I don’t remember when adult coloring books became all the rage, or why I decided to join in the fun, but I’ve been at it for a decade now. At all times, I have an open coloring book on my dining room table, although I always put it away when guests come over because my setup takes up a lot of room.
When I started, I was loyal to Johanna Basford, who creates some of the most intricate drawings for coloring. Some of the pages would take me weeks to complete! Soon, though, I had gone through her whole collection, so it was time to broaden my horizons. I found a swear-words coloring book that was a lot of fun to color and learned that I really like flowery coloring books.
Once, a blog reader met me at Starbucks to hand over a huge stack of coloring books she didn’t want. Some of these coloring books were from Japan, and so beautiful!
A few years ago, my friend Katie told me about mystery coloring books, where the picture is revealed to you as you color more and more of the page. It sounded right up my alley, and I couldn’t buy one fast enough! Mystery coloring books are essentially color-by-numbers. The page is filled with small white circles or squares with a number or letter inside, and each number/letter corresponds to a specific color. (There’s a key on the page so you can follow along!)
I was hooked from the very first page. What I love most about these coloring books is that everything is decided for you. For some people (people with a lot more creativity than me), that would be a turnoff. But for me, it’s exactly what I want from this hobby. I don’t have to decide the colors I want to use for this picture. I just follow the key and fill in my little bubbles until I start to see a picture.
This is what my current setup looks like:
I have my coloring book set in front of my iPad, so I usually color while I’m watching TV or YouTube. I don’t usually just sit down with a podcast or audiobook and color an entire page at once. (My hand would start hurting quickly if I did that!) I do it little by little. The pen cups hold the markers I’m using with this coloring book. (The one downside to these coloring books is that you’re only using very specific colors, so I have a lot of markers that aren’t seeing much use these days.)
Speaking of markers… yes, I use markers because I’ve never been a fan of colored pencils. My favorite marker type is the Crayola Fine Line markers (Amazon tells me I’ve bought this item 10 times, lolz), although I do love a good brush tip marker from time to time. I’m not brand loyal to brush tips; anything will do!
Here’s my current marker collection, minus what I have in the cups. I keep them organized by hue because I’m that level of crazy. (The package of Crayola markers is my backup… just in case I use up a specific color and don’t have the right hue in the pencil box!)
Why do I love coloring? I don’t really have a good answer for that. All I know is that I find it super relaxing and really fun. Maybe it scratches some sort of creativity itch? I even found a coloring book advent calendar because I couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy the holidays!
Also, fun fact: I have a permanent dent in my right ring finger, right on that first knuckle by my nail, because of the way I grip my markers. Call it a badge of honor.
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