Intricacy vs. Simplicity

I read a really interesting post earlier today.

The post talked about if adults really need adult coloring books to color or if they don’t. The author leaned more towards the stance that adult coloring books are kind of unnecessary and that adult coloring books seemed more overwhelming with the intricate designs than relaxing like they’re supposed to be. If I am going to be honest, it annoyed me a little bit at first as an avid adult colorist yet once I started thinking about it more, the post opened my eyes and taught me a lot. The author wanted feedback and input on this topic so here is mine:

At first, I think what got to me about the view the author seemed to have was that I personally love the intricacy and the complicated-ness of the designs because I get a greater sense of accomplishment after finishing a more intricate design than one that is more aimed towards children. I believe that the intricacy is the whole point of adult coloring, and that is what distinguishes it from regular coloring or an adult coloring in a children’s coloring book.

BUT…after thinking this through a lot more, I actually got really mad at myself!

I believe that my initial view was extremely narrow-minded when it comes to the adult coloring trend. I have a feeling that maybe I jumped on the mainstream adult coloring trend “bandwagon” too hard. I previously thought that the intricacate designs were the whole point of coloring as an adult, but I see now that it doesn’t have to be that way. The point of adult coloring is an adult being able to color, not how complex what they are coloring is.

Simplistic coloring pages can be equally as satisfying (and possibly even more relaxing!) than the mainstream complicated coloring pages. It really, I believe now, depends wholly on the person and what the person prefers.

This post actually ended up reminding me of the times when (just a couple years ago!) I was a freshman in college, and I was printing out coloring pages with my friends and coloring just to pass the time (…this was before adult coloring books even became popular!).

The best part was that we weren’t coloring intricate designs or anything; we were coloring pictures that you could find in any children’s coloring book.

I am dumbfounded that recently I have been so ignorant and so gung-ho for the mainstream adult coloring scene that I completely lost sight of just coloring something simple and coloring just to color, not make a masterpiece of art. I should’ve know better that I was being so obtuse because there most definitely have been times when I’ve been fed up with a complicated pattern I’m working on and yearned for a more simplistic picture.

I am so grateful for the reality check that I got from that post and I am gonna try to post a few of the more simplistic pictures I’ve colored from the past as well as possibly invest in a children’s coloring book as my next coloring book purchase!

There’s an App for That???

Adult coloring? Of course, there is an app for that now!

In a world where people constantly struggle to find time to “unplug” from their electronic devices, it was practically inevitable that the adult coloring trend would get digitized to accommodate everyone. There are a multitude of different adult coloring apps out there, many of them free apps, for all your digital coloring wants and desires. I have tried a few of these and can’t seem to put them down, but there are a lot that I haven’t tried which compelled me to do some research and share with you.

Coloring, Creativity, and Connecting

New creative ways of coloring are popping up everywhere.

The other day, I read this post on how to make DIY coloring sheets which was actually a completely innovative and awesome idea that I had never even thought of. The post gave a step by step process, with pictures, on how to complete this process. It was interesting, helpful, and very easy to understand. The post told you exactly what kind of programs to use and suggests that you choose any image from Project Gutenburg, which has over 50,000 free ebooks, to make a coloring page. I decided to share this cool project here for my readers because it was something new for people interested in coloring to try. While I haven’t personally tried this yet, I encourage you to check it out and try it for yourself! I’d love to hear the results!

While on the topic of interesting posts that I read recently, I was reading through a post from another person who just picked up the hobby of adult coloring. The post really stuck with me for some reason even though it brought up stuff I already realized about coloring.

It was a really sweet post highlighting the magic of coloring, and how the best magic came out the the time that they got to spend with their child. The magic of being able to bond with your family over something. I think this stuck with me so much because my sister and I (she is 14 years old compared to my 20) also enjoy connecting and bonding over coloring together. No matter how old you are or who you are coloring with be it family or friends, coloring can be fun and relaxing for all. And most of all, it can help you to bond. I suggest checking out the post, here.

A Taste of the Rainbow

48 different colors of the rainbow….that’s what greeted me as I opened my new pack of Marco Reffiné fine art colored pencils that I ordered on Amazon a couple weeks ago. I was beyond ecstatic to get them in the mail because I was getting tired of the same old, same old of using my Crayola colored pencils that I bought over the summer.

I fell in love the second I put my new colored pencils to the test because of the smoothness of the color going on the page and because of how vibrant and beautiful the colors are themselves. I can’t wait to finish my first picture using them and post it on here. I can so happily say that it was a successful $25 splurge spent on myself. I reccomend them to everyone although they are kind of expensive so if you want to color but not spend a ton of money then they probably aren’t your best option. To anyone who doesn’t mind spending the money though, they are fantastic.

I have been seeing a lot of people use gel pens to color, and I absolutely love the way that they make pictures look. I personally don’t like using markers to color, but I think gel pens would be my happy medium between markers and colored pencils which are my coloring utensil of choice.

Gel pens just might end up being my next guilty pleasure buy.

…maybe a Christmas present to myself once December rolls around.