If Ladybugs Fell into Paint Buckets Coloring with Flair

Where to begin explaining the process?  Converted children's coloring book page to adult fun with crayons.  Oh my, complicated little bug.  Straight lines off the spots that stop only if they hit the bugs edge or another blue line worked from top to bottom.  Simple lines on its face bumped up over the eyes to intensify the bolging effect.  Swirls from the lines within the body to the outer border.  For color I used 7 trippy colors with 4 cool and 3 warm.  Imagining a ladybug playing in buckets of paint, happy bug.

Spectrum Fish Tank Converting Kids Book to Adult Coloring

For this little fishy I added back and forth lines with blue ball point pen from top right corner to bottom then again from top left corner to bottom slowly and deliberately the way a fish swims.  Then I tackled the tank from the yellow center to the deep purple bottom.  Like light refracting through water.  The bubbles are complimentary to pop and the fish reminded me of goldfish so an orange top to bottom was in order for him plus it draws your eye down to the purple corner then back over the bubbles again.  Complex kiddy coloring page and great adult fun!

Turtle Squared Breaking Down the Coloring Barrier

Remember these fun childhood grid transfer activities?  This book had a turtle, I transfered him then took him to the next level with color.  Instead of standard coloring why not treat each square as its own unique piece?  Each square in a diagonal fashion has a choice of three colors.  The background, first character color and second character color.  This would be great with all cool or all warm.  In this instance I went bold with neutrals and red tones.

Hippo Smiles Adding Complexity to Simple Coloring Book Pages

Adding lines to kids coloring book pages adds interest and movement to the page.  With a blue ball point pen I added entering and exiting swirling lines.  Then colored the hippos background with a muted set of pinks and purples.  The smiling hippo herself got the lighter set of pinks and purples with hopes that it would pop her off the page a little bit.

Pink Lizard Adult Coloring Adding Highlights and Shadows

Yellow for energy to the potentially non moving object and cool aqua to hint at the movable objects tranquil stationary position.  To give the character overall depth I added darker shades and layers of blue to the shadow areas and yellow to the sunny highlight zones.  How complicated can we make an otherwise simple children's book coloring page?  I'm curious to find out.

Fire Breathing Dragon Adult Coloring Classic Kids Color by Number

Who says we have to color in adult coloring books with professional grade media?  No one!  No rules more fun, or in my case make the rules as you go along.

Inspired by the joy my children had picking out coloring books and supplies I dove in with them.  I chose a color by number $1 and crayola crayons.

To get started and make my adult spin on this childhood classic I adjusted the color palette darker and added simple shading.