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The Artist's Own Sketches to Color

Welcome to Stacey's online coloring pages. This is an unusual selection of drawings, as they are all from one artist; me! My coloring book pages are a collection of my own original sketches of my favorite animals, species, and breeds I admire.

I've left the drawings as rough original sketches on purpose; to let you see how it was drawn. They're not "cleaned up" with even, uniform lines, normally found in commercial coloring books. This is truly a personal collection aimed to let you see how I draw. I want you to see how I find the lines.

I wanted my coloring books to keep their spontaneity. I know I'd personally choose something that would allow me to do more than just color between oversimplified lines. I want you to be able to draw with me, not simply "fill in empty spaces".

Thankfully, we're living during a coloring book renaissance and original coloring pages are sought after by all ages. Learning how to draw is the foundation of any type of art and design, and it begins with endless sketching and learning from each subject. My coloring pages encourage you to "sketch" along with me. Follow along with me, as I find the lines.

As I am drawing, I want you to find the edges, shapes, and textures. As my eye follows the outline of whatever I am drawing, I am following the movement of each subject. My eye flows around the outside of the fish or horse, I want to pull your eye along that line so you may feel the energy of that Arabian horse or Betta fish. It's not about between the lines; it is about the line itself.

To learn more about how I draw, you can pick up a copy of the book, "The Natural Way to Draw", and learn to feel the volume and the motion of your subjects. The author teaches you how your eye travels around any shape, whether it's a cat, a horse, or a person's body. I began learning from this book when I was about eleven years old. It fit right into the linear style of drawing I was naturally creating, and it's still the foundation of how I see it today.

It's my pleasure to share my drawings with you. I hope to encourage your own artistic talents, and encourage you to keep on drawing! I've drawn horses thousands of times over the decades, yet they rarely come out the way I planned. If I want my horses to be exceptional, I need to learn how to see other animals correctly, too. So my sketchbook is filled with all types of animals and people. 

I hope your own art is encouraged by my sketches. Keep sketching and drawing new things every day, and you'll see your artwork improve over time. Since we start a finished work of art with imperfect sketches just like these, here's a good place to start.

Return often to discover the lines with me.