Paprika Coloring Book

Last spring I started creating coloring pages and posting them on my website here. It was a way for me to offer something to people who were suddenly home all the time (kids and adults). And it was a way to steady myself in a wobbling world.

Now, a year later, I have posted more than 150 drawing pages. They are all available to download for free here.

Recently I picked 21 of my favorite pages and made a new coloring book.

You can buy the coloring book at JuliePaprika for $10. (Click here). The pages can be colored with pencils, crayons, markers or paint.

You can make up your own stories for the images as you add color.

Because I used to be an art teacher, I hope that you will also make your own drawings from scratch. Here are a few prompts for starting a drawing. These are some of the ways I jump start myself.

DRAWING PROMPTS:

1. Draw a shape and repeat it many times. Then decorate that shape with doodles.

2. Draw a straight line. Connect another line to it. Keep adding lines and see what happens. Various dimensions might appear.

3. Write a word so that the letters fill the whole page. Decorate the letters.

4. Draw something that is laying around your house. Don’t worry if your drawing is wonky or strange. If you wanted a perfect picture you could take a photograph.

5. Draw a line and repeat a similar line next to it, over and over. You can do it with many shapes (like these leaves), or just one shape over and over. The little irregularities and variations of the line as it repeats will make your drawing interesting.

I hope that you will have fun creating your own drawings, and adding color to mine. And I hope that as the world opens up there is still time to draw or be contemplative in other ways.

p.s. Today’s blogpost comes with dessert. Here is a recipe/painting of strawberry rhubarb pie by my niece Zoe Paschkis. You can see more of Zoe’s work on Instagram ( click HERE) or Etsy (HERE).

Coloring

A while ago I went to dinner at a good friend’s house. When I arrived the table was spread with coloring books. She was embarrassed for me to see them, thinking I would disapprove. I didn’t. I wanted to color too! Coloring is fun. Last summer another friend was at my house and saw a painting that I was working on with a limited palette (red). She thought I should illustrate a coloring book. I agreed!I have been painting black and white images for years. I pulled them together and painted some new ones too. I put 21 images together into a collection called Imagination Unbound. Many coloring books consist of abstract patterns. But I like telling stories, so these images are narrative. You can make up your own stories to go with the pictures.The current coloring book trend is communal; it is pleasant to sit and color with others. So I decided to make a coloring book that could be shared. Instead of binding the pages, I gathered them in a clear envelope. The lack of binding inspired the title. Here is the cover.I placed all of the images into a square format (8 1/2″ x 8 1/2″), signed them, and left a place for you to sign them too. Here are a few of the pages.The paper is 100 lb. card stock. Heavy. At first glance it looks shiny, but that is just the black ink. The paper is good for colored pencil, markers, chalk or watercolor. There is a lot of black ink, but there is still plenty of room for coloring. Here is the cover, drawn with colored pencil.Imagination Unbound is for sale at juliepaprika.com for $12. If you get a copy, please email me photographs of your finished drawings so that I can share them on a future blog post. Please feel free to color outside the lines. I hope that you will have fun with my drawings, and I hope that you will be inspired to draw your own from scratch too.