Adult Colouring Books: What I Actually Use and Recommend

My colouring book collection has grown quite a bit since I first started, although I've definitely discovered along the way that owning a book and actually wanting to colour it are two very different things.

Most of my collection is mystery colouring and colour by numbers, with a fairly predictable amount of Disney and Pixar thrown in, although I've gradually branched out into landscapes, nature and other styles too. I've also tried plenty of different markers along the way, and somehow ended up with far more of both than I ever intended.

So rather than putting together a huge list of books that look good from their covers, I wanted to share the ones I actually own and colour, what I've enjoyed about them, and what I'd recommend if you're looking for something new.

There's no definitive best adult colouring book, because so much of it comes down to what you actually enjoy sitting down and colouring. I've learnt pretty quickly that something can be incredibly popular and still not be remotely my thing.

The kind of colouring books I enjoy

My collection leans very heavily towards mystery colouring and colour by numbers, largely because I really enjoy watching an image gradually appear as I work through all those numbered sections.

Some pages give the game away almost immediately, while others somehow manage to keep me guessing until surprisingly late in the process. There's something incredibly satisfying about starting with what looks like a fairly meaningless collection of shapes and numbers and eventually stepping back to see the finished image.

A lot of the books I own are based around Disney, Pixar and other recognisable characters, although I've also coloured landscapes, trees, animals and plenty of other subjects. I'm definitely not somebody who believes you have to stick to one particular style once you've found something you enjoy.

The important thing for me is whether the artwork actually makes me want to finish the page. Mandalas and incredibly intricate patterns are hugely popular when it comes to adult colouring, for example, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them... they're just generally not what I'm going to reach for when I fancy colouring.

I've never really understood the idea that particular colouring books need to be aimed at men or women either. I'm a man who spends a frankly ridiculous amount of time colouring, and I've never chosen a book because it looked suitably manly.

I choose them because I like what's inside.

For me that's often Disney, Pixar and character-based mystery colouring, while someone else might prefer landscapes, architecture, wildlife or incredibly detailed patterns. I'd much rather recommend a book based on the things you enjoy than assume being a bloke means you need something filled with motorbikes, whisky and power tools.

If the artwork makes you want to pick up your markers and start colouring, you've probably found the right book.

The books I'd recommend starting with

My recommendations are probably going to look slightly different from the usual lists you'll find online, because I'm only interested in recommending books that I actually own and have spent time colouring.

Where possible, you'll also find completed pages from the books throughout the site, which I think gives you a much better idea of what you're getting than simply looking at the cover or reading the publisher's description.

You can see what the illustrations actually look like once they've been coloured, what I've used to colour them and, in plenty of cases, the individual marker colours that went into the finished page.

My collection is still growing, despite my shelves probably wishing it wasn't, so the books I'd recommend will naturally change as I discover and colour more of them.

What do I use to colour them?

Choosing what I'm going to colour with has become almost as important as choosing the book itself, and I've experimented with quite a few different marker sets since I started.

These days, most of my colouring is done using acrylic markers. They suit the way I like to colour, give me the coverage I want and are available in some enormous colour ranges, which becomes increasingly useful once you've convinced yourself that the shade of blue you already have isn't quite the right blue.

That doesn't mean there's one particular marker set I'd automatically recommend to everybody, though.

Different sets have different colour ranges, nibs and characteristics, and I've found myself reaching for different markers depending on the book or page I'm working on. Some sets have also ended up filling gaps in others, which is one of the reasons my marker collection has grown quite as much as it has.

The markers you'll find recommended or discussed throughout Colours by Lee are ones I've actually used, and where I've reviewed a set, those reviews are based on my own experience colouring with them rather than what it says on the box.

Many of my completed pages also record the marker set I used, with some going right down to the individual colour codes.

I think that's considerably more useful than simply telling you a marker is good. You can look through the finished pages, see how the colours and coverage actually turned out and decide for yourself whether you like the result.

Why I've ended up using acrylic markers

You'll see the same sort of products described as acrylic markers, acrylic paint markers, acrylic pens and paint pens, sometimes almost interchangeably.

For the kind of colouring I do, acrylic markers have become my preferred option, although they're certainly not the only thing you can use in a colouring book and they won't necessarily suit every book.

The paper makes a difference, as does the marker itself and the kind of finish you're looking for. Whenever I'm trying a combination I haven't used before, I'm always conscious that what worked perfectly in one book might behave completely differently in another.

So if you've just bought a new set of markers, testing them somewhere inconspicuous before attacking a page you've been looking forward to colouring is probably a very good idea.

So, where should you start?

If you're completely new to adult colouring, I really wouldn't worry too much about finding the absolute best colouring book or convincing yourself that you need several hundred marker colours before you've even finished your first page.

Find a book containing artwork that you genuinely like, get yourself a reasonable set of pencils, pens or markers and give it a go. Once you've completed a few pages, you'll very quickly start discovering what you enjoy, what you don't, and inevitably what you suddenly decide you need to buy next.

That's essentially how this entire website happened.

I started colouring because I enjoyed it, then started keeping track of the books I owned, the markers I was using and the pages I'd completed. That gradually turned into Colours by Lee, where you can now browse my collection, look through completed pages, explore the markers I've used and read about what I've learned along the way.

Hopefully some of that makes choosing your next book or set of markers a little easier, but ultimately I'd always start with whatever makes you think I really want to colour that.

And if you're a man wondering whether colouring is a slightly odd hobby to get into...

You're asking someone who built an entire website about it.