Coloring Help in the Adult Coloring Craze

Coloring and Choosing Colors — oh the Struggle! Do you have difficulty choosing colors for your coloring pages? I asked for coloring help in two coloring groups. People obliged and made coloring fun for the first time in a long time.

Coloring and the Creativity Struggle

Staring at the paper. Staring at the pens and pencils. “Please God, give me just a little creativity. I just want to come up with colors on my own that match. And God, it would be awesome if my coloring page came out really pretty. Oh Lord, I need some coloring help.”

Here I sit with my Prismacolor Premier 79 Piece Mixed Media Set, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Pens, and Stabilo 88 5-Color Neon Wallet Set pens, my Johanna Basford coloring book, and a page to color. Of course I chose the page that looked the least intimidating. Now I have to choose a color scheme. Why is it so difficult?

Do you ever go through this?

I finally got past my researching organizing supplies obsession and now I’m dealing with the struggle to choose colors for Johanna Basford’s Enchanted Forest coloring pages. The pages are so beautiful that I don’t want to ruin even one page.

Side Story

Back in the late 80’s, I was much more creative. However, truth be told, I used to look at books for ideas back then. I also had rubber stamps and my favorite color schemes that gave me inspiration. The saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it,” holds true. But, it’s not lost for good. You can get it back.

I’ve been through highs and lows, good and bad. Just like many of you, I have a story. It’s been a long journey that took me away from many of the fun, creative things I loved to do, but I’m back. I forgot how much I loved to color.

The Process

I looked at the page, the variation of leaves and then looked at the pencils. The only vision I had was to use different colors of green for the leaves, but I wanted more. So I closed my eyes and started thinking about all of the leaves I’ve seen in the real world AND in others finished coloring pages. Then I thought about the colors I liked seeing together.

I began with the leaves.

First, I took out all of the green pencils I had and made a sample swatch on a plain piece of paper. (Since the writing of this blog post, I tweaked a FREE Prismacolor Colored Pencils – Color Chart, and have started laying down the colors.)

(Prismacolor Verithins are the harder, very thin (smile) pencils. WC are the watercolors.)

I played around with shading on a blank piece of paper and then tried it on the coloring page.

Sadly I rubbed a little too much while using watercolors with a touch of water on a brush. The page pilled a little. You can slightly see it in the leaf that is completed, near the middle of the page. It’s okay. I kept going.

The ladies in the coloring Facebook group looked at the photo I uploaded and encouraged me to try colors I like.

I stepped back a few feet to look at the page (it changes my perspective when I do that). This helped me decide what colors to use for each type of leaf. I actually only focused on one type of leaf at a time instead of mapping out all of the colors at one time as others do.

I knew I wanted blue and orange in there somewhere. The red was an, aha moment after I finished all of the green and blue.

Oddly enough I visualized the two leaves surrounding the owl in silver. I didn’t think about it. I just did it. The owl had to be a different color than the entire theme because I had no idea what to do and that is what everyone else did on my coloring list. (snicker)

Next, it was time for orange. I played around with the few colors of orange I have and the olive green on a blank page. I liked the plain orange and how it looked with the olive green. Done.

My coloring group was there when I needed some validation on the background. They concurred with the orange and green, so there you have it!

I DO find that the watercolors feel creamier than the regular or plain colored pencils. They also seem brighter than the regular colored pencils. So I didn’t use water on many of them. I did a little blending and that was it.

The Finished Page

I didn’t have cotton balls to use for the background. A cotton pad and Q-Tip were all I had. Therefore, it took me about 40 minutes to finish the background. I’ll make sure I have cotton balls for the next one.

In the meantime, I feel very good about the finished product. I didn’t stress and just had fun.

Coloring gives your mind rest and time to wander when you let go and choose colors as they strike you. I’m learning to let go of my perfectionism, slow down, and be patient during each project. The colors and act of coloring are also helping me to regain my creativity. Finally, I’m creating beautiful pages.

Now onto the next one!

Blessings and Peace,
Susie

P.S. Do you have favorite colors? Let me know in the comments below. And if you have any coloring tips, I’d love to hear them.

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