For a few months now adult colouring books have been becoming more and more popular. Books like The Mindfulness colouring book and mandala colouring books have been around for a few years, but it wasn’t until this year that they really became a ‘trend’. Below are my top 3 books to tap into your inner child! (okay, so two are more drawing/writing rather than colouring…but you can colour them too!)
I am quite surprised it didn’t become a ‘thing’ sooner…I was still buying colouring books well into my teenage years. Back then they didn’t really have adult colouring books, so I just bought those generic $2 colouring books.
1. The Enchanted Forest (I got mine from Dymocks, but it doesn’t seem to be listed on their site any more)- One of the newer releases from Johanna Basford, The Enchanted Forest is beautiful, but intricate! If you have the patience and time to colour in the little details, each page becomes a work of art! I love that there is a ‘puzzle’ element in it to, you have a list of 9 symbols that are hidden throughout the book to ‘unlock’ the castle gates at the end.
2. Citysketch New York, $19.99 from Dymocks – A little more ambitious than just colouring, Citysketch New York is great if you love drawing and the challenge of sketching what you see before you. Hopefully this will explain it better… “Finish partially created Manhattan skylines, sketch accessories to accompany a ‘chic’ 5th Ave wardrobe, doodle your own uniquely styled versions of Times Square, and loads more.” I love to draw and I plan on taking this book with me to New York (hopefully next year sometime). I may not get the time to fill it in, but it will be there, just in case inspiration strikes. Flicking though the pages, it mentions many iconic NYC locations…it may even inspire you to visit them.
3. Creative Lettering and Beyond, $19.99 from Riot Art & Craft stores (not available online) – If you have ever seen the typography pins on Pinterest and wanted to create your own, this book is for you! It does have some calligraphy tutorials, so you would need to pick up a flexible tipped calligraphy pen (or you can buy a Calligraphy marker, like I did), but it also has heaps of other lettering projects including blackboard writing, writing on porcelain and even embroidery! You will need extra supplies, but most items are inexpensive. Some writing styles look challenging, but practice makes perfect and there are plenty of ‘how to’ videos on YouTube if you get stuck.
Normally my colouring pencil brand choice would be Derwent, but unfortunately my Riot Art & Craft store were sold out when I went to buy some, so I thought I would try Prismacolor. They are okay, but I still prefer Derwents. One thing that did really disappoint me about Prismacolor is that there was no pink pencil in the 12 pack! The next tin up (which I think was 48 pencils) was twice the price! I didn’t want to pay that, just for the sake of getting a pink pencil. They could have done without the white, really.
Have you joined in on the adult colouring trend? what are your favourite adult colouring books?
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I’ve been loving the colouring books! I have two now, a Japan themed one, and a smaller one that contains positive affirmations! I love the idea of the drawing and writing ones though, they’re really cool and definitely take creativity to the next level!
I also prefer Derwents pencils! I have no idea why that brand would include a white – who needs white unless you’re a professional – and if you’re a professional you would probably not be buying a 12 pack haha!
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Nice! love the sound of the positive affirmations one. I love that there are so many options out there for colouring books and ‘activity’ books.
Derwents just seem to be sturdier/more pigmented, after using the Prismacolor ones. Hahaha I know, white is pretty useless unless you use it for blending colours or on dark paper!