Modern technology offers children a bounty of interactive experiences, but those familiar with Harold (of Purple Crayon fame) know true creativity doesn’t take much more than a few lines and a crayon.
Coloring books range from affordable to moderately expensive if you want those brand name characters children recognize. But one Albany artist is offering unique downloadable coloring pages at a price that’s hard to beat: free.
When Melina Smyres isn’t teaching web and graphic design courses at the College of St. Rose in Albany, she might be drawing an outline of a cat or cockatoo for a more elementary medium – coloring pages.
“I studied for my masters in design and I started creating a lot of my own images, and I created this style I am using for my coloring pages,” says Smyres.
Download Melina Smyres’ coloring pages at www.colorwithmimi.com.
The idea of creating coloring pages didn’t come to Smyres all out once. At first her sister, a preschool educator, suggested she do after-school activities for younger students. One day, when she was leading one of those activities, an educator asked if she’d be able to substitute for a Spanish teacher.
Smyres is part Spanish, but she didn’t know a lot of Spanish words to share with the students. That’s when she thought of using coloring pages as a teaching aid.
“I just kept drawing and drawing them,” she says, “and as the web kept getting more popular and people were printing things from the web, I realized I could put it out there for people to print themselves.”
After stockpiling a number of coloring images she wanted to share, she built her own website, www.colorwithmimi.com, to allow people to download them for free.
“My inspiration behind my drawing is to enjoy a happy form of expression,” says Smyres. “I enjoy the sense of certainty and joy I feel when I am drawing and coloring. I hope my drawings will encourage others to draw by hand, create and color.”
In addition to releasing her coloring pages online, she creates pages for books and is working on stories. She aims to create a dozen coloring pages each month and hopes to create more books.
She says she grew up in an artistic family, which she credits with helping foster her interest in art and design.
“Growing up, we pretty much always made art,” she says with a laugh. “Being around an artistic family, I just knew I wanted to be making art.”
In high school, she says, she had “so many interests” so being a designer allowed her a good way to communicate those interests with others.
Her favorite poet in high school was Emily Dickinson, and it was her life story that influenced Smyres to release her drawings.
Dickinson’s poems were largely unpublished during her lifetime, but her younger sister, Lavinia, found a trove of her poems after she died. Dickinson’s first book was published posthumously, primarily because of her sister.
“I realized that sometimes people create something, and they never really share it,” Smyres says. “I think no matter what, you always get something in return.”
People regularly write her, either through her website or Facebook page, “Color with Mimi,” thanking her for making her artwork available.
“A lot of them say that their children are just so happy using the coloring pages, and they just love picking out their own pages and will color for hours,” she says.
She also enjoys helping out libraries or other organizations that offer programs for children.
“I am hoping to help people that are in positions where they are already trying to help children,” she says. “Knowing that I can make a difference for kids that are less fortunate and organizations that don’t have as much funding makes me want to continue the project as well.”
