De-stressing with Adult Coloring Books

Adult coloring books have become quite the crazy lately around these parts. I’ve seen a lot of variations in book stores, and it’s amazing how fast they get sold out. I managed to snag a few on a couple of impromptu shopping sprees last month (RIP wallet) and dang, the artwork is sometimes so pretty that I kinda don’t want to color it because my coloring/shading/blending skills kinda suck. I end up leafing through the pages and admiring the beautiful details instead. XD

I don’t think I can properly rate coloring books so I’ve written mini-reviews instead about the ones I’ve got so far. These are the coloring books I’ve managed to get my hands on:

Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom

Goodreads ● Amazon ● Book Depository

The artwork is gorgeous in this book. The little details make me want to just stare at the pages forever. Each page offers a pretty animal or form of nature to color in.

There are also a few beautiful two-page spreads like this one:

I think this book has the best artwork out of all the coloring books I own so far, but it’s hard to color in the two-page spreads because I don’t want to crack the spine to reach the art in middle. Lol. Back-to-back art isn’t ideal either when you get the bright idea of using colored pens…only to discover it’s bled a bit and can be seen on the back. Oops. This is the most expensive coloring book out of the bunch but I think the price is justified by the lovely drawings.

The Gorgeous Colouring Book for Grown-Ups: Discover Your Inner Creative

Goodreads ● Amazon ● Book Depository

There’s a lot of wonderful patterns in this book. There are occasional scenes of nature as well, but it consists mostly of mandalas and all sorts of patterns.

The paper is thick enough to prevent the color from bleeding onto the back of the page when you use colored pens. My sister also tried using watercolor pencils. The paper got a little lumpy from the moisture but it isn’t that visible after the paper dries so it’s no biggie.

Colored using Dong-A My Metal gel pens and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils

After leafing through the pages, I discovered I may not really be a fan of patterns…there’s just way too many color variations to think about and it stresses me more! Lol.

Creative Haven Creative Cats Coloring Book

Goodreads  ● Amazon  ● Book Depository

This is probably my favorite coloring book. It’s probably partly because I’m a cat lover, but also because the art is really cute and enjoyable to look at. There’s only one image per page (no back-to-back art here) and the pages are easy to tear off if you want to take them out and frame and display them or something. Heh.

Sample page – every page looks like it’s so much fun to color
My first coloring attempt using Stabilo coloring pencils. This page took me two days to finish, lol.

What I like about this coloring book is that it’s not too pretty for me to worry about ruining the art with my fail coloring skills. It’s like a fun, casual book I can experiment with. So far I’ve tried coloring with crayons and coloring pencils, and it’s nice to know I won’t be ruining any art with accidental smudges (ah, the woes of being left-handed) or whatever because of my silly experiments. Haha. It’s also thinner and lighter than the other coloring books I have so it’s easier to carry around. This is also the cheapest of the bunch, so that’s another good thing about it.

Zen Colouring – Animals

Goodreads ● Amazon ● Book Depository

I only recently bought this and haven’t tried coloring anything in it yet. I got it because I really like the details that make up the whole of the animals’ faces. This book has one image per page as well, which I think is going to be my first requirement when buying coloring books from now on. Heh.

A fox made out of leaves! *_____* It’s so creative and pretty and one of my many favorite illustrations in this book.

More animals in nature…can you tell I really like nature? And animals? XDDDD

As if these books weren’t enough to keep me busy for a couple of years, I also really want to find a copy of Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden and Enchanted Garden because the art is so, so gorgeous. Although I’ll probably face the same dilemma I have with Animal Kingdom…. the art is too pretty to color in! Haha. These two are really popular though, I’ve never seen an actual copy in a book store, so I guess my wallet is safe (for now).

Aside from coloring books, I’ve also started hoarding all sorts of coloring materials as well! I’ve got several brands of coloring pencils, a set of Stabilo colored pens, several Dong-A gel pens, and a big box of crayons so far. It’s kinda fun to experiment and play with different media…perhaps I’ll try using oil pastels one day if I’m feeling particularly brave. XD

Coloring books are kinda stressful, come to think of it. I constantly worry about what colors will fit, how to blend and how to shade, how to do justice to the art…but in the end, I lose track of time and forget any worries I have when I really get absorbed into it. I guess that’s why people like coloring books so much–it reminds you of simpler days when you had nothing to think about but playing and coloring. Those good old times. (Man, I’m getting old.)

Aside from coloring books, there are also apps like Colorfy and Momi Coloring. I like the printed books better though, because they’re more fun and challenging. Still, coloring apps are good when you’re stuck in traffic and have nothing better to do. X’D

Have you given in to the coloring craze? Share your favorites, I’d love to hear about other people’s favorite coloring books and coloring methods~! 😉