Books
‘Stoner’s Coloring Book’ Hits Bookstores, New Heights
Warning: adult coloring books can be habit-forming.
“I think anything that makes people happy has the power to be addictive,” says Laguna Beach, California artist Jared Hoffman. He’s the author of the breakout success adult coloring book, “The Stoner’s Coloring Book: Coloring for High-Minded Adults.” It debuts in bookstores nationwide this month.
America craves adult coloring books. Hoffman found a 1,200 percent increase in sales from 2014 to 2015. And it’s precisely because they’re such a soothing, meditative, joyful activity for otherwise jaded adults and parents. In April, the New York Times reported a correlation between life stressors and an increase in coloring book use by adults.
Stress helped launch Hoffman’s book. He was stressed about getting his career on-track after finishing a degree in Information Sciences from Cornell University in 2015. Back at home in Orange County, CA., making simple, black-and-white line drawings soothed him. One day, the longtime indica flower-lover noticed how one drawing functioned as a heady coloring book page. The “High Man’s Coloring Book” idea bloomed.
“I was shocked these books didn’t already exist,” he said. “When I told my friends, they instantly started calling it ‘The Stoner’s Coloring Book’ and the name stuck.”
Transgressive energy
Hoffman Kickstarted the project. Huffington Post coverage triggered a wave of press. And over $10,079 in funding from 370 backers followed.
Hoffman realizes he tapped some transgressive artistic energy by taking a child’s art form (coloring books), and applying it to an adult-themed topic (cannabis).
After self-producing 1,200 books, a ten times bigger print run comes out this week from the “Big 5” book publisher Penguin Random House. The 41-illustration paperback features work from nine artists, ranging from the psychedelic to the urban to R. Crumb-like faces.
That one whimsical drawing changed Hoffman’s life, too. This Summer, he moves to New York to start a career not as a coder, but an artist.
A trippy, squiggly line tunnel coloring page, found in the Stoner’s Coloring Book
COLORING CONTEST!
Click on this link for a high-resolution coloring page of “Trees and Mushrooms” excerpted from the stunning and successful “Stoner’s Coloring Book”, by Jared Hoffman — released worldwide June 21 on Penguin Random House books.
1) Download it!
2) Print it!
3) Color it!
4) Snap a photo of it!
5) Email it to [email protected] by July 15th. We’ll share our favorite artists and send them fun prizes like a G Pen Elite, new books, clothing and other schwag!
The Stoner’s Coloring Book: Coloring for High-Minded Adults
