Are travel coloring pages for adults in decline? What about popular genres, landscapes, abstract, or other style coloring books?
The Rise of Coloring Books for Adults
Back in 2015, coloring books exploded in sales, but not coloring books for little kids with their crayons. Nope, the market exploded for adults with colored pencils and markers and pens…and maybe a few crayons.
While most therapists agree that coloring books aren’t actually real art therapy, the therapists seem to be split on whether coloring actually helps reduce stress.
Stress Effects
As previously discussed, long-term stress is bad for your physical and mental health.
There is depression, anxiety, personality disorders, sleep issues, heart attacks, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity or other eating disorders, skin issues, heartburn, and other stomach issues…
Any way to reduce the stress on your body, so it’s not constantly working so hard, is a good thing. And coloring is just another way to use a visual stress relief technique.
3 Ways Coloring Books Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety
When you pick up a coloring book, there aren’t a lot of decisions you have to make. Yes, you get to choose the color you want and which picture to color, but the layout has already been determined for you. It’s pretty much just pick up your pencil, marker, pen, or crayon and begin. At the end of a long day, you don’t want to still have a lot of decisions that have to be made.
As you focus on coloring the page and picking the colors you determine will go well together, you begin to get out of your own way. Your brain relaxes, your breathing evens out, and you relax. Some say it’s similar to meditation.
If you are coloring on a piece of paper instead of on a tablet or your phone, then you have reduced the amount of blue light you are getting. Even if for a bit. Paper is easier on your eyes and the feel of the paper is almost an elemental touch given its ties to trees.
Some evidence suggests coloring reminds you of your carefree childhood days and allows you to step away from the stress of negative thoughts running through your head. And allows you to not worry about being an artist – just enjoy the process of creating something beautiful.
Some Common Questions About Coloring Pages for Adults
What makes a good coloring page?
There is no wrong answer to this. What do YOU like?
You can find coloring pages for almost every topic or genre.
Do you want detailed pages to color? Or simple pages?
Is there an app that turns photos into coloring pages?
A quick web search shows Colorscape as the number result for this answer.
I use PhotoScape X, a free photo editor for Macs and Windows 10.
It does take a bit of fiddling to get the photo to display as a coloring sheet, but typically:
- 1) Load the photo into PhotoScape X
- 2) Select Effects
- 3) Choose Threshold
- 4) Adjust the Amount scale (typically down at the lower end looks better)
- 5) Adjust the Tolerance scale, if needed
- 6) Apply
- 7) Save
- 8) Print
Hint: Sometimes using the Colored Pencil option and then the Threshold option works better.
3 Ways to Display Your Travel Coloring Pages as an Adult
There’s no need to hide all those coloring pages in coloring books. Here are some simple ways to display your colorful creations:
Send Your Travel Coloring Page as a Card to a Loved One
- 1) Buy white card stock from your favorite office supply store.
- 2) Print the picture you want to color onto it. Or onto half of the sheet of card stock.
- 4) Color the picture.
- 5) Write a personal note to your loved one on the back of the colored picture.
- 6) Mail the picture to your loved one.
- 7) Imagine them smiling when they open their mailbox and see a note from you.
Framed Art
Not all art hanging in picture frames on your walls has to be from an art gallery or the local department store sales bin. You’ve worked hard to color that picture just the way you want it, and it looks fantastic!
You can either buy a frame at your local arts and craft store for your picture or take it in and let them frame it. Then bring it home, find the perfect spot in your house to hang it, and your colored artwork is hanging on your walls!
Electronic Wallpaper
You’re so impressed with how well that last colored picture turned out, you can feel yourself relaxing every time you look at it. Here’s a simple way to turn it into your wallpaper on your phone or desktop or tablet:
- 1) Clear space in front of a window. Natural light is great for flat lays.
- 2) Lay down a white poster board or a white bed sheet will work in a pinch.
- 3) Put the colored picture down.
- 4) If you have another whiteboard, put it between you and the colored page to help reflect the light.
- 5) Take out your preferred camera (phone, tablet, an actual camera) and snap a couple of pictures.
- 6) Pick the one you like best, crop and rotate as necessary, and set it as your wallpaper!
Conclusion
Are coloring pages for adults in decline? Compared to 2015, probably. But a quick keyword or Amazon search shows this is still a popular topic and lots of options for buying an adult coloring book.
