Self Care | Coloring Books

I honestly don’t remember how or why I came across adult coloring books but I thought they were such a cool idea; esp since I had still been buying Disney ones from work. I read it was suppose to serve as a type of meditation. It was 2015 and I was in a stressful place. So I used the coloring books as my moment of silence. I invested in colored pencils, pens and paint. I’d spread it all out on the floor and just do whatever I felt like doing. And it was so theraputic.

When I moved to Texas I started up again for awhile, I always mean to finish my books but sometimes it just feels like so much work — I get obsessed with the idea of completing things but I rarely ever do. I’ll finish this book some day!

I recently got a new iPad to learn how to draw with Procreate. But I ended up downloading a bunch of coloring books and trying them all out. The one I settled with is called Pigment. They have “books” by various artists. They host challenges and there’s an awesome sense of community there. I honestly wasn’t interested in getting follows and likes, I’m just there to color when I can’t sleep or to get my mind off things. And browsing other peoples versions of the same page; that part is always interesting!

I love doing blends and textures and shading. I’m still learning as I go but the options they give you on this app to create texture is really fun to play with. The girl with the arrow on the right was my first grayscale I colored. It was super hard but trying to make the elements around her look realistic was fun to play with.

Also shading the ice cream bowl and the milkshake cup on the left came out better than I expected. The whole page did actually! My husband didn’t like the cloud page; he didn’t understand why I colored “outside of the lines”. I think that’s the fun part about anything creative: it’s subjective. There is no right or wrong answer.

I’m still trying to find hobbies that calm me. I found watching a show while coloring in bed helps. I don’t the luxury of always being able to do this though, which kinda sucks.

I watched a few more episodes of Emily in Paris and I was mass live messaging a former co-worker who’s from Paris since he finished the series so far. Sorry Cyril, I had a lot to say lmao. I also started the second season of Great Greek Myths, hate you had to pay for the last few episodes of the first season. But I’m finding the more I watch this… the more and more Athena and Aphrodite are my least favorite. Athena has got some weird problems man. Also, I’m finding I was wrong about Paris of Troy, and I’m mad about it cause I still think he’s a big ass bitch. And of course nothing beats binge watching FRIENDS when you’re having a sick day.

I also finally finished the Shades of Kawaii book!

I’m having a lot of fun testing my creativity while still actively meditating in the process. I have to admit, there are a few nights I may have sleep colored a page cause there’s a few I really do not remember completing lol.

I had my sights set on an anime coloring book next but the second page had me stumped and I’ve deleted my progress at least 3 times. Maybe I’ll come back to it, who knows.

Have you tried adult coloring books?