At the time of penning this article (August 2015), 25 % of Amazon’s top twenty best-selling books are coloring in gossip columns. So what is an adult coloring book, and the way is it that they are currently outselling top fiction authors with new releases such as E.L. James and Paula Hawkins?
Adult coloring books are, plain and simply, coloring in gossip columns for adults. Like children’s coloring books, they are full of outline illustrations meant to be filled in with colored pencils, markers, crayons, or whatever other media you want to use.
What’s in the adult coloring in book?
The gap between adults’ and kids’ color books is the matured versions generally feature less juvenile images and fashions. As opposed to superheroes, barnyard animals, and television characters, adult coloring in gossip columns tend to be more often stuffed with:
aspects of the natural world, such as 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 are also many ‘theme’ specific books available, featuring diverse subjects such as cars, steampunk designs, and Art Nouveau patterns.
What makes them very popular?
A Scottish illustrator named Johanna Basford published a manga adult coloring books called Secret Garden in 2013, featuring pages of beautifully hand-illustrated ink drawings. The modern York Times reported in March which a Korean pop star named Kim Ki-bum posted a photograph on Instagram of your ‘delicately colored-in floral pattern’ from Secret Garden. At the time, Ki-bum were built with a massive 1.8 million Instagram followers. The post went viral and helped to ignite the craze.
The expansion in interest in the books reportedly has much related to adult relaxation and stress release. Many adults who use the books report that they find the repetitive, low-stress nature of coloring in to be soothing, relaxing, plus a means of de-stressing out of the pressures of life and work.
Among the other benefits of adult coloring in gossip columns, in addition they claim that they can enjoy recapturing the nostalgia of childhood by participating in an action usually available to children. It requires people returning to an easier time, and will be also an easy method for folks in order to connect and bond using their children to stay down to color in with them. Needless to say, many parents happen to be happily coloring in kids’ books for decades, however they’ve got choices that are not limited by Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob SquarePants.
To conclude, coloring for adults seems to be an increasing past-time that enables adults to chill and unplug from your stress within their lives, by participating in a hands-on activity which involves minimal commitment and maximum nostalgia.
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