The top-selling colouring books in the UK & Ireland vary quite a bit from the most popular books in the US this year. I thought that might be interesting for everyone to see.
Colorists in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland seem to lean towards fantasy and how-to technique types of coloring books. Take a look at what’s being colored across the pond from the United States. In the years of Covid and shutdowns, the favorites have changed to include lots of garden and flower-centered books which does make sense with people having more time at home to spend in their gardens.
Watercolor Coloring Books Top the List
Painterly Days Flowers
This book encapsulates both the English Garden and the art of watercolor painting. I personally found this style of watercolor coloring difficult but if it’s another hobby you enjoy, combining them would be perfect. The number 3 slot was filled by another of Kristy Rice’s books The Art for Joy’s Sake Journal: Watercolor Discovery and Releasing Your Creative Spirit and 20. Kristy’s Summer Cutting Garden – A Watercolor Colouring Book
World of Flowers: A Colouring Book and Floral Adventure
How to Draw Inky Wonderlands by Johanna Basford
Johanna’s book was also one of the top books in the US. I’m having a lot of fun in that book although I’m still not anywhere close to the magicalness of our Queen of Coloring.
How to Color Books
One of the top-selling colouring books in the UK is my favorite for beginners as well.
Design Originals New Guide to Coloring
Colorist’s Special Effects
Here’s another how-to-color book with step-by-step guides to making your adult coloring pages POP.
101 Textures in Colored Pencil
Practical step-by-step drawing techniques for rendering a variety of surfaces & textures. This makes the 3rd technique book in the top 10.
Color Workshop: A Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Artistic Effects
Disney Coloring Books
Disney continues to top the list throughout the United Kingdom with several of the top slots going to Disney Colouring Books, I wonder if people from the UK visit Disney in Paris as much as people in the US do?
Disney Dreams Collection Thomas Kinkade Studios Colouring Book
I’ve seen this book as well as the newer larger format Thomas Kinkade Disney book and they are spectacular pieces of art.
Art Therapy Disney Animals Colouring Book
Descendants 2 a Wickedly Cool Coloring Book
Color by Number Books are as popular as ever.
Creative Sea Life Color by Number – Creative Haven
Color by Number Dogs by Creative Haven
Trianimals: Color Me Wild: 60 Color-By-Number Geometric Artworks
Escape to Wonderland by Good Wives & Warriors
This is one of my personal favorites, I adore all the Good Wives & Warriors coloring books so much that I did an entire page devoted to them. The size, the paper and the unbelievably imaginative illustrations.
Sticker Books
Kaleidoscope Sticker Mosaics: Neon Nature
The UK Sticker Mosaics are what we in the states call Paint by Sticker books. I’ve never seen this one before.
Antiquarian Sticker Book, The: Over 1,000 Exquisite Victorian Stickers
I think more and more of us are delving into art as a way to tap into our creative selves for self-care and mental health. Taking mixed media art classes online is exploding and this sticker book is a favorite for art journaling.
Bob Ross Happy Little Sticker Puzzles
Mandala Coloring Books
100 Amazing Patterns by Jade Summer
The Art of Mandala: Adult Colouring Book (This was also a top book for US Colorists)
Extreme Coloring Books
Millie Marotta’s Wild Savannah Postcard Book
You can find a full page about Millie’s amazing illustrated coloring books here.
Mythomorphia by Kerby Rosanes – Extreme Colouring
Another of my personal favorites, completely magical. Here is my page dedicated to Kerby.
If you’d like to see the top colouring books in the US click here. It’s quite interesting how different popular books are in different countries. I’ll be featuring Canadians top Colouring books next.
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Kristy Rice’s book has got a very poor review in that she does not use proper water colour paper. I would agree with this as I have bought one of her books previously. While it is thicker and more robust than normal colouring books, the pages were definitely not water colour paper.
The 101 textures is a very good book even though I haven’t had the time to use it. I have recommended this book to others including a YouTuber The Art Spirits who featured it on one of her videos.
I advise caution with the Kaleidoscope book, as I have bought 2 different types – but not this one, and the pieces were not that good. They would either overlap into another segment, or they were not cut out correctly. But maybe this one is different; I certainly would like to know if this is the case.
Escape to Wonderland I have, and it is brilliant. I have 3 of the Good Wives & Warriors books and I adore the paper; the tooth is just perfect for colouring pencils.
Just my take on some of the books in the list that I have have or have had 🙂
I found those sticker type books really difficult to deal with but my grandson adores them so maybe it’s a certain personality type. I had a woman in my coloring group at the library that adored them all. She used a tweezer to get them just right. It wasn’t a Kaleidoscope book though it was the Paint by Sticker type that we have in the US. I thought Kristy’s books were gorgeous but as a very beginning watercolorist, I had no idea what to do with them. I think you’d have to follow my advice on using watercolors in coloring books and use a very dry method. I ended up gifting that book to someone else. Good Wives & Warriors I have the four books that are the same size, and the floral one. I honestly adore them all and I think I’ve got more colored in pictures in those than almost any other book. The only one I don’t have is the newest “The the Ends of the Earth”
What would you say your top 10 favorite books are?