Adult Coloring Books Helping Grownups Calm Their Inner Child

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Some liken it to meditation, others call it artful mindfulness. Whatever the reason, adults have started coloring, and adult coloring books are topping the bestseller lists.

Grownups – mainly women for some reason -- have been coloring for many months now, in groups at coloring parties, or alone in front of their TVs.

Scottish coloring book illustrator Johanna Basford was one of the first to capture the market. She has already sold more than 16 million copies of her coloring books, "Secret Garden" and "Enchanted Forest." Basford has two new ones coming out later this year. "Magical Jungle" is due out in August, followed in October by "Johanna's Christmas," publisher Penguin Random House announced Tuesday.

But there are plenty other coloring books for adults to choose from. Almost all of them promise to relieve tension. Chat Thérapie on Amazon.fr, for example, is a series of 100 anti-stress, purring cats; The Little Book of Calm Colouring: Portable Relaxing, purports to do exactly what its title says.

And just as adult bikers didn't borrow their kids' Schwinns, adult colorers haven't copped their kids' Crayola boxes. The coloring craze has created a demand for more sophisticated artistic tools: exotic pens and pencils, with beautifully colored pigments, ink blending foam, leather pen and pencil carrying cases, and expensive paper.

For more ideas on ways color your world, check out the website adultcoloring.net. or go to www.coloring-pages-adults.com where you can download "difficult" coloring pages in just about every theme imaginable. There's an adult coloring community on Facebook and a 'Best Of' video on Wiki.ezvid.com.

And remember… stay inside the lines!

CBSSF.com writer, producer Jan Mabry is also executive producer and host of The Bronze Report. She lives in Northern California. Follow her on Twitter @janmabr.