You will undoubtedly have noticed the new craze currently on the market: adult colouring books. While they may seem slightly silly, childish or just another short-term obsession that will fade away like most others; these products have been wildly popular, reaching bestseller lists online and with stores such as WHSmith containing a vast selection. An amused housemate of mine this week reported that WHSmith had in fact hired someone to sit at the front of store and do a colouring demonstration in order to advertise the products.
So what is the appeal? The books have been marketed as a form of ‘art therapy’, said to relax the mind, alleviate stress and help adults with busy schedules to unwind. With such a wide collection available on the market, there is something for everyone, from beautiful mandala patterns to comic book scenes. There are Alice in Wonderland, Japanese culture and city landscape versions to name but a few.
I decided to try the books out myself. Many did look like they would be extremely rewarding to complete and as someone who cannot draw or do much else creative, being able to complete something beautiful without the need for much skill, was something that appealed to me.
I purchased two quite different books from Amazon – The Time Chamber and Day of the Dead, costing £4.99 and £5.59 respectively.
The first contained stunning images that varied from hot air balloons made from flowers to intricate clock faces, both required careful, patient work. The second was a little more fun and could be completed using a simple colour scheme. However both were extremely rewarding to complete and I even tore some pages out for my housemates to complete too.
That is one feature of these products – many friends have been amused by them and some quite freely judged the concept of colouring books for adults. However, once they saw how fun they were, and in fact not childish due to the patterns or concepts involved, many either wished to join in or even went to purchase their own!
Therefore, to conclude my experience, I would thoroughly recommend these books to any student who would like to engage with a new form of procrastination. I did find, along with my housemates (and some of their boyfriends!), that colouring in a page or two really did help us to wind down – I think this was particularly useful after our first week at university when we were attempting to arrange bills, work out emersion heaters, and do various other adult things. For an hour or so, perhaps while watching netflix or with friends, it was the perfect way to take a break from work and help improve study motivation.