If you’re an artist or a writer who wants to exercise your artistic, creative side, coloring book design is an excellent way to express yourself. It can also be profitable. Coloring books have become popular as people discover their soothing, stress-relieving benefits. Here’s how to get in on the fun, rewarding publishing trend of coloring book design.
Who Is Your Book’s Audience?
The coloring book design will depend on who you want to design it for. There are four categories of coloring book design. When you design a coloring book, you should focus on choosing or creating artwork specifically for each type of reader.
- Children: Simple drawings with bold lines and few intricate details work best for children. Add a colorful cover, and focus on child-centered themes like animals, fairytale characters, and childhood activities.
- Adult General: These buyers use coloring books to relax, have fun, and take a break from their lives. For coloring book design for this audience, focus on popular subjects like nature scenes, fantasy worlds, or holiday themes. Categories include TV shows, seasonal holidays, and geographical landmarks.
- Adult Inspirational: This category uses coloring to deepen the user’s spiritual connection to religion or spirituality. To create coloring book design for this category, use mandalas and other intricate designs, and incorporate inspirational or biblical quotations in the designs.
- Educational: These readers use cartoons to learn more about history, geography, or current events. There are even coloring books to help you master math or anatomy.
Tips for Successful Coloring Book Design
For coloring book design that appeals to readers, you need certain key elements. Every successful book has an appealing theme, high-quality artwork, and a commitment to fulfilling the reader’s expectations.
It Fits a Trend
Know what trends are popular in coloring book design. Currently, spiritual books, seasonal books, and TV-themed books top the lists for adults. Fantasy and movie-themed books are the top sellers for children’s coloring books.
The Artwork Is Beautiful
Be prepared to produce or find high-quality artwork. For the average coloring book, you will need 20 to 50 full-page illustrations. The level of detail will depend on the complexity your specific reader wants. Some readers want simple designs they can complete quickly, while others prefer detailed drawings that take time to complete.
Don’t stint on this, and don’t make the mistake of using artificial intelligence (AI) to produce this artwork. Readers will spot AI-created illustrations and leave negative reviews of your book. Always use hand-created artwork. If you’re not an artist, hire someone to do the drawings for you.
The Paper Is High Quality
It’s important to use thick, high-quality paper that can take ink, colored pencils, or gel pens without bleeding through to the next page. The best coloring books are printed on only one side of each page.
It Comes in a Standard Format
When planning your coloring book design, stick to standard sizes and formats. Most coloring books are 8.5 x 11 inches. They can be portrait or landscape in orientation. A few come in a square (8.5 x 8.5) size.
It’s Targeted at Specific Readers
Understand what readers want from coloring books. Here are the reasons most people turn to coloring as a pastime.
- Have fun.
- Take a break from the world’s stresses and troubles.
- Meditate.
- Reconnect with their inner spirituality.
- Be mindful and focused.
- Express their creativity.
- Learn something new.
- Play with colors.
- Calm down and detach.
Once you know who your readers are, you can design a coloring book that’s right for them.
Study the Coloring Book Design of Top-Selling Titles
While you shouldn’t copy someone else’s idea, it is smart to look at successful books to get a sense of what appeals to buyers. Some titles have become instant bestsellers, while others are old favorites that get steady sales year after year.
If you deliver what the readers want, your book will be successful. Buyers of coloring books want beautiful, original artwork, attractive themes, and a book that offers an escape from their daily lives. Seeing what’s popular can inspire your ideas for a new theme, approach, or style of artwork.
Children’s Coloring Books
The most popular children’s coloring books feature large images without detail. They feature images that appeal to children with animal characters and fun, kid-appropriate themes.
One example is the Cozy Spaces Coloring series by Coco Wyo. Subtitled “Cute and Comfy Coloring Books,” these books feature cuddly dogs, cats, fish, bunnies, and other adorable creatures having picnics, celebrating the holidays, and playing with each other.
“Press Out and Decorate: Narwhals and Mermaids” by Nosy Crow, stands out for its unique coloring book design that helps foster children’s creativity. It includes foil designs, stickers, and pop-out characters they can add to the colored page to create three-dimensional illustrations. Even the empty pages can be used to make stencils.
Nature and Animals
Animals, nature, and landscapes are the top sellers in this category. You can find books that focus on every type of animal. There are books dedicated to specific landscapes, country scenes, mythical creatures, and pets.
“Country Farm Scenes” shows idyllic scenes of country life. Barns, orchards, and fields are the backdrop to drawings of hens, roosters, cows, and horses.
For those who like their animals a little wilder, “A Walk in the Woods” by Dot Barlowe offers beautiful illustrations of woodland animals, plants, and flowers in all four seasons. Each illustration comes with educational captions.
“Worlds of Wonder: A Coloring Book for the Curious” is a journey through whimsical forests, fairytale villages, and enchanted animals. Basford jump-started the adult coloring craze with her book “Enchanted Forest”, which became a global bestseller.
Spiritual/Meditation
Coloring is an excellent way to calm your mind, meditate, and foster more mindfulness. Print books work best because you’ll get the most benefits if you can detach from all digital devices.
The best designs for this purpose are intricate patterns that require repetitive motions and concentration to complete the coloring. That’s why mandalas are a popular subject for people who color for meditation. Mandalas are intricately designed shapes that are often used in Buddhist rituals.
“Adult Coloring Book: Stress Relieving Designs” by Cindy Elsharouni is a massive collection of intricately designed patterns that include animals, mandalas, flowers, paisley designs, and decorative art. There are more than 60 illustrations, and the thick paper makes it ideal for pencils, crayons, or gel pens.
“Exhale: A Self-Care Coloring Book” by Latoya Nicole is another noteworthy entry in this category. Designed for women, this book inspires readers to put themselves first. It features illustrations of women reading, relaxing, taking long baths, and practicing self-care.
Spiritual/Religious
If you’re looking for a coloring book that celebrates religious faith, there are hundreds of options. These books incorporate Bible verses with engaging, uplifting illustrations.
“The Psalms in Color: Inspirational Coloring Book” is published by Christian Art Publishing. It has a quote from Psalms on every page, and the words are surrounded by patterns and images inspired by the verse. There are 62 images to color.
“Proverbs in Color: Bible Verse Coloring Book for Teens and Adults” by Joanne L. Desrosiers is a collection of 55 hand-drawn images. Each drawing incorporates key Bible principles. The emphasis is on serenity and contentment through your faith.
Educational
The “Medicinal Plants Coloring Book” by Ilil Arbel guides readers through the detailed study of well-known medicinal plants. Each illustration features a plant like a dandelion, foxglove, or chamomile. Readers learn by coloring the plant and reading a caption that explains its characteristics, where to find it, and how to use it.
“Mushrooms of the World” by Jeannette Bowers is a combination guidebook and coloring book. Through this unique coloring book design, the user learns about more than 90 mushroom species, including their names, where they grow, and whether they are edible.
Coloring Book Design Is Fun and Creative
Whether you’re an author with an artistic bent or an artist looking for a new audience, you can design a coloring book. It’s a fun project, and it can be a way to reach a whole new audience. Flex your creativity, and get inspired by the many gorgeous coloring books that inspire people to slow down, relax, and set aside time for simple pleasures.
Are you interested in publishing your first coloring book? Working with Dazzle Printing gives you access to innovative printing technology and a customer-first perspective. Contact us for a free estimate.
