colouring books for adults [a mental health initiative project]
creative direction, editorial design, illustration, creative writing
7x10 inches
a colouring book series i started in 2025 as a way to use some black and white ink drawings i did near the end of 2024 for others to experience the same sort of quiet mind that i do when i create art.
the series is specifically made for adults; those with anxiety, a tendency to over think themselves to death, those who are neurodivergent, highly sensitive, highly distracted, or anyone else who might benefit from a passive, meditative art hobby we often long forget about as adults.
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how it began
i’ve always wondered why i’m much more attentive when i’m doodling, even if it looks like i’m not paying attention. i then noticed my somewhat eerily quiet and oddly present mind while painting, drawing, or doing any sort of hands-on art project.
it wasn’t just my imagination——it’s science. when my hands, eyes, [body] and brain [mind] were focused on the art task, i was free to listen to what’s going on around me… or what was going on inside my head. when we focus on something visual in front of us, such as an art project or colouring page, the fear centre of our brain relaxes and slows down, creating a state of mindfulness——similar to what happens when we meditate.
now, i’ve never been great at meditating in traditional ways and i know many others struggle with it too. so, when i realized what art could do for me i wanted to do something that others might find useful as well.
the lot of highly repetitive black ink drawings from a self-inflicted ‘100 days of drawing’ challenge i did for myself a few months prior were simply the method: i thought, “some of these could make fun and therapeutic colouring pages … that would be easy for anyone to do.”
volume 01
a colouring book for busy minds, revised version
late 2025
volume 01 was initially created [currently not available] in early 2025 based off those very detailed ‘100 days of drawing’ pages, but i went back at the end of the year and made a few changes to improve it:
while i maintained the structure of the original images from the 100 days of drawing challenge and most images seen in the first version of this book, i simplified them to make the images a little less overwhelming to colour in.
improved the paper stock [as discovered for volume 02, see below]
in versions 02 and 03 [below] i wrote short stories and poems on each spread to go with each image——for this i made up ten random prompts to ask yourself as you colour. there’s no need to write anything down and there’s no right or wrong answer——these are genuine, random, and mostly harmless questions about life to ask yourself when your mind is slower, quieter, and you’re feeling less biased or distracted.
volume 02
a colouring book for spiralling minds
spring/summer 2025
similar to the first, i kept going with a lot of repetitive lines but i added some lettering by way of common words, phrases, and maybe one well-known bob dylan lyric.
i didn’t love the paper stock of version 01 [the original] so for this one i chose a paper stock with better texture for colouring on from a local print shop. this ended being quite thin so i couldn’t make the colouring pages double sided…but i like supporting local, so, i came up with a sensible solution:
i had been writing a lot at that time so one night a bunch of poems and mini stories spilled out on each page in relation to the image. i read them over once or twice, barely edited them, and sent it off to print.
the lack of editing that i put into these words was an intentional decision: stop overthinking.
volume 03
a colouring book for a better world [made for the community, by the community; 100% proceeds for @7thgenrising]
fall 2025
when i started thinking about potentially making a third book in this series, i knew i wanted to do something totally different and was simultaneously itching to do some kind of collaborative creative project again.
so one day i put out a call for local artists of any age or experience level to submit one all black outlined illustration towards the project and an optional written poem or very short story to go with it.
i gathered all the submissions, drew a few of my own, designed the book, printed a small run of 25 near the end of october and sold out in a few days.
i printed a second run of 40 copies, hosted them at a couple local shops, and sold out by early 2026, totalling nearly $1,000 going towards a local mutual aid group doing good things.
the ‘100 days of drawing’ challenge that started it all [unknowingly at the time]
sketchbook, ink pens
