8 Coloring Books for Grown-Ups To Soothe Your Inner Child
There’s just something incredibly soothing about coloring in a coloring book. Long considered an activity for kids, it’s the guilty (or maybe not so guilty) pleasure of parents, babysitters, and college students everywhere. And now it no longer has to be relegated to guilty pleasure land. There’s a growing trend in coloring books for adults—featuring more intricate details and soothing shapes and fewer Disney princesses and Marvel superheroes—spearheaded, of course, by indie publishers.
By “growing trend,” we mean “the bestselling titles on Amazon,” naturally, including the two you’ve probably already heard of: Johanna Basford’s gorgeous Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book and Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book (Laurence King). If you can’t wait for the publisher to reprint, here are eight other coloring books for adults to check out.
The Mindfulness Coloring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons (The Experiment Publishing) A fun and unique pocket-size coloring book designed to channel stress into relaxing, creative accomplishments.
Balance: Angie’s Extreme Stress Menders Volume 1 by Angie Grace (CreateSpace) Best selling coloring book artist Angie Grace invites you to relax and explore the intricate and exquisite world of stress mending circular whimsical art.
Color Me Stress-Free: 100 Coloring Templates to Unplug and Unwind by Lacy Mucklow, illustrated by Angela Porter (Race Point Publishing) Art therapist Lacy Mucklow and artist Angela Porter offer up 100 coloring templates, all designed to help you unplug and unwind at the end of each day. Organized into seven therapeutically themed chapters, this is the perfect book for stressed-out adults who want to reconnect, simply and easily, with their inner creativity.
Art Therapy: Extraordinary Gardens by Sophie Leblanc (Jacqui Small) From Eden to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, any garden is a symbol of peace and pleasure and this book allows you to create your own wonders of the world. Let your imagination wander between the seasons through the pages of this book and rediscover the simple, yet calming pleasure of observing nature at its finest.
Coloring Mandalas 1: For Insight, Healing, and Self-Expression by Susanne F. Fincher (Shambhala Publications) Drawing the traditional circular designs known as mandalas is a meditative practice, a healing exercise in times of crisis, and a pleasurable act of creativity. The forty-eight drawings presented here for coloring include designs inspired by forms of nature, Native American and Tibetan sand paintings, Hindu yantras, Turkish mosaics, the illuminations of Hildegarde of Bingen, and the art of M.C. Escher.
Creative Haven Snowflake Designs Coloring Book by A. G. Smith (Dover Publications) Based on the groundbreaking photographs of W. A. Bentley, this blizzard of designs offers 31 expertly rendered illustrations of nature’s most dazzling creations, as individual flakes and in scattered storms.
Millie Marotta’s Tropical Wonderland by Millie Marotta (Batsford) Lose yourself in a riot of coloring as you bring the exotic creatures and plants in Millie Marotta’s Tropical Wonderland to life. Millie’s intricate style of illustration encourages you to make your own mark, whether it’s to add to the fine lines on trees or add a splash of color to the feathers of a tropical parrot.
Doodle Invasion: Zifflin’s Coloring Book by Zifflin, illustrated by Kerby Rosanes (CreateSpace) The ultimate doodle coloring book. This big sized coloring book is a challenge for all ages. If you are a fanatic doodler and obsessed with filling in and coloring doodles then this is definitely for you. The book is filled with fifty unique and extremely detailed work of art by the master of doodles Kerby Rosanes.
Allyce Amidon
