Coloring books aren’t what they used to be.
While you can still find plenty of the old-fashioned kind, today’s coloring books are educational, feature high-quality art and paper, and promote creativity in a variety of ways.
At Brushstrokes Art Supply store in Arlington (in the Smokey Point Safeway plaza), we recently found a treasure trove of coloring books suitable for children and adults, ranging from “Shells of the World” and “Cactus” to “Mythological Creatures” and “Stained Glass Birds.”
The books cost between $3.95 and $5.99, contain generous information on the subjects and, in such books as “Shells” and “Cactus,” also provide color charts of the shells and plants featured in the books.
Crayons and colored pencils have changed a lot, too.
You can still buy a package of primary-colored crayons for less than a buck, but you can also find high-quality crayons in large collections of specialty colors and colored pencils in sets ranging from $10 to $50 and up.
And don’t overlook the many coloring alternatives available: felt-tip pens, chalk and pencil pastels, watercolor and acrylic paints, and colored charcoals to mention a few.
Be sure to check out your favorite craft, toy or department store for coloring books and tools of all kinds.
So why feature coloring books in our craft column?
The new books and coloring tools offer a variety of benefits for artists young and not-so-young.
For adults, for instance, the stained glass coloring books feature designs printed on vellumlike paper that can be colored as desired and used in home decorating.
Decoupage the finished piece onto a glass candle holder, or frame it (removing the backing and leaving only the glass in the frame) to hang in a window.
The designs in the stained glass books are also well-suited for transfer, and can be used as actual stained glass patterns.
In books featuring shells, cactus and other such subjects, the artwork can be enlarged and used as a pattern for metal-punching, fabric-painting, making personalized greeting and gift cards, and – if you’re really daring and ambitious – as patterns for customized needlepoint pieces and hooked rugs.
And for children, the books and coloring techniques offer a wonderful introduction to the world of art and the chance to experiment with new techniques.
Suggest and demonstrate the ideas listed below (we also offer a couple of photo illustrations for reference), then turn them loose to use their imaginations.
Pressure: Show kids how using a very light pressure can provide an even base color, and how increased pressure with the same color can highlight and shade to provide depth and interest. This is especially effective when working with crayons.
Shading: Use shading with different but similar darker colors to make the picture more alive and beyond one-dimension.
Colors: Combine pressure, shading and the use of unusual color combinations to make the picture one-of-a-kind. For example, if you are coloring a mythological sea creature such as a mermaid, try using a base color of flesh or peach for the skin of the creature, but shade it with a light blue-green; or color the hair a golden yellow and use sea-green for highlights.
Outside the lines: Most of us were admonished to “stay inside the lines” when learning to color. Forget it! If kids stray outside of the lines, tell them not to fret and encourage them to incorporate the errant strokes into the background.
Above all – adults and children alike – enjoy this project.
Until we worked on the samples for this week’s column, we had forgotten how relaxing and pleasant the simple act of coloring can be, and we confess that we’ve colored in many more than the samples shown here.
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