagnosed her with GAD. Maybe this is why?

Is that in the second season? I won't be seeing that until it comes out on disc.

No. The first.

Very strange that I don't remember it. I remember her "not using enough colors" in a picture but I don't remember her only using black. I'll have to go back and watch it again. I'd have thought that would have just popped out at me, considering my own circumstance.

I wonder if your child might be depressed?

I don't have a child. I was the one who colored and painted only in black as a child and I'm trying to gaina better understanding of that behavior as well as to see if it's something other autistic children do and under what circumstances.

Well, right now I like to draw in only black. It's simple and realistic, and black is a nice color. But of course, I have dysgraphia so I cannot draw and I tend to avoid it.

Perhaps we draw like that because most of us have a different, nihilistic view of the world?

Maybe. But you're a teenager. I'm talking about a 4-5 year old only drawing or painting in black. That's a very different thing. There are plenty of adults who only draw in black -- many of them have good jobs as cartoonists. That's a developed artistic eye and a conformity to a particular artistic style. These are not typical traits of a pre-schooler.

Well, I've been drawing like it for a while. lol.

Since you were four?

Can't remember, but probably. All the other colors usually make me sick, like yellow or brown, or light green, or light red.