Alternative colouring books for cynics and the dirty-minded

Stylist.co.uk January 2016

The adult colouring book craze still appears to be in full swing. For some of us, however, the idea of returning to a childhood activity for the purposes of mindfulness is enough to upset our equilibrium in itself.

It’s not just that indulging in a primary school pursuit feels infantilising, it’s also the emphasis on the calming benefits of the hobby that sometimes gets our goat.

For the truly anxious, it will take more than cracking open a packet of Crayola to soothe our troubled minds. 

There is a new breed of adult colouring books, however, that might be more appealing. Top of our list is The Passive-Aggressive Colouring Book.

Author Charlotte Farmer, an illustrator based in Bath, says "The book came about as a reaction to all the calm colouring books that are everywhere at the moment, full of beautiful flowers... and cute birds - one of the first pages I did was the garden full of weeds, slugs and snails, quickly followed by the noisy and slightly angry looking dawn chorus birds."

Farmer's illustrations are a welcome antidote to supposedly calming scenes of nature. She says" Other inspirations are my inability to touch my toes, my noisy neighbours and my failure to eat kale and juice carrots on a regular basis - which I guess could be summed up as my lack of perfect life, I'm not mindful and can't function without background noise and coffee!"

If The Passive-Aggressive Colouring Book doesn’t take your fancy however, maybe Fill Me In by Sarah McDonnell – a raunchier take on the trend – might.

McDonnell, a London-based designer said she took her inspiration from the famous erotic text, The Kama Sutra. Whilst strictly NSFW, colouring in pictures of couples in various scenarios and positions might prove stress-busting for some.

And possibly more niche is The Corbyn Colouring Book by illustrator James Nunn, depicting the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in various comic scenarios.

Perhaps most pointed is the illustration of Corbyn as King Canute, the 11th century King who allegedly thought he had supernatural powers and could hold back the tide.

Old Street Publishing , the company behind The Corbyn Colouring Book are thinking of publishing a David Bowie colouring book next.