When I’m painting with a water brush away from home, I plan ahead and cut the top cuff off of a sport sock that has no mate and wear it on my non dominant wrist. This way I don’t need to carry a rag. I just wipe the excess off my brush and keep on painting 🧑🎨
Coloring has really saved my life. My youngest Son bought me my first color book after my oldest Son passed away suddenly. He was fine one minute and gone the next. I was left with a devastated heart and mind along with PTSD and anxiety. Coloring calms me when nothing else does. I wish I could paint, but I can't, so I will use the methods you showed in my thicker paged books. Thank You for adding positivity in my journey.
I’m so glad this is helping you! My brother just passed away suddenly and I have begun coloring to help with my anxiety as well. It’s what brought me to this video! I hope you are doing well.
For the love me, I can't find any water colouring books, that have specifically watercolour paper. All I find is books that guide you and give you tips on how to use water colours
I use water soluble pencils and then go over with brush and water in my Secret Garden colouring book. It works great and never ruins or leaks through the paper! Great video! I enjoyed it very much.
One has to remember when 'Secret Garden' came out is was for coloured pencil! People used so many different types of media I think the company was overwhelmed. Think of the changes, pictures now only on one side of paper, some books have a black backing to the pages and much thicker paper to support various media. Also companies that make all that different media must be so happy.
I also* would like to know about prepping the various pages, particlarly in the Johanna Basford books (regular and artist’s edition), with clear gesso or watercolor ground. I really admire your ability to be positive about using watercolor pencils and watercolor in these books. It helps to make painting seem more accessible and enjoyable for those of us who struggle from a lack of art background/drawing skills. *ref. previous comment
I searched and bought the "artist edition" Secret Garden colouring book and two types of the refillable water brushes. You've inspired me to try out water colour. I really enjoy your videos, your a talented artist.
I've always been fascinated (and intimidated) by watercolors. You've inspired me to go ahead and give it a try. Your work is beautiful, thanks for taking the time to share your talent.
Upon rediscovering my old watercolour materials stash, I've been experimenting with watercolour in colouring books. I have been using it on my Johanna Basford page a day calendar which is a sheet a day in a loose box. The paper is thin, but actually quite strong. It takes pencil, water markers and paint quite well. But it will buckle. I've also used it in a book with slightly stronger paper, but again a good bit of buckling going on. Sooooo, I iron them flat! And it works. I wait for the page to dry fully (I use an old travel hair drying on the low setting to help this process) and then I put the sheet face down on my ironing board, turn the steam setting off on the iron and set the iron to it's gentle setting and I iron it. Perfectly flat result to carry on with another layer. In books, I put a few sheets of paper down onto the board first, open the book out and lay the page onto it and put a sheet of paper over the back and again iron it. Only caveat is that if you have used coloured pencil on the back of a painted page you can't iron it. I was pretty amazed that this worked and allows me to use wet washes for backgrounds without destroying the paper.
What an awesome video! I've been wondering about just this thing! I actually have the Enchanted Forest book already, so I suspect you know what I'll be doing tomorrow ;)
the first time i heard about the adult coloring books, i immediately thought about using watercolor..... so far i have picked up a book and started, but this video really opened my eyes to the PAPER.....thanks for posting this!
Kerby Rosanes books have pretty decent paper. So do the Johanna Basford books. I usually make a copy of the page I’d like to use water-media on onto Neenah Card stock. Then, I pretreat the page using Satin Glaze Liquid. I brush a very light coat horizontally and let it dry. I then do the same thing vertically. As a precaution, I’d say it’s best to test your watercolor or marker in a small section in the back of the book. A lot of the illustrators now include “test pages” in their books. Or you can always just use a page that you don’t think you’re going to color as a test page.
Love your commentary and good information in your search for using watercolors in coloring books. You made me smile with your last comments of "this all being an alien plot, to turn me into a pod-person...." Yep, you got it! So easy to loose your self inside this art form.
I love that you made this video-- I've literally sat with these books in my hands in the store and wondered if I could watercolor in them. It was fun to get some ideas on how to do that and rest assured that it wouldn't completely fall apart.
If you have a printer/copier you can also use that to transfer a coloring book page onto watercolor paper by scanning the page and printing it on watercolor paper. OR, you can use a light pad and trace or paint on watercolor paper with the coloring page underneath (as long as it’s one sided) and have the light shine up so it’s easy to see the lines. My daughter and I use both these methods all the time. Etsy also has tons of printable coloring pages which makes both these methods even easier.
I would rather they do nothing on the back like the last one so you can frame. Obviously they will cost more - I don’t think they need to be 200 lb though, but definitely should be actual water color paper. I like the paper towels as blotters - sometimes you can use them in projects after some time. And I agree, the watercolor pencils are the best option - you can go dry or wet or dry and then wet to shade. Thanks for sharing.
I sometimes use watercolor brush markers for my coloring...Tombows are my favorite but there are other good quality ones out there (Mars Graphic and Marvy +) Brush markers are super portable but you still have to be mindful of not saturating or over brushing the paper too much. I now check the weight of the paper carefully and am pretty picky. And I usually put most of them back on the shelf. One coloring book that I can highly recommend Georgie Woolridges' Mindful Coloring- Birds book. Heavier than typical and beautifully designed by the artist herself...she has a few others too for turtles, sea creatures and horses. And yes, you can learn an awful lot about shading and how colors work together and drawing repetitive shapes more easily while you're doing relaxing color work.
I appreciate you taking the time to make this video. I had prematurely jumped on the adult coloring book bandwagon since I love to color and paint, but have (not yet, at least) any drawing skills. I bought several books online and was very disappointed in the paper quality. Though I'm not an artist, I have been paper crafting a few years and have learned to appreciate how paper quality can affect the results. I had no idea that Johanna Basford's books were available in Artist's Editions. I've already ordered one to practice watercolor skills and will probably give my other coloring books to my 11 year old niece.
Enjoyed this video as a student I'm in my second year into learning watercolor thru you and many other artist ...I'm excited to learn that theres a watercolor preprinted WC book it's going to supply helpme with growing my shading and tonal value techniques and such, sometimes I need help upgrading my tonal values and shading and I think this is a great way to learn and to practice on..thanks I saw your video review by a coloring ytube who suggested looking at your video and even tho I'd been watching you for a over a year I knew exactly who she was talking about I'm like what he has a review on watercoloring in books awesome, as I was just looking to expand my knowledge on a good watercolor practice book thank you....I'm hoping that barnes noble still has this book I can purchase...if not I guess amazon will be a look see.....
I visited a crafts and hobby store last week. I didn't find any brushes I thought worthwhile - which is why I went into the store - but I saw this Johanna Basford book, Lost Ocean. I recognized the author from your video so I thought: OK, I'll bite. I've colored two plates and am on my third. It's not the artist edition. I use only watercolors. It works fine. As you showed, I keep it rather dry and paint small areas at a time. This is actually my first coloring book ever. (I think my parents frowned on those things when I was a kid.) It's good training and contemplation. I've learned things about my brushes. It's a challenge to figure out a color and value design that works for the whole plate. I'm going to order the others as well. I'm never going to finish them, but it will make for variation. And I'm not bothered by supporting the artist.
As a complete newbie to watercolour pencils, i was scrolling through RU-vid for some help & inspiration. I found it! Thank you so much... I actually have these exact pencils. I cannot tell you how much i absolutely adore that introduction. 'Run for the hills' - hahaha - i love it... Thank you for making me laugh in these terribly dark days. Hi from Gilly - in England! x
Thank you for the coloring book review that is just for watercolor media. I'm visiting my sister soon for a week and wanted to bring something that would be fun for us to work on together. When my other sister arrives from CA it will be a watercolor party! And we should all be able to take something home with us when we're done. We'll be thinking of you Steve while sharing a good time.
You may have a laser printer. They are wax toner based and won't run. I've tested sprays too. It takes away the most desirable characteristics of watercolor paper. Paint does not move and flow properly. Personally, I would rather just paint directly in the book. And with books like Kristy Rice's Painterly Days books, you can even paint in a watercolor paper book. Here is my review on her books. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Obx0-STV-4g.html
"I just can't stop. This is obviously an alien plot, and I'm just a pod person at this point." Hahahaha! On that note, I had to like the video and subscribe!
ty! I'll have to test this with my books. I have my doubts it will go very well. My books are printed by CreateSpace (the Amazon printing company). The problem many coloring book creators face is we need to color our pages to help promote our books on social media. I'm not a colorist.. and I'm not big on colored pencils. My usual medium is acrylic paint, but I love playing with watercolor too. It's common for colorists to scan and print the pages of book they buy on cardstock for use with markers. I was going to print sample pages on watercolor paper. I saw another video today that someone showed how they apply a homemade gesso to their pages first, then use wet mediums on them. Interesting stuff. Thanks for the tips.
I got the Johanna Basford Secret Garden and the Pepin floral still life postcard coloring book. I find small postcard is easier for me to handle and am having fun coloring them. I have some color bleeding on the secret garden ones, not sure I use too much water during blending. Haven't tried the Pepin ones yet. They are so beautiful and I don't want to ruin them. So I have been practicing on the secret garden ones.
I was wondering about if I could use watercolor on my adult coloring books, and THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for posting this! I can now enjoy a relaxing coloring session during my break time.
I love my colouring books and have used watercolours successfully in most of them. your right about The Enchanted Forest, the paints dont really like it but inks work really well! thanks for making this video and showing other artists the wonderful world of colouring books!
Yes, I did notice that after priming the surface a bit with a sort of pre wash then color went down better. Sort of opened up the fibers I think. It's the plate finish that's the problem. WC pencils did fabulously.
wonderful video! I have been in a coloring fest over this holiday and loving every minute of it. I would like to also suggest Peerless watercolors. I used them with my Enchanted Forest Postcards and they turned out very well. Thank you for helping my life to be more CREATIVE!! Happy Coloring all!
Oh WOW!! Steve, this is just awesome!!! I love water coloring, this is all I use for my hand made cards. A dear friend of mine gave me one of this books not so long ago and, even if it says there that you can water color the pages, the paper is not to thick and it really didn't work to well so, I grabbed my Prismacolor pencils and some paper stumps dipped in baby oil and it worked so beautifully. Thank you for this video, Steve and, about this new trend for adults.....I think it's great to do something this fun and challenging while waiting in doctor or dentist offices. I take mine while waiting for my grandchildren at the Orthodontist offices, sometimes it's a quick 30 min. wait but other times it can take up to an hour, people around me comment that this is so much better than watching tv. while waiting, I hope they go to the store and get one for themselves. Thanks again for the inspiration.
+An Onymous I've tried it with my ink jet copier but of course that ink runs. I thought about taking a pad of watercolor paper to the copy center and seeing if they will copy onto it since toner is permanent.
I actually found colouring books made specifically for watercolours a while ago. The ones made by Pepin Press (or Pepin Van Roojen) are printed on heavier so they can used with watercolours, they also have lighter lines from what I know so they disappear when you colour them. I thought some people might like to know.
+RedStarLights Yes, I 've seen them. Others mentioned them too when this video was first released. In this area they are hard to find. Most books stores that have coloring books don't seem to carry them. I saw them on Amazon. An artist named Kristy Rice has just released 3 new books that are amazing! Painterly Days amzn.to/1T3rLkm . These were also designed just for watercolor. I will be doing a review on those soon.
I am really grateful you did a video like this. I am a beginner watercolour painter and I think this would be a good way for me to learn to use the medium and practice the techniques like you said. I will have to give these a try. Thanks!
Yes it can be. The papers in coloring books react differently and are a little less predictable than watercolor paper, but I do think it's a good way to practice.
If you wanna paint more “wetly” you can use transparent watercolor ground, Daniel Smith makes one at least. I dilute it just a little and apply it with a brayer to avoid weird brushstrokes underneath. Or, Im just guessing, clear gesso would work too. From one pod person to another :) (Damn those aliens are wicked smart!)
Yes, I've heard this suggested once or twice. Might be worth a test but I have found that painting on paper and just doing it more dryly is still preferable for me. Ground is different than gesso. There is some absorbency to watercolor ground and it handles washes better than gesso.
I do that dry-version too, its really awesome exercise in precision and it keeps me on my toes with water usage. But sometimes there is just the most perfect picture to do wet on wet, it just begs for that, then the transparent ground comes in handy. Its pretty marvelous stuff all together, Ive painted all kinds of non-watercolor friendly stuff with it, like small tins, wood signs and plastic lid of a container. Its only “flaw” is how difficult it is to apply nicely (pretty thick stuff), but diluting and brayering helped out with that. If you havent checked it out yet, I can warmly recommend it. That jar will open so many new doors for watercolors, its almost crazy :) Ps. Thank you for hearting my comment on the Christmas gift guide-video - if my dear hubby doesnt get my not so subtle hint after all this.. With him you never know, but the given help is truly appreciated :)
Just FYI, the first Joanna Basford book was initially released with inferior paper. When the second book came out, the first one was reissued with the better paper. I have both, and there's a definite difference in the paper quality.
I'm new to colouring books and have the new Joanna Basford World of Flower coloring book and was wondering how I was going to colour this. I am not a pencil crayon fan and LOVE Tombow markers but was trying them out and finding they did not blend very well on the paper used for the colouring book. MInd you I am also new to makers so I may be a schmuck and don't have the technique down pat. I tried using them as water colours ( putting some of the ink on a tile and picking up the colour off of that ) and VOILA!!! Shading and blending!!!! Your video was a lifesaver :) Ty so much for this. I wish I could use the markers straight on the paper though because the colour seems a lot more muted when using them with water.
I love this! I've never stopped coloring since I was a kid. It's new to so many people and I've joined so many coloring groups on facebook now. I am going to share this video with all my coloring friends and I hope it gets you tons more subscribers. Excellent video!
omg! this is such a good video! I am currently 18 and have been researching for 5 months about what are the best coloring books out there, watercolors, brushes, and this video just helped me so much! thank you for this video! I learned a lot as a young artist! (:
One tip to add to this. If the design you want is on the flimsy paper, there's always cutting watercolor paper from a sheet or pad to letter size and scan and print the page onto a watercolor sheet. You can also download coloring designs from some websites and just print out directly onto watercolor paper. Way back in the 80s, I got some excellent dinosaur coloring books and sea life and other nature subjects at the Field Museum in Chicago, including a very long accordion folded history of life as a coloring poster. That was on very strong card stock with a vellum rather than a plate finish and would have been so easy to use markers or watercolor on it. I miss that even if so many dino illustrations on it are now out of date. Wish they'd come up with a new one and do it on that heavy good paper again. Last, recently ot a Dover one on Dinosaurs of the Jurassic that's a Boost coloring book for kids in grade school. The lessons on analyzing text were a little distracting but the art was gorgeous and paper very heavy, designs on one side of the page. Bleed through is a lot less of a problem with one-sided printing, and you can stick a sheet of glassine or tracing paper under the page to catch anything that goes through to the next page.
Definitely answered the question I had about what works for the various adult coloring books. I think I will try the water color pencils now having this new knowledge.
I have one of these adult coloring books at home and it SOMEHOW did not occur to me to try watercolor? Perhaps because of the paper. After work today, I'll be checking the paper quality because, while I do love working with my prismacolor colored pencils, using watercolor for these seems like a blast! And a great way to experiment with different techniques!
I hadn't thought to try the adult coloring books, but you make them seem intriguing. However, I wish you had shown us the backside of the pages and whether there was bleed through and to what extent on each of the types of papers. Obviously if the watercolors do bleed through, one would have to choose which side one preferred before painting as you couldn't paint both.
+Eirenmist NO bleed through on any of the books I showed. The lightest paper, the first book I showed, buckled a bit. You might want to choose a page on that basis if they have similar paper. Not an issue on the other 3 books I showed.
love getting your thoughts on the coloring books.. I discovered that you could do the water colors in some of hte books as well.. Especially love those that have flowers.. Thanks for sharing...
Scan the drawing, print it out, trace it onto watercolor paper, re-ink, paint with whatever you like :) This is what I've been doing with my newer coloring works since I want to practice mixed-media techniques. It also develops your own inking skills. If you upload online, make sure to mention where the drawing is from and if there is a signature, be sure to add that back in as well. I've done this a few times with my Warcraft - coloring book. The results are amazing.
Lovely to see it all in practice - I have enchanted one too and have coloured a few (well I bought for my daughter but you know ... appropriated it) have tryed oil pencils and watercolour and normal but not full out watercolouring so thats next and have put my order in for my christmas present!!!
Thankyou so much! I only do the coloring books with really good paper, but have not tried watercolor in them. I have turned into a pod person also. Lol. My leader is Joanna Basford.
Hi - This video is completely amazing. Thank you! I have been "tracing" the coloring book pages onto water color paper, then playing with the lines in different color of pens. Doodling at its finest!
I love your openness to try the coloring books. I do the Secret Garden and will do some practice on it now that you have inspired me to do so. Thank you for expanding the options to keep enjoying art without boundaries!
Thank you immensely for putting this video together! I've recently gotten some watercolors and am looking forward to trying some of these tips in my own books!
Yay! Im a new subbie- Just jumped on the coloring book ride myself and not sure what to "color" with- which led me to your channel, So glad to see I can watercolor in them! cannot wait
Hi I just wanted to let you know that if you have a Facebook ..I have a group called Just Color! Just a place for adult colorers to share their work and there's monthly contests. This month's contest prize is a 15 dollar amazon gift code! Hope to see you there :)
I'm waiting to get the lost ocean artist edition and I PRAY you do a review and maybe possibly a color along ???? So we can follow along and learn !!!! Ever think of doing something like that ? I would totally be there ! Why you ? Because I love to paint and want to learn to become better but I cannot draw and I rely on the coloring books right now to do that for me ! :)
