Create Your Own Adult Coloring Book

Coloring books aren’t just for kids anymore. In the past decade, there’s been a huge surge of coloring books for adults. And while they might feature more complicated line art and subject matter than children’s coloring books, the basic principle is the same: The repetitive act of coloring helps relax the brain, improve focus, and lower anxiety.

But coloring books can be expensive, and it can be hard to find themes and artwork you find interesting.This is where BeFunky’s Sketcher effects can help: With them, you can create your own printable adult coloring book in seconds. Turn any photo into a line drawing in a single click. Print your coloring book pages out for yourself or your friends – or even create your own coloring book to sell online.

What Are the Benefits of Adult Coloring Books?

One big reason that adult coloring books have become so popular in recent years is that they’re very effective for stress relief. Coloring requires concentration that allows you to fully be in the present, making it a form of mindfulness and meditation.

Additionally, coloring lets you tap into your creative side without needing any special skills. Everyone needs a creative outlet, and coloring is one that is simple, satisfying, and fulfilling.

BeFunky Sketcher effects allow you to turn any photograph into a line drawing fit for a coloring book. But if you’re interested in turning a photograph directly into a painting or colored comic image, check out the whole host of Artsy effects.

Is There a Market for Adult Coloring Books?

There’s definitely a market for adult coloring books, especially as many people make the smart decision to start caring for their mental health. We live in a stressful world, and coloring provides incredible stress relief! With a great idea and branding, you have a great chance of making money selling your own adult coloring books.

The easiest way to sell adult coloring books is to create printable PDFs to sell online. Just stitch your coloring book pages into a PDF and upload it to Etsy or another online platform. Your customers can print these out to color at home!

You can also create your own books with high-quality paper and some book-binding knowledge.

Make sure to create an engaging and welcoming Etsy shop or online store if you plan to try selling your adult coloring books!

How to Create a Page For Your Adult Coloring Book

Step 1: Upload Your Photo

To begin creating your adult coloring book online, open up BeFunky’s Sketcher effects. Here, you can either upload your own photo or select one from the thousands of stock images available in BeFunky’s Stock Image Library.

For a coloring book page that will help get you into the meditative zone, choose a high-contrast photo with a lot of detail.

Step 2: Apply and Adjust the Sketch Effect

Once you’ve uploaded your image, it’s time to pick your Sketcher effect. Here we’re using Sketcher GFX, an AI-powered tool that will turn your three-dimensional photograph into clean, crisp outlines.

You could stop right here and be done with your adult coloring book page in a single click! But if you’re interested in tweaking your new line art to be picture-perfect, you can also adjust the effect by clicking on the adjustment slider button.

While the Amount slider won’t be of much use here, the other two adjustment sliders will. Fidelity dictates how much the new image will look like the original. Changing the Variation will run the image through the algorithm again for slightly different results every time. Play around with the sliders to get the perfect coloring book page!

Step 3: Clean Up Your Coloring Book Page

The Sketcher GFX may turn backgrounds and blurry edges into softer lines that you don’t have much use for. If that’s the case, you can use the Paint Brush tool in the Touch Up tab to clean it up.

clean up your coloring book page with paint brush

You can adjust the size of your brush, strength (opacity), and hardness. A large soft brush will cover large swaths of the canvas, while a small hard brush can be used to clean up details.

Step 4: Resize Your Coloring Book Drawing

Once your linework is ready, you want to make sure your coloring book page is the perfect size for printing. Use the Resize and Crop tools in the edit tab to resize your image to your intended size – for the typical printer, this would be 11” x 8.5”, or 3300 x 2550 px.

Step 5: Save and Print Your Coloring Book Page

And there you have it – a high-quality adult coloring book page in just a few clicks. To save your new coloring book page, just hit Save at the top of your canvas.

Make sure to download your file as a high-quality PDF for easy printing.

You can print these pages on regular copy paper, but for the ideal coloring book, you should pick a paper that is at least 70 lbs, similar in weight to a lightweight greeting card or high-quality construction paper. This will allow you to color in with markers and other wet media.

5 Adult Coloring Book Ideas

Adult coloring books can have all kinds of themes and subject matter. Whether you’re looking to create an adult coloring book for yourself, gift one to your friend, or sell a coloring book online, there are infinite types of photographs you can use. Here are just some ideas of adult coloring books you can create for free using BeFunky’s Sketcher tools. Note that these all use Sketcher GFX unless listed otherwise!

Florals and Nature

Florals are a classic coloring book subject for a reason. They provide a good amount of detail, they allow you to use tons of colors, and they’re beautiful!

Classic Paintings

Using classical artwork for your adult coloring book pages creates a familiar canvas on which anyone can put their own twist.

Cityscapes

Cities can be turned into complex, enjoyable coloring book pages that allow you to travel the world right from your table. This page uses Charcoal GFX.

Animals

Animals might be a common subject for kids’ coloring books, but they make for cute adult coloring books too – and allow for much more complexity.

Family Photos

If you’re looking to give a coloring book to a friend or family member, using photos of the people they’re close to is a great way to create a personalized, heartfelt gift.