Adult Coloring Books: Complex Designs, Pictures and Patterns for Coloring

Adult coloring books are wildly popular with a wide range of creative types: older kids, ordinary folks like you and me, crafts designers, seniors and yes, artsts all enjoy coloring books with challenging, detailed pictures to color in.

Many artists and illustrators publish reproductions of their art as adult coloring books. Fine art paintings from the great masters are available as coloring pages for adults. My favorite adult patterns for coloring are the detailed design, complicated line drawings and fantasy scene coloring pages with a psychedelic or pop art influence.

Whatever your favorite art topic, subject or genre, you can find an adult coloring book with pictures you'll enjoy coloring in or using to make crafts.

Challenging coloring book topics range from abstract shapes, fantasy pictures, mandalas, paisley designs, kaleidoscopes and geometric designs to realistic scenes from history, fine art reproductions, flowers, plants and animals,costumes, animals,  nostalgia, abstract images, 3D designs and just about any type of picture you could possibly imagine.

This is no kids coloring book - it's a handheld personal therapy tool that's a joy to use.

Therapy in Color is a favorite of celebrities and recommended by personal counselors.

The variety of images and themes in this book will give you plenty of inspiration and promote relaxation as you add details and explore exotic places and creatures while adding hues and details. 

Reviewers consistently give this book top ratings and stress it's not a typical children's art book or a single-theme coloring book for grownups, but more a platform for creative expression and personal stress reduction.

Buy Therapy in Color at your local bookstore or click the link to shop online.

Make Math Art with Ages Old Quilt Block Designs

There are thousands of interesting quilt patterns available, and most of those designs are based on geometric shapes arranged in complex patterns.

Find an appealing geometric pattern (diamonds design coloring poster shown here is quite complex) , and then use it to make your own coloring design pattern or off-paper craft. You can use a single less complex design  pattern or many of the same geometric design, repeated in rows to fill a page or create a mural.

Recreate a Van Gogh

The great masters were fine painters, but their artwork all started with a simple sketch. This site offers a group of drawings created especially  for adult colorists and art hobbyists to print and create a replica of a fine art masterpiece. A color version of the original is also included for reference.

Many artists and designers  find inspiration in the fanciful pictures and complex patterns found in adult coloring pages. I like to scan simple patterns and then use various graphic editing tools to make my own iron on transfers, morphed and warped drawings - my own kaleidoscope coloring pages.

Sometimes I combine multiple pictures to create a mural or poster design. I've used coloring pages to make other crafts with fabric, fiber and wood. I like to print a favorite picture from a coloring page onto a shirt or jacket then stitch over the outlines with thread  or embroidery floss by hand or machine to make a unique fiber painting.

I've used coloring pages as iron on transfers for my grandkids to color in on tee shirts and bags with special heat-set crayons and fabric paints. I've even decorated denim jackets with embroidery using a coloring page as the pattern. Coloring pages lend themselves to many different arts and crafts like embroidery, paper piecing or quilting.

Think outside the lines and the paper sheet ... coloring pages offer design inspiration to anyone - not just artists!

Photo: denim jacket free hand embroidery design copyright Lee Hansen, 2008. This design was based on a printable holiday coloring page image I created for my web site in honor of my grandson's birthday - he was born on Groundhog Day in 2007!

The Umbrella Coloring Mural Project

ll you need is a large sheet of mural paper about 3 feet by 6 feet and paints or crayons. Click on the small pictures to download the full sized artwork, or click on the link below each picture for the PDF version. Then color, cut out the images and paste to the mural. Print as many copies as you wish.

Noah's Ark Jumbo Mural Art Coloring Craft
Print and color detailed animals, people, scenery and the Ark then assemble on a large piece of paper to create a large coloring pictures art mural.

Although there are web sites and coloring books that publish erotic or explicit adult pictures to color - suitable for mature audiences only - they're not part of this story. 

When I started to research adult coloring as an arts and crafts hobby, I set out to find the very best G-rated adult coloring books and detailed coloring pages with line art that's challenging, detailed and recommended for grownups, teens and older kids who enjoy coloring.

I've been drawing coloring pages and complex designs for coloring for most of my life - more than 50 years. I've always been a doodler, and many of my doodles become free printable coloring pages that adults enjoy. As an artist, I've discovered many great adult coloring books featuring new and classic art made into coloring pages and posters. I'm sure you'll be able to find interesting adult coloring book pages from the resources I've gathered,  or they'll help you to do additional research and find just the right coloring pages and adult coloring designs to enrich your personal pursuit of coloring pages as an adult.

Coloring Pages for Teens and Adults Unique artist-created pictures and designs for coloring. Challenging and unique printable sheets and posters cover a wide range of topics and styles.

Coloring pages for adults and older kids - free printable designs to color
This page has all sorts of cool adult coloring pages you can print and color - mandala coloring pages, kaleidoscope pictures, Celtic designs, geometric patterns, word art posters ... all rated G, all free for personal use.

Coloring pages for Boomers and Seniors
This site offers a growing collection of printable coloring pages for seniors and baby boomers who enjoy art and seek a new hobby in adult coloring. The site also offers hundreds of coloring pages for all ages, free to print for noncommercial use. Ideal art therapy or crafts template resource.

Free printable coloring page collections
Dozens of free printable coloring pages for adults and kids. This site has many different collections of free coloring pages organized by themes. Each set ranges from simple shapes to detailed coloring pages you can print and color in.

The Best Free Coloring Pages in the World
The world's best collection of free, G-rated coloring pages on the Internet

Adult Coloring Pages Blog
Every week this adult coloring pages blog features a free download or resource to find a artist drawn coloring pages for adults and older kids.