Adult Christmas prompts
“Use this prompt” fills in the generator and sets the detail level. Every page is drawn fresh, so if one misses, change one detail and try again.
| For | Prompt | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern loversDetailed | a round Christmas wreath filled with holly leaves, berries, pine cones and a ribbon bow, with patterned ornaments Dense natural detail in a round frame. Every leaf and berry is a separate area. |
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| Scene loversDetailed | a snowy Christmas village street with small houses, a church, lamp posts, wreaths on the doors and a decorated tree in the square Architecture gives the dense, repeating detail adults like, with a sky left white for snowflakes. |
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| Mandala fansDetailed | a round mandala made of Christmas ornaments, stars, holly leaves and candy canes A symmetrical page where one pattern repeats around the center. |
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| KnittersDetailed | a pattern of reindeer, snowflakes and pine trees in rows, like the yoke of a knitted Christmas sweater Rows of repeating shapes that look good in two or three colors. |
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| Calm and easyMedium | a single large poinsettia with big petals and a ribbon bow, clean bold outlines Bold outlines and large areas, for an easy evening or for eyes that tire quickly. |
Choose a pattern, not just a scene
Detailed pages are not all the same. The three examples above show three kinds, and the words in your prompt choose between them:
| Kind | Words to use | Example above |
|---|---|---|
| Natural detail | holly, berries, pine cones, ribbon | Holly wreath |
| Architecture | village, church, lamp posts, wreaths on doors | Snowy village street |
| Repeating pattern | mandala, ornaments, stars, symmetrical | Ornament mandala |
Leave out “dark night” and “silhouette”, which pull the page toward solid black. Write “snow and stars drawn as outlines” and the sky stays white.
Print and paper
Pages download as 1024-pixel images, about 136 dots per inch on a letter sheet. That is fine for pencils and pens at home. Plain printer paper wrinkles under wet markers, so use heavier paper for markers, or put a spare sheet behind the page.
- Pencils. Print on plain paper and work from light to dark.
- Gel pens and fine markers. Heavier paper stops ink showing through to the back.
- Whole sets. Print the wreath, the village and the mandala together and color one a night through December.
What the research on adult coloring shows
Adult coloring is often sold as stress relief. In a 2005 experiment, 84 students who had been made briefly anxious colored a mandala, a plaid pattern or a blank sheet for 20 minutes. Anxiety fell about the same after the mandala and the plaid, and more than after the blank sheet (Curry and Kasser, Art Therapy). The research is small, and our article on adult coloring and anxiety covers what it cannot show.