I’m sure by now you’ve noticed that adult coloring books are all the rage – the color craze is becoming stronger every day and there’s a good reason for it – coloring books for adults are awesome! They say they have a similar effect on your mind as does meditation so they are a good weapon to fight off stress the fun way plus you get to express your creativity!
I can’t get enough and there are so many that I absolutely love, from super intricate masterpieces to simpler works of art that put you on a journey to relaxation, but here are 15 I am really into at this time.
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Some of the best adult coloring books out there
1. Creative Haven Creative Cats Coloring Book by Marjorie Sarnat
OK I admit I just might be a bit biased here because I am a total cat person, ha! But seriously this coloring book has some amazing pages to color all with, well cats. So you have a steampunk cat, king and queen cat, space themed cat and many many more, each page full of fun details on the cat and in the background allowing for a really colorful experience. The designs are one sided and the paper is fairly thick (Sharpies do bleed through) but you can easily rip out a page and color it on it’s own and not worry to somehow damage the others (as we all can get a bit carried away).
2. Secret Garden an Inky Treasure Hunt by Johanna Basford
You will get lost (in a very good way) in this one, the illustrations are breath taking! There is a lot of details to color on each of the pages and the paper quality is great! It is however double sided so I don’t recommend coloring with markers as they do tend to bleed through – but if you go with colored pencils or gel ink pens (which turn out great by the way) you’ll be really enjoying this one.
3. Creative Coloring Inspirations by Valentina Harper
If you need some positivity in your life (and who doesn’t?) this coloring book for adults is just the thing for you! You’ll be coloring wonderful designs (from abstract shapes to nature illustrations) all with a positive quote added to brighten up your day. The perforations on each (one sided print) page make it easy to take out the page which makes it easy to color and later on frame if you choose to do so.
4. Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Patterns
As the name suggests, this coloring book for grown ups is full of detailed (some crazy detailed) coloring pages with all kinds of patterns designed to put your mind at ease. You’ll be best off using gel pens or coloring pencils.
5. Animorphia: An Extreme Colouring and Search Challenge by Kerby Rosanes
This one is crazy (a bit wacky too)! But I love the designs! The main theme are the animals however there are a gazillion small little creatures and objects implemented in each of the designs all coming down to a crazy coloring and doodling adventure (as there are spaces where you can complement the designs by adding your own doodle art).
6. Color Me Calm: 100 Coloring Templates for Meditation and Relaxation by Lacy Mucklow
Some simple some more detailed but with 1oo pages to color this calming coloring book for adults is a no-brainer.
7. Creative Havens Owl Coloring Book by Marjorie Sarnat
There’s just something about owls isn’t it? They have been a trending topic pretty much everywhere in the past couple of years – fabric, jewellery (you must have seen the owl necklaces at some point) and in crafts so why they shouldn’t be “a thing” when it comes to adult coloring books? As with other Creative Haven books the quality of both design and paper is top notch and you can easily take pages out to color or frame. Think this one is a must in every adult coloring books collection (just to be on the trendy side).
8. Doodle Invasion: Zifflin’s Coloring Book
Doodle Invasion is, well an invasion of doodles… A bit wacky compared to most adult coloring books, but that’s OK sometimes this coloring book for adults is full of strange little doodle beings as well as your standard animals and objects. A fun experience well worth exploring.
9. Flower Designs Coloring Book by Jenean Morrison
Becasue sometimes you just need to color flowers. And that’s all. A fine addition to any adult coloring books collection (or a great one to start a collection with).
10. Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Animal Designs
For all the animal lovers out there – with an imaginative approach this coloring book has you are going to fall in love in no time.
11. Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford
Loved secret garden? This is another magical coloring book from the same inky artist.
12. Creative Haven Fanciful Faces Coloring Book by Miryam Adatto
Who thought coloring people’s faces could be so fun? This book has a ton of AH-mazing illustrations of “fanciful faces” for you to color. Each page is perforated so it’s easy to take out and frame.
13. The Mandala Coloring Book: Inspire Creativity by Jim Gogarty
You can’t really have a list of, well let’s call it a best adult coloring books list, without mandalas – probably the most relaxing design there is!
14. Balance by Angie Grace
Another absolutely awesome book full of intricate and calming mandala designs.
15. Hipster Coloring Book by Thaneeya McArdle
Last but not least and I am sure you are going to love this one as it’s quite funky – one of the funkiest of the adult coloring books bunch we have a Hipster Coloring Book – how cool is that? If you love hipster style (what’s not to love about it atleast as far as coloring books go?) this one will have you hooked!
There! Hope these wonderful adult coloring books will ease your coloring crave and take you on a wonderful, colorful and calming adventure!
Some Sugestions on Coloring Supplies
I’ll be doing a more in depth post on what and why I use when coloring adult coloring books soon but here’s the quick list of some of the pens, pencils and markers I love using!
Sharpie Markers – I’m absolutely in love with the vibrant colors they have and how they blend (tip you’ll get different shades if you blend two markers when still wet on paper or if you go one color over another when the first one is already dry). Be mindful though these babies bleed through almost anything!!! So make sure you protect other pages of your coloring books (that’s why I love Creative Haven’s perforated pages that are easy to take out of the book and color).
Gel Pens, Fiskars is a great brand! While these usually don’t bleed through I would be mindful when using a “cheap brands” (not that these are actually expensive) and would test it out before diving into the coloring world (as I had a bad experience with a “no name” brand though in honesty only one seemed to bleed through).
Prismacolor Coloring Pencils – these are another must! They make coloring even more relaxing! It’s super important though to get good quality ones (as are these) as again “no name” brands bring more frustration than fun as the colors are lacking and don’t shade and blend well.
Metalic Marker – this will add some “pizazz” to your creations! A must have in your collection – though again these do bleed through most often than not.
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