Books in Grayscale: An OKC couple has produced 250 for the world of 'colorists'
Grayscale has been around since the first colorized photographs.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – There's something about coloring a picture that's oddly gratifying, says retired counselor Teresa Davis.
"It's really kind of relaxing," she insists.
She used them in her sessions for years, as well as taking them up herself, admitting, "For a while, that's all I did."
But there's coloring with crayons, and then what she caught on to.
It's called 'grayscale' coloring, which is much more challenging—more paint by numbers but without the numbers.
Teresa affirms, "It is sort of like that but a lot harder because you don't have something telling you what to color."
Grayscale has been around since the first colorized photographs.
Teresa and her husband Brad had no idea there were so many 'colorists' out there in the coloring universe.
"No," she laughs. "We did not have any idea there were that many people out there coloring and buying coloring books."
The Davises published their first 10 grayscale books from their own library of photographs.
"I'm a photographer too," she says.
The community of colorists out there clambered for more, and they obliged.
"Everybody loved them and so we started doing this."
By mid-April, 2024, the Davises had released their 250th coloring book, with more coming.
Teresa creates and chooses the images.
Brad does the covers and, "the final polishing of the product," he says.
Images still come from photographs, from the public domain, and now, images generated from Artificial Intelligence software.
"Any picture you want to make, it'll make it," Teresa insists.
The possibilities are endless.
Teresa and Brad are 'scaling up' in every way they can think.
The Davises publish their coloring books under the New Creations Coloring Book Series.
To see more about what they do, visit their Facebook group and page.
Great State is sponsored by Oklahoma Proton Center