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Every year brings new coloring books, but one useful guide to what's actually popular is what people buy. We looked at a year of sales in our shop, from October 2025 to October 2026, to see which themes our customers chose most. Here's what stood out, with ideas for supplies and pages to try for each.
1. Grayscale realism
Grayscale pages were the clearest trend in our shop: 18 of our 25 best-selling products in the last year were grayscale sets. A grayscale page comes already shaded in black and white. You color over the top, and the gray does the shading for you, so the finished page looks deep and realistic.
Soft, translucent colored pencils work well here, because the gray shows through. A colorless blender pencil smooths the layers together.
101 Relaxing Landscapes, our best-selling grayscale set this year.
Try: Grayscale Coloring Pages. New to grayscale? Our guide to mastering grayscale coloring walks you through your first page.
2. Nature, with a twist
50 Botanical Anatomy had more orders than any other product in our shop this year. Each page wraps flowers around a part of human anatomy, such as the heart, brain, lungs or spine, in fine detail. Nature in general sold well too, from wild animals to cottage gardens.
Detailed line work like this suits pencils with a sharp point. A good-value pencil set with a wide range of colors is a good start.
50 Botanical Anatomy: flowers and human anatomy, our most-ordered set this year.
Explore: Flower Coloring Pages, Animal Coloring Pages and Landscape Coloring Pages.
3. Fantasy and mythology
Mythical creatures, fantasy portraits and gods from myth were all in our top 25 this year. These pages are full of scales, feathers, armor and jewelry, so they reward a few extra tools. Glitter gel pens add sparkle to scales, gems and wings, and a white gel pen picks out highlights in eyes and on wings.
60 Mythical Creatures: dragons, unicorns, phoenixes and more.
Explore: Fantasy Coloring Pages.
4. Seasonal sets
Halloween and Christmas sets were 8 of our 25 best sellers this year, led by Spooky Pumpkin and 60 Merry Christmas Grayscale. Seasonal sets give you a reason to color at a set time each year, and finished pages double as decorations.
Explore: Halloween Coloring Pages, Christmas Coloring Pages, and our Top 10 Halloween coloring pages for 2026.
5. Bold and easy pages
Not every session needs fine detail. Bold and easy pages have thick outlines and large spaces, so they're quick to finish and comfortable for tired eyes or shaky hands. They're also a good fit for markers: alcohol markers cover large areas smoothly without streaks.
Explore: Bold & Easy Coloring Pages.
6. Printable and digital pages
Coloring pages don't have to come in a printed book. A PDF can be printed as many times as you like, so you can practice on one copy and keep a clean one for later. Print on heavier paper such as cardstock if you like to layer a lot of color, and if you print often, a tank printer like the Epson EcoTank avoids buying cartridges. Our printing guide covers paper and settings.
You can also color the same PDFs on a tablet. Import a page into a drawing app, add a layer set to Multiply, and color with an Apple Pencil or another stylus. See The Best Digital Tools for Coloring for more.
To color on the go, print a few pages, fold them into a folder, and carry your pencils in a travel pencil case.
Supplies to try this year
- Colored pencils: Prismacolor Premier for soft, blendable color, or Castle Art Supplies for a large set at a lower price.
- Blending: a colorless blender pencil.
- Markers: alcohol markers for bold pages.
- Gel pens: a glitter set for sparkle and a white gel pen for highlights.
- Paper and printing: cardstock and a tank printer.
For a side-by-side comparison of pencils, markers and gel pens, see Explore Top Coloring Tools.
Where to find pages
All the themes above are in our shop as instant PDF downloads. Browse all adult coloring pages, or try a few free coloring pages first. If you want everything, the Entire Shop Bundle includes every design in the store.
Looking back? See last year's edition: Coloring Book Trends 2025.