Adult Coloring Books
For the past year or so, I’ve been hearing about coloring books. People seemed to have disappeared into social groups where all they do all day and night is color. I remember the fun I had as a kid using coloring books. We had a plethora of them, because a company called Western Publishing used to print them all.
We’d have coloring books based on historical figures, movie stars, television stars, sports stars, politicians, animals, you name it, there was a coloring book based on it.
They weren’t that elaborate, just nicely inked line work that actually resembled the objects of the book’s intent. We had Crayola Crayons and we would use all sorts of coloring approaches and techniques. As soon as we used up on coloring book, we went on to another. They didn’t cost much but sometimes the choice ones were hard to find.
Nowadays, the new boom is in the area of adult coloring books. These are coloring books that are a bit more sophisticated in design, as adults like to spend the time coloring every detail and nuance. Many of these designs are brilliant, and the pioneers in this area have made lucrative careers selling them .
Now that some have proven how much money can be made from these books, the usual wave of get-rich-quikers has muddied the pool. You’ve got people stealing art from wherever they can get it to publish hack coloring books at premium prices. You’ve got internet marketing gurus who claim they can show you how to make a fortune creating your own coloring books when in fact all they’re doing is using other people’s artwork via clipart. People buy this stuff to publish and then find out later the art wasn’t royalty free and now they’re looking at a lawsuit or two.
You just can’t introduce a product nowadays without the low-brows messing it up.
There are, however, some brilliant publishers who work hard at their craft. It’s a situation of separating the chaff from the wheat, but the glut is still there as the publishing houses don’t screen for quality.
All is not lost, though.
I’ll be producing a few coloring books that go along with my already established cartoons and comic books. In addition, I’ve made deals with large companies to produce some art.
It’ll be fun to see how things go but it’ll take time. I do charitable work and I’m scheduled for two coloring books for hospitals to raise money.
Stay tuned for more about adult coloring books and coloring books in general, there may be some surprises ahead!
