How Coloring Books Can Make You a Better Artist
From Coloring to Creating: Unlocking Your Drawing Skills
What if this simple childhood pastime could actually sharpen your skills as an artist? What started as a fun way to entertain kids, can actually help train your eyes, hand, & your creative thinking process. Even as an adult, there are coloring books that remind us of the time when things mattered less & everything was easier because we were young. I recently picked back up an old Star Wars coloring book & it reminded me of the days when I was younger & loved Star Wars. It got me thinking about how I could use this book to get better at blending colors & using the color wheel. So dust off those old coloring books you have laying around & in the back of your bookshelves, now’s the time we start looking at them as tools to the trade rather than children’s books.
When I first started getting into drawing & coloring, I realized & learned quickly that everything can be made by starting with simple shapes. I seen a YouTube video that explained if you want to draw any animal, put it into a box & start to slowly build simple shapes to carve out the subject you want to create. It helped me understand that circles & boxes are major characters in the world of drawing. Using a coloring book helps to expose you to shapes, lines, & patterns that you can use in any scenario. For example, you can trace the image to help strengthen precision of the hand & build muscle memory. By using a reference, you can start to remember the way you need to hold your utensil for specific strokes, such as shading & blending. The more you practice, the more steady your hand control becomes. This helps in graffiti to achieve a smooth crisp even line across the wall or surface. Building from simple shapes helps you build structure, from there you can start to develop a style.
Coloring books provide the user with pre-drawn outlines, allowing the artist to focus on different aspects of art. Aspects like composition, proportion, & flow, without the added pressure of inventing something from nothing. But isn’t that stealing? Yes & No. My opinion on that matter is this, no idea is original & we draw inspiration from things everyday. Whether it’s another artist, nature, passion, or love, our art is the culmination of everything we’ve seen, done, & been through. Art is meant to inspire people, if you find something gorgeous & beautiful, why would you not want to learn from it? Break it down into simple structures to learn how it was done & how you can execute it in the future. Starting out on my artistic journey, I’ve read countless time “good artist copy, but great artist steal” & that’s because we steal the inspiration & show others through our lens, our view of the world.
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When you learn how different elements fit together, you’ll better understand them again when you try to replicate them. Building a foundation of knowledge about sketching, drawing, & coloring can start in a coloring book. What other people see as useless, can actually be a goldmine of information if you take the time to break it down & analyze it. Theoretically, you could learn from any book, picture, or magazine, but coloring books are meant for color! They teach you how to mash colors together to get something visually appealing to the eyes & will draw viewers in for more.
As we know, colors reflect different things for different people. Colors are like emotions & can display words to anyone willing to read them. Coloring books help you build a firm grasp on concepts like contrast, harmony, & mood. The beauty of these useful tools is that it’s a low-stakes way to experiment with different color palettes. Try things that normally wouldn’t go together, because its a book for your own personal use, not a sketchbook which people may feel obligated to show others. You don’t have to feel afraid to showcase it to anyone because it’s a way for you to practice, not show off. Mixing a wide variety of colors with different shading also gives you a way to experiment with how colors look next to each other. Does it add depth or distract the viewer? The whole concept is to help you build skills while practicing others. Learn to develop positive habits, not negative ones.
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Learning to slow down & think helps encourage mindfulness, patience, & focus. Helping you become more detail orientated & have the ability to commit to a drawing without rushing. These skills transfer over into painting, graffiti, & illustration because they can challenging & difficult without proper guidance or practice. You may not always have the opportunity to have a mentor in the game, you’ll have learn for yourself & make a way for you to practice. This is one of the ways. Coloring books can also be a way to break the pesty creative blocks you may face.
A coloring book offers you a stress-free way of finding objects or subjects to draw. They have readily available outlines for you to learn from & you can mix & match different pages to make something unique or original. Seeing what other people create is a good way to spark new ideas. You can twist & turn different things into something different. When I had more time in the day, I would scroll through Pinterest to find different outlines & coloring pages to print out & practice on. I’ve created my own coloring book by searching for things online. I can stich/bind them together & make a real book to share with my friends. Doing that is also a fun creative way to make something special & unique. My neice loves to come downstairs & draw on any spare paper I have laying around. Writing this now gave me the idea to find a bunch of Frozen coloring pages & print them out for her. It’s her favorite movie & she would find tremendous pleasure in something like that I can keep on my bookshelves for whenever she comes downstairs to visit.
From coloring to creating, coloring books provide structure for you to practice on. The skills & knowledge learned can help you naturally when it comes time to transition into freehand drawing. Another fun practice tool to try is by using a color page, build simple shapes & structures recreating the image as simple as possible, then color it in. This is an abstract way of making something you created yourself with some inspiration from a coloring book. Always try new things & find the way you like to draw or create. There are no rules to art, only the things you like & the things don’t.
Think of a coloring book as a playground for creativity & discipline at the same time. It’s a stress-free way of learning new skills & practicing the ones you’ve already mastered. These tools are not just for beginners, anyone can use them to practice. I invite you to check out the coloring book section at your local book store or Barnes & Noble. Something there might catch your eye & speak to you in all the right ways. Fun fact, coloring books are just made for kids! They have tons of adult books that aren’t meant to be seen by the younger population. They even sell graffiti coloring books & ones filled with mandalas. Whatever fits the situation, I promise you, they have something for you to try & enjoy.
Send me pictures of anything you color in. Let me know what you’ve learned from coloring books or even if you recommend something for me to check out! I’d be happy to see if I enjoy it. Hit me up in the comments with any feedback or commentary you have on the subject. I’m always open for good conversations.
Peace & Love from the 413