Making coloring books can either be asimple one time project, an ongoing classroom learning tool or a greatbusiness to get into. Here are some tips to get you going.
Making coloring books can either be asimple one-time project, an ongoing classroom learning tool or a greatbusiness to get into. Here are some tips to get you going.
Choose A Theme:
There are, of course, several options here. You can make a whole bookthat is compiled solely of family members, of the children themselves,of animals, of a recent trip to the circus, or really of anything youcan imagine. Try to choose a theme that the children will be interestedin and that they will enjoy coloring. You can even make this a learningexperience, such as making your them the first Thanksgiving, orsomething of the sort. The sky is the limit here. You may even findthat you have such a knack for coloring book ideas that you decode tocreate your own business!
Choose Your Images:
Once you have decided what your theme is going to be, start compilingsome images. Depending on how you are going to make them into black andwhite coloring-book pictures, you will either need to print them out orsimply use the digital images. When you are choosing images, pick theones that you think the children will connect with and enjoy the most,and that will be fairly easy to render into outlines while remainingrecognizable. Choose images that don't have complex backgrounds ortextures.
If your theme is a recent trip, make sure that you have a goodchronology of the events, and that the child will have fun rememberingthem. When you are choosing the photos, you can also start to thinkabout how long you want the coloring book to be. Fifteen to twentypages is probably the most you want to do, unless you have a largerproject in mind.
Creating Coloring Images:
If you are making the images on your computer, scan them and importthem to a photo editing program such as Photoshop or something similar.Convert the image to black and white and and adjust the brightness andcontrast to get the images as close to outline form as you can. Yoursoftware should have an option called "find edges." If so, use it inorder to help make the photo look more like a sketch done with apencil. This is a phase of the project that will take someexperimenting. You may be able to find more in-depth tutorials onlineor within your software's user manual.
If you are going the non-digital route for this part of the project,you can simply find some tracing paper and pencils and get to work. Youmay want to make copies so you don't leave indentations on the originalphotos. Make sure that your work area is well lighted, or get alighting box to help with accuracy. When you are finished, darken thelines with a felt tip pen and scan the images into your computer.
Binding:
There are a few options here. You can go the simple route and use abooklet maker or stapler for saddle stitching, or you can use somethingmore permanent and durable like plastic comb or spiral coil binding.You can get these machines for fairly cheaply, and they are very easyto use, so if you plan on making a lot of coloring books (or any otherkinds of books) now or in the future, you might want to look intohaving your own binding system on hand to save you money.
Article Tags: Coloring Book
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