How To Create A Coloring Book With Canva FOR FREE
If you are looking for a way to earn money from home or do remote work in general, one of many options you have is self-publishing. In this blog article, I talk about the process of creating a coloring book for adults or children. Creating coloring books is a truly rewarding activity since you can have fun while creating and someone else will have fun with your book after it is published!
It is not necessary to spend any money beforehand, there are many free tools and resources you can use for your coloring book. But let’s break this down into smaller steps!
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1. Get an idea of what you want to create
I’m a firm believer that you should only create products that you’d buy yourself. This way, you’ve not only fun creating it but also can be much more specific with the details of it by asking yourself the simple question: What would make myself buy it?
2. Plan your coloring book
After your initial brainstorming, get the facts down: Which format would you like it to be, how many pages will it have, should it be made for children (simple designs with big areas to color in and thick lines) or adults (can be more intricate designs with lots of details and thinner lines)? Also, give some thoughts to where you want to publish it?
3. Choose the program you want to work with
First, try using what you’re already having - maybe Powerpoint, maybe Photoshop? There are many online tools as well that you can use for free, for example Canva or Vecteezy. I personally create my coloring books mostly in Canva and PowerPoint, but also use a bit of Photoshop occasionally. My first coloring book was exclusively created in Canva, both the interior and the cover, so definitely no need for the use of multiple programs. As I said before - use what you already have.
4. Own drawings or digital graphics - Why not both?
You can decide to use your own drawings for your coloring book or look for digital graphics online that are either free to use or with a paid license for commercial usage. This doesn’t have to be an either/or-question - you can mix your drawings with digital elements as well!
5. Create pages with unique motifs
Add the elements you’ve gathered to your pages, combine them in any way that looks good. I’d recommend to paying attention to the line thickness of different elements and making them approximately the same. This creates an even look to your designs.
You can always adjust the size, orientation, or color of your illustrations.
6. Create a cover
I’d recommend creating the cover as your last step because this way you can use actual designs from your coloring book to put on the cover. It’s always a good idea to let customers know, what they will find inside.
7. Save as PDF and distribute
Save your finished coloring book as PDF - decide, if you want to print it for yourself and distribute from home or if you want to hand over the digital file to a publishing company that handles the distribution for you. Selling works best, if you already have a community on social media or if you write a newsletter that many have subscribed to.
Let your followers know, that your book is out!