History Main / CopeByCreating

* Katya from ''Literature/ByAnyOtherName'' painted to cope with missing her dad, who had made powerful enemies through some kind of business deal, and worrying about his safety. But it was her own safety she should have been worried about, because her father's enemies kidnapped her to hold her to ransom.

* ''LightNovel/OutbreakCompany'': A while after the werewolf Elbia joins the protagonists as their group artist, she starts hiding away in her room, drawing non-stop while avoiding food, sleep, and baths. Shinichi confronts Elbia over this, fearful that he's turned her into a {{Hikikomori}}. Instead, she explains that short-term obsessive episodes are considered perfectly normal for werewolves, who had to find more socially acceptable ways of channeling their hunting instincts after they were integrated into human society. The AnimatedAdaptation, however, isn't an example -- Elbia is shown losing sleep, but [[AdaptationalContextChange it's treated at face value]] as Shinichi getting her addicted to Japanese art (in general, the adaptation drops a lot of the novels' racism themes [[PragmaticAdaptation in order to focus more on its allegories for the British opium trade]]).

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse" episode "Reaching Out", Luz is depressed over the fact that [[spoiler:she's unable to perform her yearly ritual of visiting her father's grave with her mother]] and basically does anything she can to keep herself distracted. When Eda and King wake up, they find her furiously scribbling down notes on a board to try and figure out what Belos' plans are, with her having already started work on a (haphazardly thrown together) portal door prototype and discovered a new glyph combo before they woke up. [[ObviouslyNotFine Both of them are immediately able to tell that something is bothering her]].

* ''VideoGame/MyChildLebensborn'' is partly about caring for a bullied child. One of the means by which the child deals with what is happening to them is by drawing. There is at least one event during which the child spends a time unit unvailable for tasks that require their physical presence because they are busy drawing.

* On the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', it is revealed that [[PhysicalGod Foolish]] uses building and construction to maintain a sense of control over his life, a much healthier coping mechanism than [[spoiler:burning down and massacring villages]] like he did in his past.

* In the couple of years after his wife, Natasha Richardson, died, Creator/LiamNeeson was in an unusually large number of movies. Some have interpreted this as him keeping busy to deal with his loss.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' novel ''Literature/AStitchInTime'', Garak is living in a gardener's shed in the ruined remains of Cardassia. Unlike most people, he has no intention of rebuilding his house but instead turns it into a memorial to his mother who was killed shortly before the war ended when her body was trapped under the rubble. He stacks the debris in ways that appeal to his current emotional state. It doesn't take long for others to notice and start coming by to see it as well, for the construction has artistic and emotional meaning for them as well.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' novel ''A Stitch in Time'', Garak is living in a gardener's shed in the ruined remains of Cardassia. Unlike most people, he has no intention of rebuilding his house but instead turns it into a memorial to his mother who was killed shortly before the war ended when her body was trapped under the rubble. He stacks the debris in ways that appeal to his current emotional state. It doesn't take long for others to notice and start coming by to see it as well, for the construction has artistic and emotional meaning for them as well.

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''VideoGame/MyChildLebensborn'' is partly about caring for a bullied child. One of the means by which the child deals with what is happening to them is by drawing. There is at least one event during which the child spends a time unit unvailable for tasks that require their physical presence because they are busy drawing.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tr_5.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350: [[http://www.asafhanuka.com/viral Original comic]] by Asaf Hanuka.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Original comic by Asaf Hanuka.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'', Elodie gets a bonus to learning subjects under the artistic 'Expression' skillset (being Decoration, Instrument, and Voice) when her predominant mood for the week is depressed, thereby making it easier for her to gain ranks in those skills at those times. Since her mother had recently died by the beginning of the game, she naturally starts out in this emotional state, prompting many first-time players to fall into the trap of doubling down on these (and the similarly-boosted 'Animal Handling' skills) for her initial lessons.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrT_0J6m6y8 Bird Set Free]]" by Music/{{Sia}} :
-->And I don't care if I sing off-key,\\
I find myself in my melodies.\\
I sing for love, I sing for me,\\
I shout it out like a bird set free.

* The Music/BoomtownRats song "I Don't Like Mondays" owes its existence to this trope. Frontman Bob Geldof recounts in his memoirs that he was being interviewed on a US local television station when [[WeInterruptThisProgram they were interrupted by a news bulletin]] about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego) a school shooting in San Diego]], and Geldof ended up sitting in a corner of the studio listening to the incident unfold in real-time. The lyrics were written in an attempt to put his shock and horror into words, and the result ended up being the most successful single the band ever released, which he admits to having quite mixed feelings about.

* The title heroine of ''VideoGame/{{Gris}}'' copes with personal loss by singing. Notably, she cannot actually sing for most of the game (the "Sing" button is mapped, but only elicits weak gasps from Gris), only finding her voice again in the penultimate stage. At the climax, [[spoiler:singing finally helps her to overcome her depression]].

* The Plain Doll from ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' seems to have been crafted by Gehrman as a way of coping with the suicide of his star pupil (and secret obsession) Lady Maria. While he has meticulously recreated Maria's physical appearance, however, he couldn't bring the Doll to life, and so appears to have struck a DealWithTheDevil to animate her (and the end result was markedly different from the original, personality-wise).
* An out-of-universe example: Hironobu Sakaguchi's mother passed away shortly before development began on ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Given how strongly the themes of loss and grief are in the game's story, it's clear that he threw himself into this project as a way to cope with his loss.

* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': In the episode "King Ramses' Curse", a plague of locusts begins to destroy the Bagges' house. Upon witnessing this, Muriel goes into the kitchen and begins rapidly baking cakes until the curse passes.

* In ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'', [[WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse Luz]] and [[WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum Kyle]] made [[StylisticSuck (poorly written)]] fanfiction based on their abuse. The writers have also noted this is what they're doing themselves with the entire AU.

* In ''Fanfic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing'', [[WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse Luz]] and [[WesternAnimation/FanboyAndChumChum Kyle]] made [[StylisticSuck (poorly written)]] fanfiction based on their abuse.

* In ''Fanfiction/TheHungerGamesPrequelCollection'', Terra (the victor of the Thirty-sixth Hunger Games) struggles to come to terms with the death of her younger sister in the Forty-first Games. Her fellow District 8 victors encourage her to take up painting to give her something else to think about; it seems to help, though she still has moments when she is painfully reminded of her sister and doubts she will ever completely get over losing her.