Coloring books can be great for stress relief and mindfulness, but do you sometimes feel guilty that you're just "wasting" your time not doing something productive? I know I do...
So I will share with you some ideas on how you can use coloring books in a whole new way!
You can turn your coloring pages into your own designs and artworks which you could put on products such as t-shirts, tea-towels, beach towels and more for gifts for friends... or even to sell!*
*subject to copyright limitations if using someone else's designs.
Coloring in is a great creativity kick-starter to warm up your creative juices and inspire your own unique illustrations! You can also use coloring books as a design reference or to practice your drawing skills.
Discover the many things you can do with your coloring pages to take them from the coloring book into the world, or even use them as a tool to improve your art.
Check out these 10 fantastic ideas you can try out.
10 Tips to Use Your Coloring Book for Artistic Inspiration, Journaling, Product Design and More!
1. Have fun with the endless possibilities of watercolor, without ruining your coloring book!
Photocopy or print the coloring pages onto watercolor paper! This means you can get creative with water without the coloring book pages buckling or running through. Watercolor looks best when you let it do what it does best - wash, bleed and run - so color outside the lines, using them as a reference.
Tip
You may like to experiment with lightening the design lines using your printers settings, so that the lines are not as obvious on the watercolor paper and when you color over them they don't stand out as much.
Alternatively you could try printing onto canvas paper, or other card stocks so that you can use other paint mediums. If you can't print onto these heavier stocks at home, you can take your paper to a print store and they should be able to print them for you.
2. Scale up your favorite coloring page and have it printed on canvas!
Many print shops now print onto canvas. This means you can have your coloring page (either colored in or blank) printed onto canvas. You can then paint over it with acrylic or oil paints!
When painting with acrylics or oils, you should be able to completely paint over the lines, so it won't even look like a coloring page. Even if you print your colored in page onto the canvas, you can add extra texture and dimension by painting over the top of it, making it look more like a painting than a print!
3. Did you know that you can embellish your colored pages with other mediums to really make them POP?
It's time to go mixed media on your coloring pages! If you print your coloring pages onto heavier paper or canvas, you can use any art medium you desire!
Experiment with paints, metallic paint pens, white gel pens or even acrylic paint pens to emphasize elements within your design, along with your pencils and makers.
You will be surprised how these subtle touches can really lift your page and make it POP! For example, use a white gel pen to add a white dot to show the glint in the eye of a bird. Or, using a black sharpie or metallic marker to outline a shape or create a shadow in the design.
3. Get your Collage on!
I know what you are thinking........collage is for kids......but it's not!
Choose one of the pages from your coloring book and select shapes to trace onto colored paper and cut out and glue together to create a more textured artwork.
You can create your own interesting compositions and prints using a variety of elements, or focus on just one element, like the flower below.
A simplified outline drawing was used to trace and cut out the colored pieces in the collage on the right.
Finished collage.
Tip
4. Use your coloring pages as inspiration or designs for your journal
Whether you're into bullet journaling or your an art journaller, you can us the coloring pages as templates and inspiration for your journal!
Create beautiful page layouts for your bullet journal using your coloring book as a design reference or by tracing the shapes!
5. Trace elements of your designs to create your own prints and artworks!
Place your blank paper on top of the coloring page and hold this against either a light box or a window (with light shining through). Trace your chosen design elements from different coloring pages or sections of the page onto the paper, to create your own compositions and patterns.
Alternatively you could photocopy the coloring page and then use graphite tracing paper to trace the illustrations. Combine with your own drawings for a more unique composition.
Would you like to learn how you can become an artist?
If you have a passion for art, but are not sure how you can turn it into a career or make money doing what you love, then Tracy Saywell's Paint Art That Sells program might be just what you need! Click below to find out more about how the course can help develop your art skills, inspire you with ideas for what you can do with your art and show you how you can make money doing what you love.
6. Improve your drawing skills by creating your own designs using the coloring book as a reference.
Practice your drawing skills, by trying to copy elements by hand. This will help improve the scale and proportion in your drawings.
Take a flower from one page, a bird from another and a tropical leaf from a different page and design your very own unique page that you can then color and go crazy with. Picking elements from different coloring pages and putting together in different combinations will help improve your composition skills.
Add to existing pages by adding patterns or extra flowers in the white space or add extra design details or patterns within shapes to create more texture or interest.
Practice your shading skills on your coloring designs to make them more three dimensional. Pick a light source angle and shade on the opposite sides of where the light would hit the item.
Tip
Use a photocopier to scale up or down image elements to add to your page. You can either trace or try to free draw it yourself to practice your drawing skills!
7. Turn your pages into gift cards and wrapping paper.
Instead of rushing to the newsagents to buy a gift card why not make one?
In today's world so much of our correspondence is via the internet and apps so when somebody sends me a beautiful hand written note on gorgeous stationary I really remember it.
Complete any gift with your own design printed onto wrapping paper. There are a few online companies that can print your designs onto wrapping paper.
Spoonflower is a great site where you can have your designs printed onto not only wrapping paper but also wallpaper and a wide range of fabrics.
9. Scan your completed design and have it printed onto products as a placement print.
You might want to have your design printed onto a 'ready-made' product as a placement print. There are many companies that can do this for you and so many products you can choose from to have your design printed on to. Zazzle is a popular site that offers a variety of products to choose from and has an easy to use interface.
Cushions - why not add a pom pom trim to "dress" them up.
Artwork printed onto a plate.
Tip
You can then scan this completed repeat print in to your computer and if you have some Photoshop skills you can edit the image to remove any unwanted lines or marks, adjust colors, then use the finished print in graphic work OR upload to a service such as Spoonflower to have it printed onto fabric for you!
Would You Like to Make Money From Your Art...
Paint Art That Sells is an online program created by Tracy Saywell to teach you a variety of art techniques and mediums and show you a variety of ways that you can easily turn your art into products that you can sell. With inspiring examples and activities to get you on your way to creating an income doing what you love!
10. Create your own repeat prints and have it printed onto fabric for home decor items, clothing and so much more...!
- 1Take a motif print - for example a bird or some flowers and cut the page into 4 equal pieces.
- 2Flip the squares around so that the center is on the outside (by swapping left to right and top to bottom).
- 3Now, add additional motifs to fill in the gaps of the print - making sure you draw across the cut lines in the centre and not drawing across the outside edges.
1. Cut your motif into 4 equal squares.
2. Flip the squares - swapping right for left and top for bottom.
3. Fill in the gaps with additional motifs.
Turn into a repeating print
These are just a handful of ideas of what you can do with your colored pages. Take the time to research the other endless possibilities and remember to think outside the box.
Happy Creating.......
Tracy Saywell
