At the time of offering this article (August 2015), 1 / 4 of Amazon’s top twenty best-selling books are coloring in gossip columns. So what is an adult coloring book, and just how one thing they may be currently outselling top fiction authors with new releases including E.L. James and Paula Hawkins?
Adult coloring books are, plain and simple, coloring in gossip columns for adults. Like children’s coloring books, they may be filled with outline illustrations meant to be filled in with colored pencils, markers, crayons, or whatever other media you intend to use.
What’s in the adult coloring in book?
The real difference between adults’ and kids’ color books is the grown up versions generally feature less juvenile images and styles. Rather than superheroes, barnyard animals, and television characters, adult coloring in gossip columns will be more often filled up with:
components of natural world, including trees, flowers, leaves, gardens, animals and insects;
geometric designs;
psychedelic patterns;
repetitive ‘wallpaper’ type patterns;
cities and buildings;
anatomical drawings;
goddesses, angels, and mermaids;
mandalas; and
celtic designs.
There’s also many ‘theme’ specific books available, featuring diverse subjects including cars, steampunk designs, and Art Nouveau patterns.
Why are they so well received?
A Scottish illustrator named Johanna Basford published a flower adult coloring books called Secret Garden in 2013, featuring pages of beautifully hand-illustrated ink drawings. The newest York Times reported in March that the Korean pop star named Kim Ki-bum posted a picture on Instagram of an ‘delicately colored-in floral pattern’ from Secret Garden. At the time, Ki-bum had a massive 1.8 million Instagram followers. The post went viral and helped to ignite the fad.
The development in rise in popularity of the books reportedly has much regarding adult relaxation and stress release. Many adults who use the books report that they find the repetitive, low-stress nature of coloring straight into be soothing, relaxing, along with a method of de-stressing from the pressures of life and work.
One of many other great things about adult coloring in gossip columns, additionally, they claim that they can enjoy recapturing the nostalgia of childhood by participating in a task usually restricted to children. It requires people back to a less strenuous time, and may be a way for parents to get in touch and bond with their children by sitting right down to color in with them. Of course, many parents have already been happily coloring in kids’ books for a long time, the good news is they have choices that are not limited by Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob SquarePants.
In summary, coloring for adults definitely seems to be a growing past-time which allows adults to chill and unplug in the stress in their lives, by participating in a hands-on activity that needs minimal commitment and maximum nostalgia.
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