Lolita Fashion Colouring Books and Pages

As the Bibliotheca bloggers consider the topic of self-care within J-fashion this month, we are reminded of the various aspects underneath that umbrella term. The lolita lifestyler hacks and tricks that help us stay grounded. The common pitfalls of social media that may negatively affect our mental health and how to avoid those. Taking small, mostly everyday things and turning them into self-care rituals that work for us. For my own contribution to this month’s theme I'd like to talk about something that I have rediscovered relatively recently (i.e. within the last half a decade or so) and which really helps me unwind, relax and find a bit of inner peace as part of my self-care. It's not even an exclusively lolita thing either, though the examples that I will showcase here are all lolita or at least lolita-adjacent. And that's colouring books and colouring pages.

The Intro

Colouring books for adults aren't necessarily a heavily researched topic, so it's hard to find an exact date of when they emerged as a thing. I certainly noticed that something was afoot with that around the early-to-mid-2010s, maybe a little earlier. They just seemed to have appeared suddenly, possibly as a result of my generation both reclaiming childhood activities and within the wider discussion around mental health. It wasn't until around... phew, I want to say 2016/2017 when my work's all-day training event was themed around mental health and I decided to spend some time at the colouring table. Being able to play with colours and to have something that was both methodical as well as creative to do proved soothing and fun. I'm sure I did lots of colouring as a child, not that anything in particular sticks in my memory, but since drawing was never my strong suit, colouring felt easier.

The Lolita Colouring Books and Pages

Since then I have acquired several colouring books and some random pages, most of which I bought myself. The great thing about them is that, just like much about lolita fashion in general, these are things that support the artists we love, a way for us to support people within our own community. So on top of the ones that I own, I will also mention a few other ones I am aware of, which you may find enjoyable.

"Frilly Colors" by Gloria Copetillo

This might be the first one that I ever became aware of - certainly the first one that I purchased myself. I even reviewed it on my blog upon receipt, so head over to that post for more. The great thing about this one is that the chibi-style illustrations are the perfect introduction to people who may be new (or new-again) to colouring. Simple lines without a lot of detail won't overwhelm anyone new to the activity, but also provide a blank enough canvas for those more ambitious ones to insert plenty of details of their own.

It's such a small book, but it's pretty packed with cute chibi-lolitas to colour in.

One of the ones I've done so far. How could I resist a retro lolita one?

"Lolita Fashion: Coloring Book for Adults" by Glenn Song

This one I had actually won in Fluffy Kawaii Jo's giveaway three years ago now. Whilst Glenn Song, as far as I gathered, doesn't seem to be a lolita fashion wearer himself, he is certainly a well-informed admirer and his work generally gas plenty of influences from Japan. So although some of the pages in this book lean quite heavily towards cosplay, the lolita silhouette and level of detail are still there. And let's face it, being able to explore cosplay lolita through colouring is the safest way of doing so imaginable!

The cover gives you a very good idea of what to expect inside.

And I cannot state enough how glad I am that these are single-sided illustrations, no worries about bleeding ruining the image behind it!

"Otogi no Kuni no Monogatari"

The latest acquisition in my collection, this isn't directly lolita-fashion related, but certainly very adjacent in terms of aesthetic. The images inside depict scenes from popular fairytales, such as Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, but also from films, e.g. Roman Holiday. What's even better is that this is a collection by various artists, though seasoned lolitas will of course recognise Imai Kira, whose work is on the cover. But the book not only attributes each image to its author, it also includes an index at the back with the author's name, small versions of their works within the book and synopses of the stories for those unfamiliar with them. Of course, being entirely in Japanese will make that part inaccessible to most, but the images are still there for everyone, with a nice range of simpler and more intricate ones for all levels.

I could not resist the combination of Imai Kira and colouring pages. If Sakizo also ever decided to make a colouring book though... [eyes emoji]

Don't get me wrong, I am HELLA intimidated by attempting any of Imai Kira's illustrations. But I'll still give them a go!

The index at the end is a great idea, both to give proper credit to each artist and to teach us about the stories depicted because some I have never heard of.

Dream Masquerade Carnival Colouring Book

Not one that's commercially available, as this was a freebie for Dream Masquerade Carnival attendees. It's only a few pages, including artwork by artists who were in attendance, with I believe most images being created especially for the book. As you may have gathered, I haven't touched this one yet, but I will soon enough!

I know that big events like this are still quite some way into the future, but if event organisers wanted to give me colouring pages as freebies every time, I would be so very, very happy!

The full list of artists included.

Angelic Pretty's colouring pages

I'm not entirely sure when or why these came about - but I do know that at one point Angelic Pretty released a handful of colouring pages. I have a sneaky suspicion that this was some sort of event special, but please don't quote me on that. Yet despite that fact, a good soul on LiveJournal uploaded scans once upon a time with the provision that people use these respectfully for their own pleasure. You can find that post here, where you can still download the images from, but you can also search for Angelic Pretty coloring book and Google should help you, since these have been in circulation for quite a number of years.

One page that I've done and one that I haven't. But will eventually.

People Who Have Released Colouring Books and Pages

Without meaning to sound like I'm dumping a bunch of great artists into one sack, our community also has fantastic artists who will on occasion release colouring pages for everyone to enjoy. Whilst I encourage you to (respectfully and politely!) ask your favourite artists whether that's something that they have or that they plan on doing in the future, there are a few who I'm certain have done it previously. Laura Ribeiro, @lazhiral, released a PDF of several pages around March/April 2020 completely for free, to help people cope with lockdown, though she has since restricted access to her blog where these were hosted. (I do still have the document, though out of respect for the artist won't include a downloadable file. However, if you are interested in these, let me know, I can email you the document privately, as a friend.) Lou Graves aka @gravelvetart has done some in the past, definitely as an actual book on his Etsy, though I have a suspicion he also had something as Patreon exclusives. Either way, his would be a perfect choice for more gothic-inclined colourists. Whilst also not something that's commercially available, the last Dentelles Kickstarter included colouring pages by the featured artists for backers at certain levels, which given the nature of the zine overall is something that may feature in the future again. Meshya Nightingale was previewing colouring pages for some time, though I believe the release of the book got postponed - follow her on Instagram @meshyaart and Facebook to make sure you don't miss it.

Since this was after lockdown was imposed, I did this one digitally, but it was not quite what I was looking for. But with return to the office happening soon, I will be sure to print out Laura Ribeiro's booklet for myself to give it a proper go. Art by Laura Ribeiro, colouring by me.

Final Words

To me colouring is a fantastic activity to incorporate into my self-care. Granted, I will get into it intensively for a bit and then drop out for months at a time, before starting again and promising myself to be better about managing my time to include more colouring, vicious circle and all that, but still! It gives me something to do with my hands, which is always great for one's mental health, as well as lets me explore the aspects of lolita fashion that I might not otherwise try myself. There is definitely great comfort in being able to try a colour combination on paper and see it on an actual lolita silhouette before committing to buying or making such an outfit. Or to let loose those cosplay lolita fantasies that we don't actually feel inclined to make real ourselves, but would be happier knowing that they exist somehow. The fact that lolita-specific colouring books and pages exist gives us yet another way to engage with this fashion, regardless of whether one is part of a community or not. And as I said, it's another way to support creative individuals within our own community by purchasing art from artists we admire.

The big problem that I have now is that I've inspired myself so much to sit down and do some colouring now, but my new set of colouring pencils hasn't arrived yet, so I gotta wait for that first. But seeing as it's a long weekend in the UK and they should arrive in time for that, I look forward to spending a quiet Bank Holiday Monday doing a bit of that. Because Mana-sama knows I need something like this to unwind!