Word is out: Anechy Padron has published a handmade coloring book! Coloring has always been a real part of my life, though that doesn’t mean I’m a master of the art. In fact, I just purchased a book on coloring techniques and color theory to keep growing.

As a teenager, I spent countless hours coloring flowers. Needless to say, my friends made fun of me. Back then, I didn’t understand why I was so hung up on coloring, but now I do. That’s why it made perfect sense to create a coloring book to accompany my chapter book.

Art Therapy!

Coloring or doing any craft is relaxing, calming, and soothing. After a stressful day at work or school, there is nothing like tracing coloring books and filling every space with color to release the tension. I previously wrote a post about doodling and mental health—you can read it here.

Making Your Coloring Book

This week, I’m going to show you how I created my coloring book using Canva and Procreate.

• Canva: A free browser-based platform used to design all kinds of content like flyers, business cards, and social media posts. However, you need to be careful with the copyrights of the elements and fonts Canva offers; you might not automatically have the rights to use them on your merchandise. Bear with me, and I’ll tell you how to handle that issue.
• Procreate: An app you can purchase for a one-time fee of $12.99. It allows you to draw, paint, and design, and you can easily convert your files into a PDF or PNG. Many children’s book authors use Procreate for their illustrations. To use it, you’ll need an iPad (6th generation or newer) and a stylus pen.

The Learning Curve

Mastering Canva and Procreate takes what everything else does: time, YouTube videos, and practice. Since I’m taking the time to learn to draw and paint, I decided to join Skillshare, where I can learn at my own pace. If you’re interested, use my link, and we both get a free month! Otherwise, YouTube is full of great tutorials.

My Process: The Stepping Stones

Even though anyone can figure this out with a Google search, I’ve created a “cheat sheet” to save you time.

• Sizing: Most coloring books are 8.5” x 11”.
• Bleed vs. No Bleed: “Bleed” means the illustration extends all the way to the edge of the page. If you are creating a book with bleed, your file size in Canva should be 8.625” x 11.25”.
• Margins: You’ll need a margin of 0.5” on the top, bottom, and outer sides, and 0.375”–0.5” for the inner gutter. (Note: You can also download pre-formatted templates from Amazon KDP or IngramSpark).
• Layout: The coloring design is usually placed on the right-hand side (odd pages), leaving the left side (even pages) blank to prevent markers from bleeding through.
• Quality: Ensure your line art is high resolution (300 DPI). A standard page count is usually between 50 and 100 pages.
• Saving: Save your files as PDF Print, check “Flatten PDF,” and set the colors to CMYK (the best setting for professional printing).

Structuring Your Coloring Book

To keep this post from getting too long, I’ll include this YouTube link explaining the details of preparing your cover and manuscript files. It is also important to structure the interior properly. You will need:

1. A Title Page
2. A Copyright Page (if you own the art rights)
3. A “This Book Belongs To” page
4. Back Matter: I included a page at the end encouraging readers to share pictures of their finished pages on my website. This is optional, but a great way to connect!

Details to Consider

To save your file on Canva using the “Flatten PDF” and “CMYK” features, you need Canva Pro. I used a free trial to finish my files, which worked well because it forced me not to procrastinate!

However, if you don’t have Canva Pro and—like me—don’t want to pay $20 a month for a program you only use occasionally, I found a children’s author who offers a PDF converter for a very reasonable price. Her name is Heather Cash, and her website is super helpful!

Au Revoir

Since this topic is heavy on details, I’ll stop here for now. I truly appreciate you taking the time to read my post! Let me know in the comments if this was helpful or if I missed anything. Next week, I’ll be back to share tips on writing techniques. Also, if you are interested in coloring with me, you can purchase my Coloring Book here.