A couple of years ago I drew up a gigposter for a show I was putting on and used one of my friends as the model for it. It was a cartoony number with her on a couch drinking and playing video games. When I finished it she had mentioned how cool it would be to have a copy that she could color herself. She even mentioned how fun it would be to have a whole coloring book of my art. She wasn't wrong. I always outline everything in black n white and then scanned it into photoshop to color it. I thought about how much I enjoy coloring my own drawings and then the lightbulb in my punk rock trained brain started flickering.
I did a lot of research about coloring books. There is actually a huge market for what they call "adult coloring books." There are studies out there showing that adults are buying coloring books of all kinds and using them as therapy tools. This is something I don't think I fully realized applied to my own mental health. Drawing and coloring gave my brain a break. I'm able to kinda zone out and get some inner peace when I'm creating. I've always felt better after a good drawing session.
In the beginning, I thought about printing everything out myself and assembling it like a zine. I remembered the hours of my life spent at the local Kinkos (copy store) using all of the free office supplies to cut and paste flyers for punk shows and making dumb little zines. I remembered the hum of the copy machines, running into friends that were doing the same thing, the labor of stapling everything together, and the endorphins released when the project was finished. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. For a timeframe, this was all around 1998-2000, before the advent of the internet as we know it.
So here I am. It's 2022. I have every tool available to me now, but even better. I researched different print-on-demand sites. I looked at different online shops to sell my stupid coloring book through. There were many nights spent drinking with friends and bouncing ideas back and forth. My friends have been my greatest resource so far. Aside from general support, each one of them has their own experiences that differ from mine. Marianne spent a few years selling terrariums through Etsy. Cassandra worked at a book store and knows the ins and outs of that game and did promotion work for a big coffee company. Avery loves numbers and paperwork and was more than happy to read through the fine print of some of these sites and point out that most print-on-demand shops take 90% of the profit for themselves. Fuck that. Every one of my friends had a nugget of knowledge for me and stopped me from making some big mistakes.
I decided on my printer. Through them I could get an actual professional looking product with nice binding and quality supplies for a great price. I got myself an Etsy account to sell everything through. My first book is comprised of different drawings I've done for punk shows and other things over the years. It has a ton of variety in styles to it and I dig that. During one particularly fun hang session with my buds, I came up with the idea to make penis-shaped crayons. Now I offer a 4-pack of dick crayons to go with the coloring book. I launched the Etsy site over Thanksgiving and I have sold a lot of books, crayons, and original art. If I didn't have the DIY mentality that my years in punk rock had taught me, I don't think this would have come to be a reality. And it truly is a silly reality. My 10 year-old self would be so proud.
I've already started drawing the next two books of all original illustrations to color. The next one is going to be a book full of holiday dicks. When writing songs, they say you should write what you know. I draw what I know. I draw dicks. Xmas dicks, Halloween dicks, Paddy's Day dicks with bondage gear...all the dicks.
I sit back every day and laugh at myself. In a matter of a few weeks, I was able to publish a coloring book. Technology is amazing, especially when you manipulate it to throw a little positivity into this stupid shit terrible world. And punk rock is the best teacher ever. I'm just a dumb punk guy. If I can do it, anyone can.
If you want to check out what I'm doing, head over to etsy.com/shop/dingdongink.
