At first, I refused to take them seriously. Not for me, I thought. One book had all pages filled with floral designs, one had mansions with exotic landscapes, one had a translucent range of butterflies, owls, and there was no text — not even an introduction. I wondered, what I am supposed to do with such books and why I should pay precious money for something we had all left behind several years ago — in school. But I ended up buying a few because, to my surprise, the executive told me they were flying off shelves. That was in 2015. And by the end of the year, these books — now better known as Adult Coloring books (ACBs) — have sold 1.5 million copies, worldwide.
In what has been termed in the publishing world as the ‘sensation of the decade’, ACBs are now a rage as major players, from Penguin to Hatchette, are bringing out stunning books with rhapsodic designs and templates that leave you in a trance — bringing out the inner child in you. Pick up a box of crayons, or if you can still handle that high-school painting brush, start doodling and simply fill pages and pages of exquisite designs.
Why Because it’s positively serene. Each drawing, with all its intricate patterns, will take a couple of hours to fill in but once you are done, there is this unmatched sense of fulfilment. Psychologists who have been studying the phenomenal success of ACBs have found that doodling on these books is similar to meditating! Throw in the zen-like calm and concentration levels and what you have achieved is a few hours of genuine de-stressing — a therapeutic spa retreat with crayons. These coloring books also develop skills such as mindfulness — a quality that has tragically gone missing from our world of today.
While the ACB phenomenon took root in 2013 and saw a surge in 2015, Indian book-sellers are just waking up to their potential. Besides imports of western and oriental designs like Zen, Paisleys, mandalas, skyscrapers, Game of Thrones, superheroes etc., publishers in India are also latching on to native concepts. Best-selling author Devdutt Pattanaik is releasing an ACB only on the themes of Sita, Gita and the Mahabharata. On the cards are books featuring Bollywood settings, Indian birds, the Indian Railways, streets of cities like Benares and Kolkata, desi psychedelia, landscapes from rural and urban India and more.
According to available data, India is catching up on ACBs, slowly. Last year, 35,000 copies were sold in our country and this year, the range of titles pushed by the likes of Penguin, Simon & Schuster, Hatchette, Chronicle Books etc is mind-boggling. Even the IT sector has taken note of this publishing sensation. Some of the most shared images on Instagram these days are pages filled with colours, tagged as ‘trophy achievements’. There are even apps like ‘Colorify’ which help one select nibs and pencils on tablets to doodle your way into pre-filled designs of choice!
While cities such as Hyderabad have been registering sales since November last year, folks in Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi and Bengaluru are far ahead with ACBs. They have even become a trendy idea for corporate gifting and are now regular fixtures during group meetings and ice-breaking sessions at workplaces.
Quite naturally then, the Adult Colouring Book is taking us back to our childhood days — when drawing on paper was responsible for firing up imagination — filling our days with unalloyed joy.
And for those willing to jump in, here’s this. The ACB, many argue, will do better than classics or graphic novels. They are here to stay because attention spans are dwindling and everybody’s now multi-tasking. We are slowly becoming slaves of the system, with hardly any time to gain from the simple pleasure of pen on paper. ACBs are bringing back the joy of going crazy with colour by staying absorbed in an activity for hours
So the next time you feel stressed and wish to take a break from an overworked state of mind, take to colouring one of these adult books. It may be more relaxing than a massage and more fulfilling than a game of cards. In the days to come, do not be surprised if someone gifts you an Adult Coloring book because it might just become the best prescription to fight stress.
The author can be reached at sridhar.sattiraju@gmail.com
