Coloring books are both relaxing and energizing
Did you notice that moment, when adult coloring became so mainstream? Actually, one of the earliest scientists to have studied the therapeutic benefits of coloring pages for adults was Carl Jung, whofound that coloring mandalas helped his patients to become calmer and witness lesser stress. By the end of 2015 coloring books — paper and digital — became amazingly popular. More and more apps appeared on the App Store. When talking about a coloring book called Recolor App Store editors say: “Don’t turn up your nose at the adult coloring-book phenomenon until you give it a try. It’s both relaxing and energising — a form of creative expression that gives you a zen-like zone-out.”
Today the top charts are not at all crowded with the coloring books, but that is perhaps they are not anymore hyped — they are just a part of your home screen, just like any other mainstream app most users have (like camera apps, to-do lists, some casual games and so on).
So are you the one who has a coloring book on the phone or at least installed it? I asked 20 [rather] random people whether they had a coloring book on their device. Only two of them didn’t have and even hadn’t tried. At the same time 11 people had a coloring book and used it from time to time to relieve stress or calm down.
So now I address to those 10% of people who skipped the chance to start with their coloring.
Why should you try? You can read more in user reviews or some articles like 7 Reasons Adult Coloring Books Are Great for Your Mental, Emotional and Intellectual Health on Huffington Post, but generally there’re following things that adults enjoy the most in coloring:
- Coloring is like meditation and ‘de-concentrating’ which helps relax and reduce the chatter of a restless mind.
- Coloring books help people become more creative in their job and daily life.
- Coloring pages for adults take them back to the simpler times of their childhood.
So what are the coloring books good to get started with?
1) Perhaps, the most popular and well-known book is Colorfy. Choose from brushes, gradient colors, and harmonious colors to color pictures in different categories. Designed for adults, it can also be used by kids. The app also provides a cool feature, that allows you to paint your own drawings — just draw on paper, take a picture of it, and give it the colors.
2) If you’d like to start like a PRO — have a look at Recolor. It features over 1000 coloring pictures organized into themed chapters, with range in complexity from beginner to expert-level, the pictures feature Mandalas, Animals, Bouquets, Ornates, Lowpolys, Mortes and much more.
3) Breezy Coloring Book (not available in the U.S. iTunes App Store) offers a gamified and engaging experience — you can collect colored pages into your own book. You get a new page every day for free. There’s also a hack — exchange three of available coloring pages you don’t like for a new one. Yes, you never know what will be your next page you’ll get — and that is what makes you want to open the app every day. That really helps to build a new healthy habit and get a daily reward. By the way, the app already has some Halloween and Christmas pictures!
I’m sure all of these three apps are cool, while there’re surely a lot of other awesome coloring books on the App Store. When browsing, I also came across some mediocre products. For example, with bizarre screenshots:
Really? These neon random colors really do not make me feel relaxed.
Or icons:
Horse’s stomach?
Or $39.99 in-app purchases for no-name apps:
My final thought is that coloring books let you be creative with choice of color and create something lovely and unique and you don’t have to be any good at drawing to make something pretty.
