Some thoughts: First is coloring a hobby/therapy for you? If so don't worry about it. Setting goals, to-do lists, pressure to finish.. that's a job. Do you want another job? Don't let what is supposed to be fun and relaxing become work. Obviously, for Rachel this IS work so that is an entirely different situation. Don't hold yourself to the same standard as someone who colors for a living (most of the popular YT/Insta colorists) if you work another job 50 hrs a week. Be realistic about a book. The average coloring book is somewhere from 30-60 pages depending on if it's single or double sided. If you have a 60 page book and color one page a day, that is two months of coloring. If you color one page a week, that is over a YEAR of coloring just for that one book. If you like to use media that bleeds through don't buy single sided books. Don't buy books with inappropriate paper for your favorite technique or brand of pencil. Be realistic about technique. If you color very simply it can take an hour or two to do a page. If you color very elaborately it can take 20-30 hours to do a detailed page. Coloring with pencils can take a very long time. Try markers or watercolor pencils to speed things up either alone or as a base for your pencils. I can cut the coloring time for a page in half with a marker base. Simplify your books.. you don't need them all right now. Get 1-3 (or pull them out and put the rest of your books away out of sight) and just work on those. The others will be there waiting their turn. Books do go out of print.. but the more popular artists work is available for years. In the meantime hundreds of new beautiful books will be released. Don't be pressured to collect if finishing is important to you. If it you really don't want to color it, or it simply doesn't work for you, rehome it or even "gasp" toss it out. It's ok, it's just paper. Don't let paper make you sad and frustrated. Simplify your materials. You don't need every pencil set in the world, you don't even need every pencil in the set. You don't need every pencil plus every pen, every paint, every marker, every glitter/metallic product. Having one set of materials you know very well takes all that worry and decision making out of the equation and you spend your time coloring instead of trying to decide what to use. Expand your materials. Do you not color because you are bored with your stuff? Are you frustrated and tired of materials that don't work for you? Pick up something new. Get some new colors, a new type of media, a new tool. Yes, this is exactly the opposite of the previous statement and it totally depends on the individual which is more helpful. Find some inspiration. This can be looking at that page others have done (as long as you don't hold yourself to some unattainable standard of perfection), or looking for images of items on that page. Simplify your setup. Organize and have your stuff together where you want to use it. If you take it with you get a bag to carry it. If you color in bed or in front of the TV put your stuff in that area. If your current set up isn't working or is difficult, change it. Having to go get stuff, bring it somewhere, then put it all away again means you are less likely to use it. Color. It's extremely easy to spend more time watching other people color, looking at other peoples coloring, watching reviews and ads (many reviews are actually ads), and shopping for new stuff.. than actually coloring with what you have. Recognize the issue and take steps to stop whatever it is that is distracting you.
All great tips, I bought a lot of colour by numbers to begin with, I have kept 2, the others are Going to the Animal Charity Shop near where I live. I Also Bought 120 certain pencils no matter how I try I can not get on with them ( should not of bought too many my own fault they can go with the colouring books. Nope I don't have lots money we have really budget everything, I could sell them I would rather someone got them super cheap rather than sticking on eBay Would love say I colour everyday I can't Had granddaughter here last 4 days, oh my a 3 year old wore me out
I just started coloring last year september and have already 12 coloring books 😂 I made little name tags, put them in a little bowl, and pick one when I feel like coloring and then color a page in the choosen book. 💥🧡 Thank you Rachel for all your tips and tricks. I love your way of approaching things ❤❤🙏🙏
I love your suggestion about sharing with a friend. I was camping with friends in a cabin that was off the grid, and we had a rainy day. We were all sitting around inside, and I pulled out one of my coloring books and some Prismas. My friend came over and I invited her to join me, and we each finished a page! We enjoyed a glass of wine while we colored and talked. It was such a fun experience, and it made the rainy day go by so fast. I retired two years ago, and I picked up the coloring hobby while trying to learn acrylic painting--coloring is helping A LOT with learning color theory and shading. It's really nice to be able to do something you enjoy for large blocks of time!
Hi Rachel! In the past, I donated 30 used Coloring Books to a Local Charter School. I have mailed out coloring books to a lady that colors, and couldn't afford a new one. I am preparing for a Cross Country Move, so I mailed 10 more Books to a fellow Colorist on Facebook. I always remove the pictures that have been colored. Such a Beautiful Feeling. 👍🏻💜
This is a lovely video and you make some great points. I do a full-time job that's very much dependent on a) meeting tight deadlines b) serious subject matter/current affairs and c) perfection, and the freedom of colouring in my spare time has been such a revelation for me and I've found the colouring community online to be really supportive and judgement-free. Weirdly, I think the reason I actually *do* finish books is because I start by giving myself permission not to! It's a bit like going for a run - my standard route is three miles but I've found the all-or-nothing approach doesn't work for me. If I'm not feeling enthusiastic and I tell myself I must do a three-mile run, I'm much more inclined to stay on the sofa or give up halfway through the run because I'm hating it. But if I tell myself 'Oh, just do one mile, it's better than nothing' I almost always find that when I get to the one-mile mark I end up carrying on to do the full three miles anyway. Same applies to colouring. If I started by saying 'You MUST finish this' book it would feel like a chore and I'd be less likely to complete it. But if I tell myself 'Well, maybe just do the first couple of pages and see if it's a book you'll like, it's not the end of the world if you don't finish it' I often find that's when I'll finish every page!
That is really interesting and I can certainly see how it could work for some people. I find it so fascinating how different we are and I absolutely realise that setting colouring goals is not something that would work for some people and it could even take the fun out of it. I think with me being someone who takes great satisfaction from finishing things, having that as a goal really helps make colouring more enjoyable whereas I know for others it would make it feel less fun.
Thank you Rachel, sometimes it’s comforting to hear someone expressing the dissatisfaction with pages, and the length of time a page can take, especially as a slow worker! I’ve set myself only one goal: one book finished this year. I have other hobbies than colouring and I track progress on those projects in my bullet journal. For those I do it by the hour spent. I also try to do some colouring each day maybe when I get home from work, or while I wait for the washing machine cycle to end. Identifying those slots in your day is another trick. I counted the pages in my copy of Johanna’s Ivy and realised I was nearly half way, so chose this as my one to finish this year. The first half took me a year so this is achievable ( and I haven’t only been doing this book so there’s time for something different factored in) Date your pages, then you can see how many you’ve managed. I take a photo of each page I complete, so I can just check via my phone, when I first completed a page and how long since I used that book.
Thanks for this pep talk. Helps me look at my small collection in a whole new light. My take away from your advice is that a small book would be good to add to my stash. 😊happy to add another.
The secret garden was my first book! I stopped colouring five years ago and started up again. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore because I was making it more complicated than it should be. That’s why I quit before. Now colouring again I am keeping it simple.😊
I’m new to your channel. I want to say how much I really like your completed pages in Johanna’s books. What I like is the one color pages. I have her books and haven’t colored in them as I don’t think I’m good enough to color in them. I know..? My husband always tells me”you can’t go wrong, it’s coloring.” You have given me inspiration. Thank-you!😎
I know how you feel, I was the Sam when I first got Johanna's books. My husband said to me he would buy me a new copy if I messed one up and I also told myself they woudl be wasted if not coloured in! I hope that you can get started with yours soon x
Omgosh, I just looked up your name to see if you’d completed any more books, I’ve watched all of those that you’ve done because it amazes me completely. And here is this video only 7 hours old! Synchronicity!
I want to finish a coloring book this year, World of Flowers, I hope I can do a little coloring every day, so I can finish it. Thank you for the tips Rachel 😊
Wow!!! I’ve been colouring since mid 2016 and only finished one book!! Bennett Klein. I’m not retired and colour every evening. Sometimes a bit in the day. It takes me 3 days to a week to finish a page. I don’t do backgrounds very often. I’m slow I guess!! My goal is to finish Secret Garden. Hopefully this year. Working my way thru it. Great video! And it gave me inspiration.
My daughter gets my books that I don’t enjoy - she loves all the colouring supplies I give her (she’s 9 so she’s easily pleased for now!) I haven’t got any finished books yet but my goal is to get one done this year 😊
Thanks for your tips! I too want to actually finish a few. At least! Lol. I don’t follow a ton of rules myself. But I do WANT to finish some…especially the Klara Markovas for example. So thanks for this. Bravo!
It depends on someones colouring style, book, supplies and realising that you actually wish to finish a book. I have just completed my first book Friendship but never intended to at the start. I was hoping Aria Vale would be easy to finish due to only having 14 pages but I'm burnt out from it requiring so many layers per page (for my taste). Takes me days to do one matchstick mouse page depending on the media used. I do hope to finish one some day. I don't know why but you are quite a driving force to complete a book ! I've never been able to colour in front of the tv/lap other than magic painting book which is just water LOL Totally get the guilt thing.... I feel sad that I have not got back to my Johanna books as much as I hoped. TYFS
You’re very disciplined! Well done. I can’t colour watching a movie or TV … I don’t even watch TV .. if I do watch a movie I’ll probably snack and enjoy the movie. 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
great video very usefull ! I have completed many of the coloring books too. I use a notebook to write down my coloring pages , I count pages in a coloring book which I have yet to finish, and I mark the pages in a notebook.
I am with you, I was just thinking I would quickly choose my next page before breakfast....nope!! May have to get someone else to choose one for me - a tip that I think I forgot!
That was a most heplful video. There were some tips I had come up with but not applied and hearing them formulated out loud actually got me thinking. Thanks a lot. :)
I think it is essential to set reachable goals. If you have 10 colouring books don't set the goal to finish them by the end of one year. Start by wanting to finish just one a year. It sounds like you have set reachable goals for yourself and you keep track of your progress. I keep track of my progress as well, which helps me enormously. I started colouring with the goal of actually wanting to finish a book when I started keeping track of my progress.
I suffer from pain as well, I have an inflammatory condition that I've had most of my life but has gotten worse over time. I actually stopped pencils for years because of it, but came back to coloring a couple of years ago because my work schedule made it so I just didn't have time to paint anymore, plus I needed something portable that I could do in a comfortable place. The pencils you use make a difference, I find a thicker barrel and smoother (not necessarily softer but pencils that glide on the paper with less friction) lead help. Rich colors help as well since you can get more color down with less work and blend out to the white of the paper instead of burnishing other shades over the top. My favorite pencils are Prisma, Poly, and Arteza expert. Get a nice crank or electric helical sharpener, saves your wrists and your pencils. Bases are a lifesaver, alcohol markers (favorite are Ohuhu Honolulu which are brush/fine tip but any brush tip will do) make things so much faster, you do need single sided pages for them though. I use a lot of watercolor pencils in double sided books (favorite is Albrecht Durer combined with a Tombow blender pen or a push button style of waterbrush so I don't have to continuously squeeze). You don't have to actually use a pencil to color.. markers can be used alone and you can lay the color from watercolor pencils right off the brush if you take it off the tip of the pencil or pop some pencil down on paper or a pencil palette and pick it up with the brush. Color in short sessions, and take breaks. On bad days I might stop every few minutes and move my hand/wrist around, then start again. Try a few wrist supports/pencil grips and see if they help you. I started spiral binding my books and find it helps a lot because I'm not constantly trying to hold them flat while coloring or dealing with pages falling out over time which is something I had a problem with, probably because it takes me longer than average to color so they spend more time beng opened/closed. You can have it done pretty cheaply at most stores that offer printing services. I like to do it on the left side if there are two page spreads but you can also do it at the top if you prefer.
I know that people have this fear and I have had it too. Start with a download or a cheap book or a page you don't care for that much, then it will not matter if it does not turn out as planned. Don't let the fear of perfection spoil your fun, it is a hobby, just enjoy the process. I dare you to try!
You should try and finish a book completely.... That's just a cop out. You should even finish the pages you don't like as that is where you will stretch your boundaries and get out of comfort zone. You don't learn from staying on the same road. Plus you do very simple pages and don't put much depth and shading into your pages. That's how you finish so many.
We all have different styles and ways of colouring. I totally agree that if someone puts in lots of layers and fills every space on the page it would take them a lot longer and it could take as long to finish a page as I take to finish a small book. However, this is the way that I do it, it does not mean everyone has to do it the same way.
@@RachelHendersonColouring Why travel the same road though? Life is all about new growth and opportunity to learn . Why have ground hog day all the time. It comes across that you think colouring is a chore for you. I would hate to come across like that in a video. But anyway you do you...I guess.
@@koriefrith7384 It's interesting that you say it comes across that Rachel thinks colouring is a chore for her, when her whole message in this video is that colouring is meant to be fun and people should do it in whatever way they enjoy. For me, the approach you think people 'should' take, ie colouring to 'stretch boundaries and get out of your comfort zone' and colouring pages you don't like, absolutely makes colouring sound like a chore, while Rachel's video makes it sound like an enjoyable, relaxing, judgement-free hobby. Certainly, life can be about 'new growth and opportunities to learn', but for some people, that might be about learning to relax, ignore the judgement of others and appreciate the freedom to do what they enjoy. If colouring, for you, is about self-improvement, striving for perfection and forcing yourself to work on things you don't like, that's absolutely fine! Feel free to press on with that. But it doesn't mean it should be like that for anyone else.
@@redstar1976 . I totally agree. I love colouring, Rachel style. It’s my comfort zone. There are enough pressures to move out of it but I like it. There are plenty of TH-cam vids if I want my page to look like a printed story book and maybe someday I will but not today! I find Rachel very encouraging and her 20 - 30 min slots suit me.
Please consider supporting my channel (you can download some freebies in exchange!) - ko-fi.com/rachelhendersoncolouring/shop/
Some thoughts:
First is coloring a hobby/therapy for you? If so don't worry about it. Setting goals, to-do lists, pressure to finish.. that's a job. Do you want another job? Don't let what is supposed to be fun and relaxing become work. Obviously, for Rachel this IS work so that is an entirely different situation. Don't hold yourself to the same standard as someone who colors for a living (most of the popular YT/Insta colorists) if you work another job 50 hrs a week.
Be realistic about a book. The average coloring book is somewhere from 30-60 pages depending on if it's single or double sided. If you have a 60 page book and color one page a day, that is two months of coloring. If you color one page a week, that is over a YEAR of coloring just for that one book. If you like to use media that bleeds through don't buy single sided books. Don't buy books with inappropriate paper for your favorite technique or brand of pencil.
Be realistic about technique. If you color very simply it can take an hour or two to do a page. If you color very elaborately it can take 20-30 hours to do a detailed page. Coloring with pencils can take a very long time. Try markers or watercolor pencils to speed things up either alone or as a base for your pencils. I can cut the coloring time for a page in half with a marker base.
Simplify your books.. you don't need them all right now. Get 1-3 (or pull them out and put the rest of your books away out of sight) and just work on those. The others will be there waiting their turn. Books do go out of print.. but the more popular artists work is available for years. In the meantime hundreds of new beautiful books will be released. Don't be pressured to collect if finishing is important to you. If it you really don't want to color it, or it simply doesn't work for you, rehome it or even "gasp" toss it out. It's ok, it's just paper. Don't let paper make you sad and frustrated.
Simplify your materials. You don't need every pencil set in the world, you don't even need every pencil in the set. You don't need every pencil plus every pen, every paint, every marker, every glitter/metallic product. Having one set of materials you know very well takes all that worry and decision making out of the equation and you spend your time coloring instead of trying to decide what to use.
Expand your materials. Do you not color because you are bored with your stuff? Are you frustrated and tired of materials that don't work for you? Pick up something new. Get some new colors, a new type of media, a new tool. Yes, this is exactly the opposite of the previous statement and it totally depends on the individual which is more helpful.
Find some inspiration. This can be looking at that page others have done (as long as you don't hold yourself to some unattainable standard of perfection), or looking for images of items on that page.
Simplify your setup. Organize and have your stuff together where you want to use it. If you take it with you get a bag to carry it. If you color in bed or in front of the TV put your stuff in that area. If your current set up isn't working or is difficult, change it. Having to go get stuff, bring it somewhere, then put it all away again means you are less likely to use it.
Color. It's extremely easy to spend more time watching other people color, looking at other peoples coloring, watching reviews and ads (many reviews are actually ads), and shopping for new stuff.. than actually coloring with what you have. Recognize the issue and take steps to stop whatever it is that is distracting you.
Great tips, thank you for sharing
Great tips. ❤
All great tips, I bought a lot of colour by numbers to begin with, I have kept 2, the others are Going to the Animal Charity Shop near where I live.
I Also Bought 120 certain pencils no matter how I try I can not get on with them ( should not of bought too many my own fault they can go with the colouring books.
Nope I don't have lots money we have really budget everything, I could sell them I would rather someone got them super cheap rather than sticking on eBay
Would love say I colour everyday I can't
Had granddaughter here last 4 days, oh my a 3 year old wore me out
Ty for saying this
I just started coloring last year september and have already 12 coloring books 😂 I made little name tags, put them in a little bowl, and pick one when I feel like coloring and then color a page in the choosen book. 💥🧡 Thank you Rachel for all your tips and tricks. I love your way of approaching things ❤❤🙏🙏
Thank you and what a great idea for picking pages!
I love your suggestion about sharing with a friend. I was camping with friends in a cabin that was off the grid, and we had a rainy day. We were all sitting around inside, and I pulled out one of my coloring books and some Prismas. My friend came over and I invited her to join me, and we each finished a page! We enjoyed a glass of wine while we colored and talked. It was such a fun experience, and it made the rainy day go by so fast. I retired two years ago, and I picked up the coloring hobby while trying to learn acrylic painting--coloring is helping A LOT with learning color theory and shading. It's really nice to be able to do something you enjoy for large blocks of time!
that sounds really good!
Hi Rachel! In the past, I donated 30 used Coloring Books to a Local Charter School. I have mailed out coloring books to a lady that colors, and couldn't afford a new one. I am preparing for a Cross Country Move, so I mailed 10 more Books to a fellow Colorist on Facebook. I always remove the pictures that have been colored. Such a Beautiful Feeling. 👍🏻💜
That is a very good idea, very kind too x
Thank You!😊
❤❤❤❤
This is a lovely video and you make some great points. I do a full-time job that's very much dependent on a) meeting tight deadlines b) serious subject matter/current affairs and c) perfection, and the freedom of colouring in my spare time has been such a revelation for me and I've found the colouring community online to be really supportive and judgement-free. Weirdly, I think the reason I actually *do* finish books is because I start by giving myself permission not to! It's a bit like going for a run - my standard route is three miles but I've found the all-or-nothing approach doesn't work for me. If I'm not feeling enthusiastic and I tell myself I must do a three-mile run, I'm much more inclined to stay on the sofa or give up halfway through the run because I'm hating it. But if I tell myself 'Oh, just do one mile, it's better than nothing' I almost always find that when I get to the one-mile mark I end up carrying on to do the full three miles anyway. Same applies to colouring. If I started by saying 'You MUST finish this' book it would feel like a chore and I'd be less likely to complete it. But if I tell myself 'Well, maybe just do the first couple of pages and see if it's a book you'll like, it's not the end of the world if you don't finish it' I often find that's when I'll finish every page!
That is really interesting and I can certainly see how it could work for some people. I find it so fascinating how different we are and I absolutely realise that setting colouring goals is not something that would work for some people and it could even take the fun out of it. I think with me being someone who takes great satisfaction from finishing things, having that as a goal really helps make colouring more enjoyable whereas I know for others it would make it feel less fun.
Thank you Rachel, sometimes it’s comforting to hear someone expressing the dissatisfaction with pages, and the length of time a page can take, especially as a slow worker!
I’ve set myself only one goal: one book finished this year. I have other hobbies than colouring and I track progress on those projects in my bullet journal. For those I do it by the hour spent.
I also try to do some colouring each day maybe when I get home from work, or while I wait for the washing machine cycle to end. Identifying those slots in your day is another trick.
I counted the pages in my copy of Johanna’s Ivy and realised I was nearly half way, so chose this as my one to finish this year. The first half took me a year so this is achievable ( and I haven’t only been doing this book so there’s time for something different factored in)
Date your pages, then you can see how many you’ve managed. I take a photo of each page I complete, so I can just check via my phone, when I first completed a page and how long since I used that book.
Photographing and dating is a good idea. I note mine down now for my completed pages videos and it is interesting to know when they were completed.
Amazed at how many you’ve completed, especially the more detailed ones like JB! Some beautiful work there xx
Thanks so much! 😊
Thanks for this pep talk. Helps me look at my small collection in a whole new light. My take away from your advice is that a small book would be good to add to my stash. 😊happy to add another.
My pleasure!
I have definitely used the “color a section” of an overwhelming page.
Works well and keeps it fun!
The secret garden was my first book! I stopped colouring five years ago and started up again. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore because I was making it more complicated than it should be. That’s why I quit before. Now colouring again I am keeping it simple.😊
That is great - just keep it fun, that is the important bit
I can relate. Sounds like my story 😆. I would like to pick it up again.
@@brit3087 Just start with something simple and appreciate the calm and fun x
I’m new to your channel. I want to say how much I really like your completed pages in Johanna’s books. What I like is the one color pages. I have her books and haven’t colored in them as I don’t think I’m good enough to color in them. I know..? My husband always tells me”you can’t go wrong, it’s coloring.” You have given me inspiration. Thank-you!😎
I know how you feel, I was the Sam when I first got Johanna's books. My husband said to me he would buy me a new copy if I messed one up and I also told myself they woudl be wasted if not coloured in! I hope that you can get started with yours soon x
Omgosh, I just looked up your name to see if you’d completed any more books, I’ve watched all of those that you’ve done because it amazes me completely. And here is this video only 7 hours old! Synchronicity!
wow what a coincidence!
Great video!! Thank you for going through how much time you invested and your encouragement!!
Glad it was helpful!
Such a calming and motivating video. This was much awaited. Thank you ❤
You are so welcome!
Excellent advice, I use many of your methods and they do work. Happy colouring 🖍️📚❣️
Thank you so much!
Fantastic advice! I always adore your colored pages, and I really appreciate your thoughts and point of view here. 💖💖💖💖
Thank you so much!
I want to finish a coloring book this year, World of Flowers, I hope I can do a little coloring every day, so I can finish it. Thank you for the tips Rachel 😊
You are welcome and I hope you have fun finishing your book x
Wow!!! I’ve been colouring since mid 2016 and only finished one book!! Bennett Klein. I’m not retired and colour every evening. Sometimes a bit in the day. It takes me 3 days to a week to finish a page. I don’t do backgrounds very often. I’m slow I guess!! My goal is to finish Secret Garden. Hopefully this year. Working my way thru it. Great video! And it gave me inspiration.
So glad it was inspiring. Enjoy Secret Garden, it is a very pretty book x
My daughter gets my books that I don’t enjoy - she loves all the colouring supplies I give her (she’s 9 so she’s easily pleased for now!)
I haven’t got any finished books yet but my goal is to get one done this year 😊
That's a good idea, to pass them on. Hope you have fun finishing your book.
Thanks for your tips! I too want to actually finish a few. At least! Lol. I don’t follow a ton of rules myself. But I do WANT to finish some…especially the Klara Markovas for example. So thanks for this. Bravo!
You are welcome!
It depends on someones colouring style, book, supplies and realising that you actually wish to finish a book. I have just completed my first book Friendship but never intended to at the start. I was hoping Aria Vale would be easy to finish due to only having 14 pages but I'm burnt out from it requiring so many layers per page (for my taste). Takes me days to do one matchstick mouse page depending on the media used. I do hope to finish one some day. I don't know why but you are quite a driving force to complete a book ! I've never been able to colour in front of the tv/lap other than magic painting book which is just water LOL Totally get the guilt thing.... I feel sad that I have not got back to my Johanna books as much as I hoped. TYFS
You are so right about it depending on so many factors, I also thought Aria Vale would be a quick book to finish but I think I have only done 3 pages!
This video is wonderful xxx Thank you so much foor your advise and really useful. Happy coloring xxxxxxxxxx
so glad it was useful
@@RachelHendersonColouring 💕
You’re very disciplined! Well done. I can’t colour watching a movie or TV … I don’t even watch TV .. if I do watch a movie I’ll probably snack and enjoy the movie. 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
Aww thank you.
great video very usefull ! I have completed many of the coloring books too. I use a notebook to write down my coloring pages , I count pages in a coloring book which I have yet to finish, and I mark the pages in a notebook.
That's a great idea!
@@RachelHendersonColouring thank you, yes it's very helpful.
Great video. I haven't finished a book yet, but I think I will this year.
Sometimes it takes me bliming ages to choose a page to colour lol xxx
I am with you, I was just thinking I would quickly choose my next page before breakfast....nope!! May have to get someone else to choose one for me - a tip that I think I forgot!
Love Johanna books ❤
Secret garden is my first coloring book too😂
How lovely! Her books are super!
Beautiful work 💕 you’re really good artist!
Thank you so much 😀
That was a most heplful video. There were some tips I had come up with but not applied and hearing them formulated out loud actually got me thinking. Thanks a lot. :)
You're so welcome!
Very helpful tips, and encouragement!
Glad it was helpful x
Actually this was very helpful for me 😊
Glad it was helpful!
I think it is essential to set reachable goals. If you have 10 colouring books don't set the goal to finish them by the end of one year. Start by wanting to finish just one a year. It sounds like you have set reachable goals for yourself and you keep track of your progress. I keep track of my progress as well, which helps me enormously. I started colouring with the goal of actually wanting to finish a book when I started keeping track of my progress.
Sounds sensible
Great tips❤. Thank you 😊. I get wrist/ hand pain when I use colour pencils, even if I don’t use much pressure…must be an age thing😂.
Thank you. I am sorry you get pain x
I suffer from pain as well, I have an inflammatory condition that I've had most of my life but has gotten worse over time. I actually stopped pencils for years because of it, but came back to coloring a couple of years ago because my work schedule made it so I just didn't have time to paint anymore, plus I needed something portable that I could do in a comfortable place. The pencils you use make a difference, I find a thicker barrel and smoother (not necessarily softer but pencils that glide on the paper with less friction) lead help. Rich colors help as well since you can get more color down with less work and blend out to the white of the paper instead of burnishing other shades over the top. My favorite pencils are Prisma, Poly, and Arteza expert. Get a nice crank or electric helical sharpener, saves your wrists and your pencils. Bases are a lifesaver, alcohol markers (favorite are Ohuhu Honolulu which are brush/fine tip but any brush tip will do) make things so much faster, you do need single sided pages for them though. I use a lot of watercolor pencils in double sided books (favorite is Albrecht Durer combined with a Tombow blender pen or a push button style of waterbrush so I don't have to continuously squeeze). You don't have to actually use a pencil to color.. markers can be used alone and you can lay the color from watercolor pencils right off the brush if you take it off the tip of the pencil or pop some pencil down on paper or a pencil palette and pick it up with the brush. Color in short sessions, and take breaks. On bad days I might stop every few minutes and move my hand/wrist around, then start again. Try a few wrist supports/pencil grips and see if they help you. I started spiral binding my books and find it helps a lot because I'm not constantly trying to hold them flat while coloring or dealing with pages falling out over time which is something I had a problem with, probably because it takes me longer than average to color so they spend more time beng opened/closed. You can have it done pretty cheaply at most stores that offer printing services. I like to do it on the left side if there are two page spreads but you can also do it at the top if you prefer.
@@waymire01 thank you very much for the tips. Will definately try them 😀
Well said Hun.. thank you for sharing ❤xx
thank you x
What do you do with your finished books? I haven't finished any books but maybe one of these days. 😅❤
there are on my bookshelf in a different place to my other books
Hi Rachel great tips. 😊💙
Thanks so much! 😊
My problem is I want to color everything perfectly, so, I dont even start because of the fear to fail 😢
I know that people have this fear and I have had it too. Start with a download or a cheap book or a page you don't care for that much, then it will not matter if it does not turn out as planned. Don't let the fear of perfection spoil your fun, it is a hobby, just enjoy the process. I dare you to try!
Can I ask what medium do you use please?
I usually use pencil but often use soft pastels for backgrounds
@ thank you
Great tips. ❤
thank you
❤❤❤❤❤❤ thank you. ❤❤❤
No problem 😊
When do you pay attention Shadow, bright sides , color coronating
Sorry, I am not really sure what you mean.
You should try and finish a book completely.... That's just a cop out. You should even finish the pages you don't like as that is where you will stretch your boundaries and get out of comfort zone. You don't learn from staying on the same road. Plus you do very simple pages and don't put much depth and shading into your pages. That's how you finish so many.
We all have different styles and ways of colouring. I totally agree that if someone puts in lots of layers and fills every space on the page it would take them a lot longer and it could take as long to finish a page as I take to finish a small book. However, this is the way that I do it, it does not mean everyone has to do it the same way.
@@RachelHendersonColouring Why travel the same road though? Life is all about new growth and opportunity to learn . Why have ground hog day all the time. It comes across that you think colouring is a chore for you. I would hate to come across like that in a video. But anyway you do you...I guess.
@@koriefrith7384 Colouring is certainly not a chore for me at all, sorry it came across that way.
@@koriefrith7384 It's interesting that you say it comes across that Rachel thinks colouring is a chore for her, when her whole message in this video is that colouring is meant to be fun and people should do it in whatever way they enjoy. For me, the approach you think people 'should' take, ie colouring to 'stretch boundaries and get out of your comfort zone' and colouring pages you don't like, absolutely makes colouring sound like a chore, while Rachel's video makes it sound like an enjoyable, relaxing, judgement-free hobby. Certainly, life can be about 'new growth and opportunities to learn', but for some people, that might be about learning to relax, ignore the judgement of others and appreciate the freedom to do what they enjoy. If colouring, for you, is about self-improvement, striving for perfection and forcing yourself to work on things you don't like, that's absolutely fine! Feel free to press on with that. But it doesn't mean it should be like that for anyone else.
@@redstar1976 . I totally agree. I love colouring, Rachel style. It’s my comfort zone. There are enough pressures to move out of it but I like it. There are plenty of TH-cam vids if I want my page to look like a printed story book and maybe someday I will but not today! I find Rachel very encouraging and her 20 - 30 min slots suit me.