Designing for adult coloring books isn’t about creating complex illustrations — it’s about making space for creativity and play.
In this tutorial, we’ll explore how real colorers use your artwork to express themselves through shading, blending, burnishing, and more. You’ll learn how to design pages that welcome a wide range of materials, styles, and imaginative experimentation.
Watch the Tutorial
This post is part of my iPad Art Breaks series, where we explore creative techniques to help you build your skills and create work that people truly enjoy. If designing a coloring book has ever crossed your mind, you’ll love this one!
What Real Colorers Want
Most adult colorers don’t just “fill in the lines.” They’re experimenting with:
Shading & Gradients – Adding dimension to simple shapes with light-to-dark transitions
Color Blending – Mixing unexpected hues like pink and green to make subjects more realistic
Burnishing – Layering with white or light pencils to soften and unify tones
The lesson? You don’t need to overwork your pages—simple outlines are better when they leave room for creative expression.
Design Tips for Better Coloring Books
1. Include Negative Space
Open areas allow your buyers to create unique backgrounds, gradients, or decorative textures. Think beyond the lines.
2. Leave Room for Interpretive Details
Skip every vein, line, or filler—you’re giving them a framework to finish. Think of it as collaborative art!
3. Play with Page Structure
Some colorers love a border; others want to cut and frame their work. Try pages with and without borders for maximum flexibility.
4. Test Techniques Yourself
Use colored pencils, alcohol markers, metallics, stippling, crosshatching—even rainbow effects. The more techniques you try, the more intentional your designs will be.
Inspire Play and Creativity: When you understand your audience’s materials—like glitter pens, metallic inks, or watercolor markers—you can better guide how you structure your designs. Think of your pages as open invitations to explore, not just instructions to follow.
Take the Next Step
If today’s coloring techniques inspired you, come learn how to plan, draw, and publish your own artist-designed coloring book! Grab the FREE Self-Published Artist Starter Pack and start the Complete Coloring Class with the free trial, and begin your first coloring book one page at a time—just like I did.
Create and Sell an Artist Designed Coloring Book
- A repeatable strategy for creating your coloring book
- Tips for balancing design and simplicity
- A full walkthrough of publishing and selling
- Real examples and page planning tools
