Creative Utopia: 12 Ways to Realize Total Creativity [Paperback]

Theo Stephan Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

This is a guide to the hottest, most popular creativity enhancement techniques, including colour therapy, journaling, feng shui and simplification from the Far East to the heartland of America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Stroud brings years of one-woman shows, awards, and published articles to this inspiring book on pushing boundaries and exploring creative expression. She provides 19 projects and exercises for loosening up, improvising paintings, and combining media. The exercises explore texture, floral design, self-portrait, and still life in a semi-abstract, semi-representational style. Stroud references philosophical traditions like Zen, but the emphasis is on freeing up one's art. Williams's Creative Utopia, on the other hand, takes the designer or illustrator much further into the realm of the creative subconscious. Williams uses yoga, aromatherapy, feng shui, meditation, and the Tibetan mandala to achieve mental clarity and creative energy. Whether these methods can work for everyone, as the author contends, is up for debate. They have certainly worked for Williams, whose art design group has won hundreds of awards. Stroud's book is highly recommended for general collections as the next logical step after Nick and Diane Meglin's Drawing from Within: Unleashing Your Creative Potential, a humorous yet meaty book for neophytes. Williams's book may be a little too mystical for those suspicious of promises of "utopia" and "total creativity." Jeanne Carbonetti's The Zen of Creative Painting: An Elegant Design for Revealing Your Muse approaches the same territory in a more earthbound fashion.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Theo Stephan Williams has spent the last 20 years researching creativity. In 1985 she founded Real Art Design Group. The studio has won hundreds of notable awards in the industry from package design to multimedia. She taught graphic design and visual communication courses for four years at the University of Dayton and is the author of Streetwise Guide to Freelance Design and Illustration.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: How Design Books (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581801734
• ISBN-13: 978-1581801736
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,298,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not very creative, September 15, 2002

By 

Allen J. Bartell (Trinity, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Utopia: 12 Ways to Realize Total Creativity (Paperback)

Let me start by saying that I rarely read "self-help" books because I think they usually just state the obvious and helping yourself requres commitment, not ideas. Most people know how to help themselves. From the description I thought this book was more of an activity book rather than a self-help. I was wrong.

But even as a self-help book, I thought this one was lacking. I read this book in one setting too. Not because it was wonderful but rather because it lacked anything of substance. It has an entire chapter devoted to turning off you cell phone and other electronic devices. I thought you just had to hit the "power off" button. The back cover said, "Stimulate confidence with personality tests." But that chapter just describes different tests. I thought there would be at least one test included instead of a commercial for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Also this book is overpriced. Buy a blank journal and start writing or drawing ANYTHING. And save the money you would have spent on this book.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Worth Every Penny!, June 5, 2002

By 

"arinachka" (Saint Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Utopia: 12 Ways to Realize Total Creativity (Paperback)

Creative Utopia by Theo Stephan Williams was a wonderful book which proves that yes, you can read a design book in one sitting and not be able to put it down. I have a library of books that offer creativity advice and I use many of them for inspiration and reference. However, this book was very diffrent. It pulled me in and I truly read it from cover to cover in one sitting.

What I liked the most was how Theo Williams was able to speak with you through her book as if she was sitting next to you. Her down-to-earth advice and creative inspiration ideas were insightful and I'm already applying several of them while working on a very large and demanding project.

You won't regret this purchase, I promise!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serendipity, January 11, 2003

By 

"ck888" (Dayton, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Utopia: 12 Ways to Realize Total Creativity (Paperback)

I am a teacher of gifted and talented students. The title of this book invites reading, as creativity is something we all seek in so many different ways. CREATIVE UTOPIA is a sincere and honest conversation with the author. Theo William's book (~ on paper that is silk to your fingers and its print, graphics, pictures, and color soothing for reading and calming to the soul) differs from many books of its nature. In many self help books, you read and read, and if you are lucky, you might find some advice in the last chapter. In CREATIVE UTOPIA, you learn and rediscover a potpourri of strategies from the first to last chapter that stimulates creativity. Theo opens your mind to different forms of creativity, some familiar, some not. If a reader wants more information, a plethora of popular resources Theo Williams has researched is offered - making just the bibliography she includes for each topic - alone - the best reason to purchase this book! Although the book is intended for a graphic design artist, I recommend this book to anyone seeking creativity and needing that extra boost of encouragement to realize creative potential. CREATIVE UTOPIA makes a great gift to yourself or a friend. Its quick read leaves you more time for your own unique creative powers. I have referred back for advice in this book of information repeatedly, especially the chapters on Fateful Encounters, Feng Shui, and Seeing Color Differently. In today's need for realization and simplicity, CREATIVE UTOPIA is my serendipity!