Why adult colouring books are worldwide bestsellers

26 July 2015 - 02:00 By Shanthini Naidoo
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Artist Emma Farrarons creating an illustration for others to colour in.
Artist Emma Farrarons creating an illustration for others to colour in.
Image: Supplied

Colouring books for grown-ups? Do they come free with the adult dummies? Actually, when you open up a colouring book for adults, it becomes less of a childish pursuit.

This is not about crayons and cartoons. Intricate, delicate, complicated and detailed lines, patterns, botanical diagrams, squiggles and spaces sketched in black on white, waiting for their injections of multi colour.

It might seem daunting, head-spinning, to get the colours onto the page.

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But in a world of technological chaos, colouring in has turned out to be a form of stress relief, zoning out and meditation. Millions of adults around the world, including thousands of South Africans, have bought in to the concept.

Publishers call it a "a massive global trend". Adult colouring books are rivalling Harper Lee, sitting on bestseller lists for months. And they are bought in physical, hard copies, which is a phenomenon in publishing today.

Colouring in of mandalas - circular spiritual and ritual symbols from Hinduism and Buddhism representing the universe - seems to have started the craze. But in formal adult colouring book form, one of the first was Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford's Secret Garden, a maze of fine-line sketches released in 2013. More than a million copies have been sold worldwide.

There is also Richard Merritt's Art Therapy Colouring Book, Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom and London-based French illustrator Emma Farrarons's The Mindfulness Colouring Book.

The books are frontrunners on Amazon's bestseller list, with barely 1,000 words between them.

Farrarons's book is a bestseller in the UK and Australia (perhaps because it is a pastime for the middle classes who rely on public transport) since release in January.

Pocket-sized, 100 pages long, it has been lauded worldwide for its therapeutic qualities. Hollywood actresses Zooey Deschanel and Liz Hurley are fans, posting their art online.

The success was unexpected, but as an active believer in "mindfulness" - awareness in what you are doing in the present moment - Farrarons is thrilled at the positive effects. "I have had the most amazing responses from around the world about how the book has helped with stress, insomnia, mental health conditions like anorexia and depression.

"That is apart from the everyday beauty that people create," the 32-year-old said from London, where she is close to completing her second book. People have coloured in the first book and want more.

Ironically for one who seeks to provide relief from technology, Farrarons has an Instagram and Twitter following who send her photos of their completed artwork.

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"There must be a million permutations of how you could colour the sketches, and each person does it uniquely," she said. Some are random blocks of colour, others textured and detailed, popping off the page. Some create simple but mesmerising monochromatic pictures.

It was a coincidence that the children's book illustrator and graphic designer had planned to study the effects of "repeat patterning" in Sweden when her publisher approached her about the book.

The concept was "anti-stress art therapy for busy people".

"The drawings are carefully thought out. I try to avoid line work that comes across as stressful - no angry, jagged lines. They are repetitive or wavy, and the style I tried to create is one of subjective drawings but not so specific that the person has to think mindfully about what they are doing, what colour something should be, but to let it flow without the person being influenced by what I've drawn. I learnt to focus on natural aspects. We spent a lot of time in gardens deconstructing the life of a plant."

Capetonian Sam Dreyer started colouring in a mandala colouring book she found in India in 2010.

"You couldn't find books for adults in South Africa, and even the online selection was limited. I was drawn to colouring mandalas. It is a design that is there already and it asserts people who may not be creative.

"What I've found since then - and now I am drawing my own mandalas using the Zentangle [abstract drawing method] - is that how you approach colouring is similar to how you approach life.

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"Hasty, easily frustrated, half-finished projects? The therapeutic effect doesn't happen the first time. It can take hours, but when you just get into it, start making decisions, it is incredibly relaxing. I've found from the international groups I belong to that most people are colouring in as a way of dealing with something in their life," said Dreyer.

For some, the disconnected pastime aspect is appealing. Local book blogger Kelly Ansara tried colouring in during load-shedding. "It was fun, relaxing and meditative. It was like that moment runners speak about where your mind blanks and you are concentrating on your breathing or pace; colouring was similar. Your mind blanks and the biggest worry is what colour to pick next."

South African author Catherine Hellisen said she found a "relaxing, contemplative quality" in colouring in The Mandala Colouring Book by Jim Gogarty.

"At the same time it leaves a sense of accomplishment because you have something to show for it. The detail and repetition gave it a sense of a focused meditation. Some of the fear of being confronted with a blank canvas is taken away, and the feeling of creating is a powerful motivation."

Hellisen said she knows some people mock the idea.

"I think anything that gets people rediscovering their creativity and their love of making something is good. We shouldn't be so negative about the simple things that bring people joy. Life is too short and dreary already."

Check out emmafarrarons.com or johannabasford.com for free colouring pages and to see more completed artwork visit Instagram #adultcolouring or #mindfulnesscolouringbook.

Retail price R145

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