I Tested an Anxiety Relief Coloring Book *yikes*

I tested an anxiety relief coloring book to see if it was helpful for relaxation. Will it pass the test? Watch until the end to find out! I used Prismacolor pencils and a coloring book that I cannot link in this video description. Why? Oh, the ending says it all... haha. Yikes.

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[MiraByler]

Hey everyone! I found the book on Amazon under a different listing. This book is slightly different, as it is spiral-bound.


After further examination, I’ve learned the book I used in the video is self-published book through Amazon. That’s why the address is in the back.

Just wanted to post this here for anyone who wanted a link to the coloring book!

[joeblankenship]

The problem with adult coloring books for me is all the TINY areas you gotta fill in. That stresses me out. I want the satisfaction of staying in the lines, so give me some easy medium sizes areas, cuz I don't want huge areas either. Also, I want there to be coloring books for artists. Basically just a book of simple line drawings printed in a light gray ink so you can ink line art any way you want before coloring.

[SquirtleHK]

I actually DO want this book! The fact it already has mistakes in it would loosen me up so much! If the book starts as flawless, I stress out trying to be as perfect! And I do have anxiety disorder. Great book to help a perfectionist not try to be perfect🥰

[mattiekitty]

They should market it as a puzzle book, like “Spot the Mistakes!” 😂

[AnnieNoodle]

Oh my gosh, I'm going to start making digital coloring pages available of my art, and I'm definitely going to test color my own pages before releasing!! Thank you for saying that, I don't know that I would have thought of it!!

[whitney]

For me, coloring in books with lots of details gives me more anxiety. When I want to relax I usually color in kids coloring books or color by number books so I don't have to think too much or worry about picking the perfect colors or shading. I just want to get my mind off things so I color silly little things while listening to music, a podcast, or audio book. It's a good way to escape because I have really bad anxiety and a lot of stress on me.

[louise]

My problem is that I get way stressed out trying to choose the colors😂

[Kellas_Kat]

You know what soothes anxiety for adults? Fixing other people's mistakes. 😆

[MusingsFromTheDen]

I'm the same as you for noticing mistakes - if I find one I cannot move past it! I'd be extremely cross if something marketed as 'anti stress' did the exact opposite simply due to bad quality control! 🙃

I have so many colouring books to finish, it's not even funny. 😇

Watching a left handed artist like me colouring in is so relaxing too. 😊

[TheCassieProjects]

Ah I want to send you my colouring book that I created myself… I hand drew every picture and then got it published into a colouring book. There maybe some minor mistakes because I literally hand drew it, but it does make it that little bit more special. And it is all based on farm animals too!Let me know if I can send you one? I think it may be a little more “stress relieving” than this 😂

[janetslater]

I don't have that coloring book, but the simple fact is that the book may not be the one for you. The nice thing about adult coloring books is that many of them are designed to not look perfect, and that you're allowed to make "mistakes, " but still have the end result be super cool looking. That's the anxiety relieving part. One can also get creative to "fix" the mistakes if they choose to do so, and those extra pages could be practice for that.

[tiffanyrawson]

The date and location on the back page is the day it was printed and the place of printing. Amazon let's small business coloring book sellers decide if they want to have their books printed by Amazon themselves. It saves the artist from needing to go through the trouble of printing actual books, and Amazon gets more product listing and more sales. I think it's great to give individuals a chance to self publish who would not have been able to otherwise. The downside is lack of oversight in product. Sometimes you get stuff that is subpar quality, repetitive, or pixellated.

[Sylscast]

There’s a lot of people who produce low content books to sell on Amazon... journals, puzzle books, sudoku, colouring books, etc. It’s usually one person who puts these together, not a publishing company, hence more chances to miss mistakes.

[lydianlyre]

As someone with OCD I literally couldn’t focus on anything BUT the mistakes. The rug was the biggest part. Asymmetrical, border cuts off, pattern is super random…

[jordanleighwheatley]

I love that the coloring book is one sided on the pages and black on the back. That's actually such a smart idea. However, the pattern thing hurt my brain too. I've seen this one on Amazon and almost bought it once. I can't believe it's gone now

[viennajoanna]

The only ones I have and love are the Johanna Basford colouring books for adults!

[Littlewings]

Two things: firstly, I have serious coloured pencil envy right now. I've had my 72 set of Prismacolors for a few years now and they really are my favourite pencils. Unfortunately some are getting super tiny now! I would love to be able to afford that gorgeous full set that you have, it's a dream art supply for me. 😂💜

Secondly, there are a bunch of those types of books available online and they're pretty much all the same. They're full of boring, generic, often repetitive images even a toddler would get bored of (more often than not given a "zentangle" style makeover to make them seem more adult directed and play into the self-care market which gets bigger and more lucrative by the day). If they're not just generic rubbish the images have often been stolen and slightly adapted/edited/zoomed/cropped etc or just put in as they are without the knowledge and/or consent of the actual artists. They are usually printed on cheap paper such as printer/copier paper which isn't very good for people who do want to put a lot of effort or details into their colouring as it is thin and has no texture whatsoever to help layer and blend coloured pencils. It will not hold up to any kind of added water etc so that rules out everything but pencils as pens will bleed through the pages very easily and markers will eat through the thin paper in seconds.
I tend to swerve away from books like this (not only because their content is dull and not my taste at all but also because of the risks taken to artists I love and for the quality issues I mentioned before) by looking at the listing itself. If it has no artist credited on the front that can (but not always) be a red flag as these tend to signify a compilation of stock/generated images rather than the work of an actual artist. Also if the image of the back cover shows 2 or 3 of the pages they will often be the best pages in there and the rest will be much lower quality/a completely different style from the ones that draw you into wanting to buy. Check out the reviews and specifically ones with photos attached. These can give you a better idea of what is inside the book, the quality of the images and the paper and what can be achieved in that specific book (eg if someone is able to make the pages look full of depth and details vs someone who just block colours with a cheap set of felt tip pens) - these too will usually be the more in-depth and honest reviews as they're given by those who love colouring as adults and haven't just bought the cheapest one they can find to keep their kids quiet for a bit.
Lastly I would suggest that you always look on YouTube etc and find a 'flip-through' or review video to watch and check out adult colouring groups on Facebook etc to get opinions from people who actually enjoy the hobby and want to get quality books instead of cheap, mass-produced rubbish.
Hope this helps anyone who wants to start this wonderful hobby but doesn't want to be ripped off and stressed out by cheap and nasty books like these!

Oh, and just one more thing - a colouring book doesn't need to say "anti-anxiety" or "stress relieving" etc on it for it to be so. The hobby is a fantastic way to relax, de-stress and take time for yourself while creating something beautiful all on its own, regardless of what book/page/image you choose or how you choose to colour it. Don't waste your money on books claiming to be specifically for mental health and self-care because it's the colouring itself that gives you those benefits, not the lines and shapes on the page you choose to colour.

[wintersprite]

I have both adult and kid coloring books. Overall I like them both for different reasons. Sometimes all the tiny details can be overwhelming in adult coloring books so it’s nice to have a variety of coloring books.

[Happinosis]

I totally never go for anti stress colouring books because they have the opposite effect. I love Hanna Karlson books though.

[thegeekpit]

The Amazon "oops" link was relieving more stress than the book, each doggo melted my heart. Lol I normally lurk and never comment, Mira such a wholesome person even when giving brutal feedback.