Adult colouring in

[PinkDaydreams]

Hello all!
I looked for a thread but the one I found was from 2015!
Anyway, I have within the last few days found that I really enjoy coloring in. I have no fancy pencils or books as I’m a beginner but wanting some recommendations please and to also be reassured that I’m not silly! I currently use crayola pencils and have an animal coloring book.
Thanks all!

I absolutely love adult colouring books. I ended up purchasing some expensive pencils to make my experience better but I also use them for art so I can sort of justify it .

Which books do you enjoy the most? I'd recommend faber castell as a brilliant beginners brand for good blending and coverage. Also some chalk pastels for backgrounds, those are very cheap and you can use hairspray to fix it to the page after you've finished.

I'm in love with Johanna Basford's books, they're full of beautiful designs and the paper is brilliant for adding lots of colour. Also lots of themed books. If you're feeling brave, try Lost Ocean, but if you're not too confident there's a jungle one IIRC that has large spaces to colour.

Have a look on YouTube. You will see some mesmerising videos of people colouring. It's such a great hobby.

@SuckingDownDarjeeling thank you so much for your reply!
I hadn’t thought of you tubing, I’ll wait till little one is having his nap and I’ll have a look. I can see myself watching many a video!!
I’ve got a couple of animal coloring books, ones that were gifted to me last Christmas. I like the idea of the ocean, I’ll be sure to look at the books you’ve recommended.
Chalk, I hadn’t thought of chalk! The only thing is chalk really goes through me, makes my teeth hurt!
Have you noticed a difference in quality of pencils? I’m using crayola at the minute to get me started but would like to get some others in the future.

@PinkDaydreams Crayolas are actually the best of the cheaper brands so you won't go wrong with them. If you'd like to dip your toe into ever something slightly higher quality then faber castell have ranges from beginner to advanced,

Faber-Castell Colour Pencils (Pack of 60) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FDKQG2W/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_LEnsFbH7Q6ACV

That's a low budget set but the quality is great for blending, You’ll see what I mean when you watch the YouTube videos ☺️. When DCs are a bit calmer I'll try to post a picture of some that I've coloured. One of the things I've loved is that if I fancy watching a video on it, it's appropriate for DCs to be in the room and sometimes they even get mesmerised too so I call that a win for a hobby!

My daughter (18) loves colouring in and she has some lovely colouring pens by Arteza.
Her favourite go to colouring book at the moment is actually by my godmother! It’s Big Hair Art and the pictures are amazing.

@MellowMelly is this the book you’ve mentioned? If so it looks fab!

@SuckingDownDarjeeling I’ve added those pencils to my amazon wishlist, thank you! DH always asks what I’d like for Xmas so those can go on my list no doubt there will be plenty of coloring books to add too!
Can I ask, what do you do with the books once finished?

I love the Johanna Basford ones too but they take forever! The thought of actually finishing a book has not entered my head as yet!!

Oh my goodness the Johanna Basford books look amazing! This secret garden one looks lovely

The secret garden was my first and is still a firm favourite ☺️ sometimes the patterns seem intricate but then I remember that I can colour one part over several lines and I feel a bit better .

So far I haven't had a use for the finished ones, but I have them on a shelf and flick through them occasionally, and when DC are older I hope to show them

This is the Johanna one I'm working on right now, it's a story book format and my plan is to save some pages for DC to colour in when they're older, so it's a family project. The inside is just an example of what I mean about using chalk pastels (which are somewhat different to regular chalk) but if the feel of chalk gets to your teeth then I wouldn't recommend!

Oh, and, so sorry for spamming your thread but Johanna Basford is one of the loveliest people I've ever come across, not that I've ever met her. She gives away free patterns to colour and creates lots of videos and online resources to help people find their calm when colouring. She doesn't push products, quite the opposite. I have her on my Facebook feed and I don't regret it one bit

The chalk looks really effective! Zoomed in on your coloring and it’s gorgeous! I’m no way near that good, I’m awful at art, always was in school too. I really do need to get you tubing and teach myself techniques

I’ve just typed Johanna Basford into Pinterest......WOW!

Thank you but I promise it was all learned from YouTube. Another one I started with was Peta Hewitt who talks a lot about the materials she uses as well as showing beautiful techniques. There are so many different techniques to fall in love with, I'm clearly a fan of making gradients but there are so many other ways you'll see when you take a look!

I've got a couple of Johanna Basford colouring books but thanks to this thread, I've just checked her out on Pinterest and, via Pinterest, I've subscribed to her YouTube channel. Wow!

https://www.johannabasford.com

That's her website. It really is a treasure. She keeps people up to date and shows people how to enjoy her products. And she regularly says that her publisher will get annoyed with her for giving things away for free, but she doesn't care

@PinkDaydreams it is indeed! She’s also just released one called Toff Cats, same style but we just love the big hair one.

Google Toff Cats and that’s right up my street!!
I’m so glad I posted on here now, I felt a bit silly, mid thirty year old coloring in, but I’m glad their are others that enjoy it too. For me I find it so relaxing. I only get to do it when toddler is having his daily nap (sometimes he misses it though!) but it takes my mind off everything for an hour a day which is perfect!

has anyone here tried using watercolour pencils for colouring, they seem really easy to use and give a great effect

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1449483186/ref=bseries_primary_1_1449483186?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

these look fun and then you can frame them for ds room

🖍🖍😊

@HowDeeDooDee yes, I've used watercolour pencils. They have a beautiful effect. You can use them dry like normal pencils, or put a thin layer down and then wet it, and it creates beautiful gradients. Definitely worth a try!

Arteza do some really nice watercolour pencils. Lovely medium to work with. I’ve got my eye on the watercolour pens for my daughter but the price of them

Another vote for Johanna Basford - I have no imagination for colours so use Pinterest and then just copy them (but not as well!). Don't get the Lost Ocean book though - the paper isn't as nice as in the other books.

Haven't coloured in ages (I suspect I was on the old thread you mentioned) but you've inspired me to dig my books out this afternoon! I've got Faber-Castell polychromos pencils which are daft expensive, but to be honest I had some Tesco blendable pencils which were almost as good. You just want something you can layer, so that you can do shading etc.

@BookSark That shading looks beautiful.