It started with the recurring migraines.
That was the first sign for Jonathan Harris that something was off with his health in February 2025. By that March, the headaches were excruciating. Not long after that, Harris’ breathing was becoming labored and he was finding it difficult to walk.
The Detroit artist admitted himself to the hospital and stayed for almost two months. While Harris underwent test after test as doctors struggled to figure out what was wrong, the 36-year-old found solace in his art.
Known for paintings that often comment on the experience of being Black in America, including his viral “Critical Race Theory” painting, Harris decided to try something new: a therapeutic coloring book.
“While I was in the hospital, I didn’t want to overthink what was going on with me,” he said. “I was just talking to my friends and I had this idea of a coloring book, where each page has a different situation. In my own life, I’m faced with situations and I know people are also faced with their situations.”
The 40-page book, called “It’s Okay,” follows two Black adults from birth to old age and the various decisions they make throughout their lives. One page shows a little girl holding her mom’s hand in a mall. The girl looks sad as she sees a family walk out of a toy store with bags in their hands. The captions reads, “It’s OK if your parents can’t afford all the toys you want for Christmas. Their love is the best gift of all.”
Another features an illustration of a boy walking off a basketball court while another yells at him, his two friends holding him back. “It’s OK to walk away from a fight,” the caption read. “Leaving doesn’t make you weak or less of a man.”
The coloring book was released on March 13 and is available on Amazon. While “It’s Okay” may seem like it’s geared toward children, adults can read and color in the book, as well, Harris said.
“It’s just a lot of different things that we are faced with growing up and through life,” he said about the scenarios. “And I wanted something for children to read and also give them a chance to be creative and not be on their phones as much.”
Finding solace through art
Harris remembers that first day in the hospital vividly. March Madness was going on and the Michigan State University basketball team was playing, he said. He thought he would take a couple of tests and head home. Then, a doctor told Harris and his family that his symptoms might be a sign of cancer.
“I remember the doctor saying, ‘Yeah, it looks like it could be cancer.’ I’m like, ‘What?,’” Harris said. “It literally blew my mind.”
Harris remained in the hospital until May and returned on and off for another month, he said. He was eventually diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues and organs.
Harris said his family and friends got him through that rough time, bringing him food and making sure he was never in his hospital room alone. Scribbling in his sketchbook was a welcome distraction.
“I would be sketching stuff for the coloring book and also sketching paintings that I wanted to work on in the future,” Harris said. “That’s what took my mind off of things because I was so used to waking up in the morning, going for a walk and working on my art all day. I felt displaced.”
Harris began working on the coloring book last summer and brought in some reinforcements. His friend and fellow artist Kayla Lewis helped him illustrate the pages, while his niece and graphic designer Marielle Whisenant worked on the cover and got the book published on Amazon.
“He gave me clear outlines for what he wanted the book to be about and outlines for what every page would look like,” Lewis said. “It was my job to go off of his sketches and just create my own outlines for the page.”
After about six months of working on her illustrations, Whisenant began designing the cover, which features an illustration from Lewis of a girl walking her dog. Taking inspiration from comic books, a text bubble near the girl says, “A coloring book about life lessons and discovering it’s OK to be you.”
Whisenant said she wanted the cover to draw people in.
“I really wanted the cover to feel warm and bring joy,” she said. “Inside the book, it talks about, ‘It’s OK to go outside and explore the world around you because there’s so much beauty waiting.’ So, that guided me with creating this.”
Lewis said that she wanted to do something for Harris as he navigated his health challenges.
“Knowing what he was going through, it made me more excited to help him bring this project to life,” she said.
When it comes to the book’s message, Harris hopes that readers know that whatever situation they’re going through, they’ll eventually be OK. That’s the message he had to tell himself this past year.
“Whatever they’re going through in life, whatever they have or don’t have…it’s OK. It’ll work out,” Harris said. “That’s what’s important.”