Let’s Talk About Adult Coloring Books
Why There Is Nothing Wrong with Relaxing and Being Creative as an Adult
This is the image that comes to mind when we hear (or read) the word ‘Coloring Book’. But what is ‘Adult’ doing in front of something meant to for kids? Something that is supposed to teach the kids about various colors, help them develop hand-eye coordination, teaching them to stay within and follow the lines as they prepare to face the challenge of writing alphabets.
As far as coloring is concerned, we might enjoy reliving the childhood times but we have already mastered the skill it is meant to develop and will find filling this kind of image pretty boring. We are just too old for this kind of activity.
But as you already know, people are printing, buying, using, and even enjoying the ‘adult’ coloring books. Some questions to stir curiosity:
- What are these ‘adult’ coloring book?
- Do they have nude images or dick pics or curse words to color??: NO!
- Who are these books for? (Group of adults who failed to master the coloring skills?): NO!
- Are they any good for you?: YES!
- Do you *need* those?: Keep Reading and Decide.
- How would you feel if you received one as a gift? Are they socially acceptable gift or will send a wrong message?: Not Sure!
Adult Coloring Books are coloring books (duh!) that adults can find interesting, that are challenging and complicated enough to keep an adult busy. The content is, as far as I know, a bit too complicated but safe for a kid who is struggling to stay within the lines.
I had a look at coloring book for kids, as I found the pattern to be too complex in the one for adults; but an entire page with just an apple to color seemed too boring for me to color. Hence it makes sense to print more complicated patterns to color for adults.
Why would I color when I can watch a movie, read something, surf the internet, or do anything I want as an adult?
We all enjoyed coloring as kids until we were efficient enough that we found it boring and/or got too busy with the stuff for big-kids. We had just learned reading and there was so much to read, and the task of writing alphabet needed more attention for a good reason. Then why am I asking you to color when you are much busier than your 5-year-old self?
The biggest reason is — the inherent reward of sitting down with color and let your imagination run wild with a pattern complicated enough to keep you engaged.
The calming effect of finding the time and focusing on a simple task is similar to meditation. It is a nice way to relax from the daily hustle, while being a creative exercise for your brain as you select colors, as you decide how much pressure to put to get the desired gradient, as you experiment with the direction and intensity of the strokes. And the feeling of achievement when you complete and look at it from various angles; maybe click a picture or two (or ten?) and share it with friends or keep for your memory is another perk.
I just want to put some philosophical thoughts here:
How many activities you do where you create one of the million possibilities by making one choice at a time, completing within a few minutes or a few hours. Coloring a complicated pattern is similar to living a life, where each decision of which color to fill in a given portion is based on the decisions we have already made, and in best possible alignment with what we want the future to look like, and inevitably affecting the future decisions; while developing the big picture made of our unique choices.
As adults, we are always running around in search of the *right* answers. Reading, learning, thinking, doing everything we can to make the right choice, to say the right thing, to have the right knowledge. When we are exhausted with all this; it is refreshing to have an activity where we have infinite answers and each one of them is the correct answer. Every possible choice you make is correct and beautiful.
It is like shouting and making random noises — as opposed to a meticulous music practice — to get rid of the tension and exhaustion.
Some practical advice:
So you are interested and check-out some coloring books for adults online and wonder if it is worth spending 5 to 10 USD plus the colors on something you are not even sure of.
Just google ‘coloring patterns for adults’, get a printout of the image you like, and try coloring it with the options available to you. Can not do this also? Just draw a complicated enough pattern on a page and try filling it with different shades your pencil can provide.
Now many of you are recalling the apps you once saw for coloring. I also tried those before getting the coloring book. Here are some of my creations:
In the apps I used, we just had to select the color and click on the portion to fill it with that color. In my opinion, this takes away the joy of spending time and effort involved in filling the color yourself.
The apps are a good option when you have limited time and space, when you are getting bored and would like doing something creative, or when you quickly want to experiment with the colors.
Coming back to the book, my personal favorite is this one:
The patterns are not too complicated and each one accompanies a beautiful message (from the universe). I try to find the message that resonates with me when I am feeling overwhelmed and let the message soak in as I color. For instance, I worked on this recently as I was troubled about my love life:
Conclusion:
There is an evolving field of art therapy that I came across as I was doing some research for this post, coloring is certainly a part of it. If you do feel interested, I strongly suggest giving it a try. If you have already tried, please share your experience in the comments. I am surprised to see the little number of people who are aware of this and even only some of them take it seriously. Most of them just laugh it off and consider it something not meant for a ‘normal’ adult.
I would gladly accept not being ‘normal’ if it means connecting to my inner child, finding time to do something simple and relaxing, using imagination and putting effort to create something beautiful.
Hope you liked the article, learned something, and found the coloring books interesting. Feel free to 👏 to help others find it and leave the comments to let me know what you think.
