When Amanda Rulton picked up a cheap coloring book and some felt-tip pens, she didn’t expect the activity to stick.
It came when she was in the middle of a health crisis. Eighteen months ago, she had an infection and was rushed into emergency surgery — twice — followed by numerous hospital stays.
“My mental health has completely collapsed,” said Rulton, 28, from Liverpool, in the UK. “I can’t do the hobbies I once enjoyed, so having time to sit and be present in something that isn’t strenuous or causing me harm has been really helpful. It’s about taking five minutes away from everything.”
For Rulton, coloring turned into a daily routine. She began posting videos of her sessions to her TikTok account @gremlinsafari, and stumbled onto ColorTok, TikTok’s growing community of adult colorers.
On her account, she shares “color with me” videos — quiet, cozy clips of her filling in pages — alongside updates on her recovery, coping strategies, and the coloring tools she’s testing.
Much of what fills her feed belongs to what TikTok users call “cozy coloring” — pages with thick outlines and soft themes, designed for slow, low-pressure evenings. It’s the same bold, easy style dominating ColorTok right now.
Coloring books for adults aren’t a new phenomenon. As historian Katherine Ott notes in The Public Domain Review, early “paint books” were marketed to grown-ups in the late 18th century, often framed as educational or moral tools.
Satirical adult coloring books surfaced in the 1960s, but adult coloring really caught on around 2015, when Johanna Basford’s intricate drawings in her books “Secret Garden” and “Enchanted Forest” became sensations. That year, sales of adult coloring books in the US jumped from around 1 million to more than 12 million copies, according to Nielsen BookScan data from the 2015 US Book Industry Year Review.
They seem to be going strong. TechSci Research reported the global adult coloring market to be worth $151 million in 2024, with it projected to reach $320 million by 2030.
But recently, a “cozy coloring” aesthetic has dominated adult coloring charts — simple line art with large shapes meant for quick, relaxing fills. Coco Wyo, a leading publisher that dominates bestseller lists, markets a Bold & Easy line for adults. Of Amazon’s best-sellers in October 2025, nearly half of the top adult coloring books emphasized the “bold & easy” style — a pull toward accessibility over intricacy, intended to soothe tired minds.
A London-based independent illustrator who posts on TikTok under the alias Miss Kitsch, who didn’t want us to use her real name in this article, has watched the market shift firsthand.
Her books blend bold outlines and soft, whimsical scenes that evoke nostalgia and calm. She said her books are designed to feel “comforting” rather than complex, reflecting a growing demand for simplicity in adult coloring.
“When I first started, my focus was on kids and teenagers,” she said. “But I quickly realized coloring books are hugely popular amongst adults. Today, the majority of my audience is adults, so I like to think of my books as a way to nurture the inner child within all of us.”
She said the nostalgia is powerful: “Many customers tell me that coloring makes them feel like a little kid again. For adults, it’s not only a way to unwind after a busy day, but also a chance to reconnect with creativity they may not have explored since childhood.”
Her inbox is full of stories about the wellness benefits. “Some of the most memorable messages come from people who are chronically ill and use coloring as a positive distraction during treatments,” she noted.
Meg, based in South Wales, who began independently making coloring books less than a year ago under the name Suzie Slug, creates fantasy-themed images from her home — filled with goblins, strange creatures, and tongue-in-cheek humor.
“I’ve always loved goblins and I realized there’s no goblin coloring books … so I made one,” she said.
“I tried to add some whimsy — something that would make children happy but also give adults a little giggle,” she added. For her fans, the appeal goes far beyond aesthetics. “So many people in my ‘Slug Club’ use coloring as an escape and a time to switch their brains off, and it’s nice to do something relaxed — and then at the end you get to be like, look I made this.”
From buddy-coloring sessions on Discord to independent creators publishing their own books, online communities have formed around calm, creativity and care.
Ciara McCabe, professor of neuroscience at the University of Reading, in the UK, said research is catching up with what hobbyists already feel. “We know that people who engage in hobbies and leisure activities have lower rates of depression,” she said. “If you have a good social network, you’re less likely to develop disorders like depression. We know hobbies work.”
Coloring, she suggested, works because it’s low stakes. “All you have to do is keep in between the lines. That’s actually very relaxing because it’s taking away all the other things we have to worry about on a daily basis.”
And it’s not just soothing, but protective. “Hobbies, social connections, doing stuff that’s pleasurable, motivating, something that gives your life purpose — those are protective factors. They can help prevent depression in the first place.”
For Girija Kaimal, professor of the Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, and author of “The Expressive Instinct: How Imagination and Creative Works Help Us Survive and Thrive,” coloring’s appeal runs deeper than nostalgia.
Kaimal’s insights stem from her 2019 small study of 39 adults, which found that just 45 minutes of art-making reduced negative emotions and increased feelings of self-efficacy — even among those with no prior art experience.
“I think of us as 21st century hunter-gatherers. Our bodies and minds are tens of thousands of years old. We worked with our hands; we used all our senses. Coloring takes us back there,” she explained. As for why it feels rewarding, “by the end of it, you have something colorful — and colorful signals health to us,” she explained. “In nature, when you see color, it usually signifies abundance; a fertile landscape.”
Kaimal said the move toward simpler, more structured pages reflects how “we’re all looking for respite from stress.”
“Coloring takes away that pressure of a blank slate,” she explained. “It has a structure — you’re set up for success.” She added that this kind of activity “lets people play again,” giving them a safe way to create without fear of failure.
And skill doesn’t matter. “Just the act is going to activate reward pathways. If you’re reflective about it, that deepens the effect. But either way, we should allow ourselves some silliness and fun.” Kaimal added. “We are allowed to play as adults, however silly.”
While critics sometimes dismiss coloring as a fad, the ColorTok community would beg to differ.
“Coloring has grown beyond a passing trend because it taps into something timeless,” said Miss Kitsch. “Our need to slow down, express ourselves and share creativity with others.”