Coloring is fun!

This is not so much of a collection page, but more me rambling about coloring and sharing some coloring books I own. I wasn't sure where to put it so it will stay here for now

I've started coloring a few years ago. I find it very relaxing and a way to do art that's easier than drawing. I don't have to think of what to draw and everything, I just take a book and color in bed.

However, I don't really like how it's portrayed online. Just like reading or crochet, on social media, it's always shown as this perfect thing where you need all the right materials and fancy books.

Having "fancy" coloring books feels for me like getting a fancy notebook you never want to write in. In the end, you never use it, and I find it quite sad. Coloring for me is turning my brain off and having fun coloring for a bit, and not care much about the end result. Because what I like in coloring is the process of coloring and not what the drawing will look like when it's done. Of course, it's a plus if it's pretty, but if it's not, it's fine too.

So that's why I started with children coloring books. They're often cheaper than "adult" ones, easier to color and that way I don't mind if I mess up. Now I also have some adult coloring books for when I want something precise to work on. I especially like color by numbers, I need to be precise but don't need to spend time choosing the colors which is perfect.

For materials, cheap things work great! I like to color with water-based markers because they have vibrant colors and are cheap. I have some crayola markers and fine-tip markers from a grocery store brand that work just fine. Plus, having a restricted color choice helps in my opinion, there's less thinking involved. For color pencils though, I don't really like grocery store brands. I use them for when I do gradients and things like that. I have a box of Faber Castell pencils (the normal ones not the expensive Polychromos) that work just fine for a good price. The polychromos are very good too, but definitely not necessary, especially to just have fun coloring stuff!

Now, here are a few coloring books I have that I really like. Some of them are in french and might only be available in France though.

		Great Horses - John Green This is the only book of this illustrator I have, but I definitely consider buying more! He has lots of realistic drawings of animals and I like that a lot of his books (like this one) showcase different species/breeds and they're written on the page so you can look them up to get accurate colors. This one also has perforated pages so you can remove them from the book, and the pages are one sided so it fits markers. Creative Haven in general has a lot of good coloring books.
		The evolution of the horse - Patricia J. Wayne I really like this illustrator too! And I love horses so of course I like this book. It's a documentary coloring book, meaning you can find information and graphics about the evolution of the horse. So very interesting and pretty! Haven't colored much in it though so far. Denver Coloring Books also have a bunch of interesting coloring books! Check them out
		Coloring Quest: Animals - Sunlife Drawing This book is great if you like complex color by numbers. They take a while, but they're nice if you like pixel coloring and precise stuff. The author also have one color coloring book I want to try eventually. One good thing too is that the color palette is the same throughout the whole book and all of the coloring books of this author. So once you have your colors, no need to search when starting a new page!
		Mon grand livre de coloriage pour toute l'année - Camille Tisserand The title translates to My big colornig book for the whole year and combines 4 different coloring books of the illustrator on the mountains, sea life, mythical creatures and wild animals. First of all, the art is great, I love it, second, each coloring page comes with its own colored model so you can copy and no brain it. So yeah, really like it. I'm pretty sure it's only in french but it's great.
		Sirènes du monde - Diane Dufour I haven't received this one yet, but I'm very excited to try it. Surprisingly, selkies coloring books aren't exactly common, so I do mermaids. I love the art style. I'm not one for humans in general, I almost only color animals, but these just look so beautiful!