Coloring for the Holidays 3

For today's entry, I wanted to explain some of the descriptive terms that I used when discussing coloring book pages. The first style is what I call the "thin line" style. These are the bulk of the current adult coloring book pages. These are thinner lines and usually appear "free style" which means there is no discernible pattern to the images. The difficulty with this style of image is it can be very unforgiving when using some markers. These are best used for non-wet techniques.

Thin line, free style

The second style is the Zentangle style where every inch of the image is decorated. It is a very busy pattern and you need to decide if large swatches of color will be applied or if every individual section will be colored. I don't find this style very comforting and tend to get overwhelmed with coloring and the composition. Sometimes, I will refer to this as a micro-pattern.

Zentangle Style or Micro-pattern

The third style is what I call a repetitive pattern. This is very similar to wallpaper. Once you decide on the color palette and how to color the individual objects then the rest is just application of color. Sometimes the individual components will be micro-patterned (as is the case below).

Repetitive pattern

The fourth style is the Mandala style. This is a largely repetitive, geometric and symmetrical pattern that radiates around  a center image. Similar to the repetitive pattern above, once you figure out your color pattern the rest is simply repetition. For example, the ovals below would be one color throughout the image, the leaf pattern would be repeated throughout. While the patterns do not necessarily have to be repeated and could be done free style, the pleasing nature of the visual occurs when the patterns are repeated.

Mandala Style

The fifth style was discussed earlier in the week and that is the Lettering/Font style. For this style, the primary image is based on a writing/lettering/font style.

Lettering Style

The last style is what is typical remembered as a coloring book style. Large thick lines that either can be repetitive or free style. When we think of old school coloring, this is the style we remember.

Thick line Style

That is it for this week. I will be back on Monday with another review.