Adult Coloring Books
This post will only further convince you that I am really a twelve year old girl instead of a thirty year old professional.
A few months ago, one of my co-workers who enjoys art as a hobby mentioned a fairly new phenomenon she was enjoying called adult coloring. No, these are not coloring books with “Mature” content (although a quick google search will let you know that these exist as well), but instead artists who are creating incredibly detailed line drawings full of patterns.
I shelved this information in my “cool things for the future” brain pocket, and with a little extra spending money this month and extra time from all the rain, I figured I’d order a book and a new set of colored pencils.
I picked up that beauty from Amazon, and eagerly awaited its shipment. Part of my coloring experiment was to see if I slept better at night with coloring before bed instead of playing on my iPad. The blue light from screens isn’t good for sleeping, and sometimes I think I stay up way later from YouTube and instagram binging than I would from something else.
Yesterday the book arrived, and I immediately began looking for ponies. I was not disappointed.
Besides ponies, the book had a ton of other animals. Some of my favorites were the dog, fox and big cats… but there’s something for everyone. There were only two pages that I pretty much hated and would never color.
After flipping through the book, I settled on this guy.
And started coloring.
And coloring.
And coloring some more.
I may or may not have colored for almost three hours until my arm and elbow hurt. Art is painful folks! I had forgotten.
In the end, I have this amazing rainbow pony which I’m super happy with.
I also slept like a baby last night, so that’s a win. The book brags that coloring is stress relieving and relaxing. While I won’t make any scientific claims, I enjoyed this activity on a non-barn night while doing laundry.
There are tons of options on Amazon, but if you want the same selection to make your own rainbow pony you can get the book I used by clicking here – Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Animal Designs
51 thoughts on “Adult Coloring Books”
Beautiful! I think you must have a lot more patience than I do (and definitely more creativity!), I think trying to color all those little spaces would stress me out!
Has anyone seen this one. Secrete Gluon. It is an adult coloring book that is really unique albete kinda surreal and strange like the art in Juxtapose Magazine.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1514797348
I’ve heard of this phenomenon, very cool! Also, I had to laugh at the “adult” coloring books – bet you’ll get some funny SEO hits out of this post!
Those people are going to be super sad when they come here and find rainbow ponies!
Um… you can’t just say something like “that I would never ever color” and not tell us what it is!!!!!! Speculating wildly….
I think it was an ugly lion and a ugly wolf?
Go ahead and give the bottom of this list pictures a try. Nothing in ‘the rules’ (ha) says you have to keep them. Somewhere there is someone who likes that particular animal/critter.
Your coloring skills are fab. Just post them as a giveaway on FB or maybe earn a few stash-bucks on ebay.
In the meantime, enjoy the horses! I’ve noticed that I’m sleeping better lately … I wonder if its the needlepoint kit I purchased last week?
M in NC
This. Came to say this. I want to see the ugly wolf. I might want to color the ugly wolf. 🙂
Beautiful! I’m not sure I’d be able to stay in the lines.
The second I saw this on instagram, I knew I was going to be hooked. Ordering it! I love your rainbow pony!
That’s beautiful! I really enjoy sketching, might have to try this….
oh wow i love this! your rainbow pony turned out super well too…. must investigate further!
Those would also make for VERY awesome tattoos! (if you’re brave enough.. which I’m not anymore..)
This is how I started putting my horses onto canvas when I was painting my mind was “still” it wasn’t “racing” I noticed it right away, beats expensive therapy hahaha.
Marti
That is really cool. Maybe you should just post all your completed pictures and I’ll enjoy them. I am not sure I’m creative enough for that level of coloring book.
*grabby-hands*
Beautiful rainbow poneh
Now that looks fun! Your rainbow pony turned out awesome. 🙂
pony3express.blogspot.com
Full disclosure: my senior year of college my friend and I brought coloring books and crayons with us to the library during finals week and we’d whip them out and just start coloring right then and there whenever we needed a 15 minute break from serious studying. I swear it was the most brilliant idea I ever had so I am not surprised to see that this is a thing!
Your rainbow pony came out amazing! I really should start drawing again…it’s one of those things that totally at the bottom of my priority list but I should really make time for because I’m sure it would do wonders for my sanity
Your rainbow pony is AMAZING.
I would frame that and put it on my wall. The rainbow pony is amazing! You are so talented!
Just went to Amazon to add these to my wish list! I love the idea, probably much better for my stressed out brain than staring at my iPad!
That’s cool! I love coloring intricate patterns like that.
I’ve never heard of such a thing! Very cool. And your rainbow pony is gorgeous 😀
Coloring (in the lines) is good for your soul. True story, I just read a study on it. Also, my friends and I used to color Disney books all the time in college.
I just bought an adult coloring book a few weeks ago as well! I got this one: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Haven-Cats-Coloring-Books/dp/0486789640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431454427&sr=8-1&keywords=creative+cats+coloring+book
It is so much fun, and definitely relaxing! I really want to buy the Secret Garden or Enchanted Forest one by Johanna Basford.
Love your rainbow pony! I might have to get this book too!
I totally just put the Enchanted Forest in my cart on Amazon. Hopefully it’ll ship eventually!
I got Enchanted Forest a couple weeks ago, and Secret Garden is now in stock too! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1780671067/ref=s9_qpp_gw_p14_d85_i7?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-7&pf_rd_r=0HEB73CTV43PTDRVN1TG&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090148982&pf_rd_i=desktop
Um, LOVE IT! Need it.
I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/Color-Great-Horse-Paintings-Coloring/dp/0486472841/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1431456563&sr=8-8&keywords=color+your+own+horse+paintings
It’s not “adult” but the images are really nice as they are various famous horse paintings throughout history.
Love these! I have on my to do list to get some. Haven’t checked that off yet though 😉
When I was a kid I had a book of patterns that was similar to this, but I like how these patterns are within an animal (or whatever).
So pretty!! Just ordered mine!
I NEED THIS!! Your rainbow pony is lovely!
That looks fun. And addicting. I must get one.
I think this would be so fun!! I want to bring one to work and de-stress between meetings.
I’ll be needing some coloring books and some prismacolors now …
Yep.
That is gorgeous girl!
I love to color. Of course I have small children who ask me to color so I haven’t felt the need for an “adult” coloring book yet.
You might be interested in the type of art I’m working on. http://4rranch.blogspot.com/2015/05/wangler-painting-horse.html I’ve been teaching my horse to paint. He has his own facebook page too. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wrangler-Can-Paint/1564066673842790 I always enjoy reading your blog and surprisingly found another local blogger that had commented on something. I recognized the location of her picture. Had to go to Texas to find a neighbor in Virginia, small world.
NEED IT NOWWWWW
Found a bunch a while ago. Angie Grace has some amazing “pattern” books, including: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1481841556/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=14NOVK5C6AOZH&coliid=I30KSQ2P3XXNJG
Love your rainbow pony! This looks like so much fun, I think I’ll have to get my own to play with 🙂
amazing! it reminds me of the recent activity i did, painting ceramics! it’s incredibly stress relieving too!
I just added one to my amazon cart yesterday! I didn’t see the animal one, I just found a cool pattern one. Now I’ll have to decide…..and find my colored pencils…
That coloring is OUTSTANDING.
I just bought a copy of this for myself and my best friend in California. I LOVE the idea of doing this before bed!!!! Outstanding, thank you!
Wow! Gorgeous! I hope you share more because its stress relieving for me to just enjoy looking at your completed work! =)
Definitely not my cup of tea for relaxing – I draw and color all day long in my classroom. The kids think I am a FABULOUS artist. :0) Much of what I teach involves drawings, sketches, and illustrations. Just today I drew what Boone had drawn in Indian in the Cupboard. I also colored the borders of our four figures of speech cards. It’s something different every day. I do much better with my Kindle before bed. :0)
I love coloring! It’s one of my favorite activities with the two year old I babysit haha.
I color at home too. Have you heard of Zentangling? That’s what I do. Those patterns remind me of Zentangle. I do the pattern and then color in my own. Butterflies are a lot of fun! I need to share some on my blog. 🙂
I have no control. I’d color in the lines for a solid two minutes and then go ham like a 5 year old.
These are awesome! I would love to bust out the gold and black pens though and make some glamorous horse art : )
love horse art. Those coloring pages are amazing!