Create a Quick KDP Coloring Book Animal Mandala Pattern in Illustrator

[@artalismon]

Hello, I am Italian and I have lived in the UK for 14 years. Despite of that, it is not always easy to understand the plenty of accents for a foreigner. I love your accent and the way you talk, slow and clear, so everyone can understand your great lessons. You are the best. Thank you! Paola :)

[@paulmarles]

Hi Paola, Thank you for watching and I'm glad you were able to follow along! 🙂

[@etienne000001]

Thanks, Paul for the inspiration. Just a little tip. Instead using Pathfinder, using Clipping Mask (in the object menu) allows you to edit the mandala inside the antelope (move, resize, change the stroke...) at any time.

[@paulmarles]

Ok. That’s good to know. Thank you.

[@TheStifflersmom18]

thank you Etienne =) helps a lot

[@elsievanrooyen1788]

Thank you, Paul. I'm really learning how to use Illustrator by watching your videos. I've always wondered how to turn colored images into black and white and now I know.

[@paulmarles]

That’s great. 👍 Thank you.

[@melindadawika965]

I love the way you are so frank and don't beat about the bush. In your previous video you mentioned someone who published 4000 cursive handwriting books but complained that they had no sales. i like the way you answered them. Why would you publish that many books in one niche? Totally love your videos.

[@paulmarles]

Thank you Melinda. 😊

[@pat4005]

I agree! His videos are so refreshing because he's so down-to-earth and to the point. No dragging-out the video with fluff, and useless content. I really look forward to each new one he uploads and I enjoy rewatching a number of the past ones when I need to. Thanks Paul! ☺️ As far as that person goes who said they published 4000 cursive handwriting books but complained they had no sales.... If they can't see what's wrong with this picture, then there is no hope trying to explain it to them. At best, Amazon picked up on the repeated content with just different covers and/or titles and buried them at the bottom of the list.

[@blingon]

thanks paul, great work. i started my own kdp publication and earning . thanks for providing such valuable info for free

[@paulmarles]

You're welcome. Glad it's working out for you. 👍

[@josephmerry2178]

thanks , simple creative as usual

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome.

[@asmaouchater5836]

WOW this is what I was looking for. ..thanks a lot.. you are the best

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome and thank you too.

[@emmanuellebradu3983]

Merci beaucoup Paul

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome. 👍

[@MdTanvir-id7ce]

I have a suggestion for you, if you make offset path behind the animal vectors, it looks great. But i love this idea, big thanks for this tutorial.

[@yeralvargas4616]

Can you explain a little more? Sounds interesting, what steps would you take to get that result? Thank you for your tip

[@MdTanvir-id7ce]

@@yeralvargas4616 It's difficult to explain, offset path gives the animals outer sides a background effect, it make little bit distance for animal vector to mandela background. Give me your email, i send the offset path work result.

[@yeralvargas4616]

@@MdTanvir-id7ce [e-mail] Thanks again

[@paulmarles]

Thank you for that advice. I’ll look into that.

[@moussafaouzi4269]

Thank you very much Mr. Paul, excellent and useful video...

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome 👍

[@yassinenejjari8558]

Awesome kdp tutorial 😍

[@paulmarles]

Thank you 🙏

[@ISpearfishing]

Simple and clear instructions! Thanks mate!

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome.

[@carlottacraig3674]

Awesome tutorial. Very helpful. Thank you for sharing, Paul!!!

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome. Thank you for watching.

[@BalaSubrahmanyam]

Another amazing video 😍

[@paulmarles]

Thank you 🙏

[@pat4005]

Always a thumbs up! 👍🏻☺️

[@paulmarles]

Thank you 🙏

[@jessicajames5412]

You're doing a great job.

[@paulmarles]

Thank you 🙏

[@kevingu8170]

Hey @Paul Marles, great video. Do you have any video tutorials where you could create an animal mandala pattern in a free software? Thank you.

[@subratabiswas264]

Thanks paul.

[@paulmarles]

You're welcome.

[@MohammedAlnasry82]

Thank you for your efforts.

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome.

[@barbaraeasylife]

HI, thank so much! do you think I coul do it in affinity designer? I have also affinity photo e affinity pubblisher that interact

[@paulmarles]

Affinity designer doesn’t have image trace so you have to do that step in 3rd party software such as vectoriser.io

[@doggyaccessories]

Thank you paul

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome.

[@iman9025]

thank you for this video, creative as usual🌸🌸🌸

[@paulmarles]

You're welcome 😊

[@dabashesadhikery1507]

helpful for me.. thanks... paul..

[@paulmarles]

You're welcome.

[@positivitysuccessvideos]

Thanks Paul! Hey Paul, I want to create a landscape formatted coloring book. Is that problematic? Thanks.

[@paulmarles]

You’re very limited in that regard. If you google - KDP custom sizes - you’ll find the page that lists custom sizes. I think the only size remotely landscape is 8.25” x 6”

[@positivitysuccessvideos]

@@paulmarles Thanks, but what if I make it standard book size 8 1/2 x 11 but users just will turn the book landscape to color it?

[@Baundulle]

Thanx Paul for your wonderful video.

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome.

[@algerianeagle9529]

I want to make it keep it and grew it and this is my money im talking about lol...thank you Captain awesome video as always

[@paulmarles]

👍😆

[@ceaottermom]

Just found your channel; great content. Can you do a video about how to set up the margins properly in PowerPoint to meet the amazon requirements for books with both bleed and no bleed. Thank you

[@paulmarles]

I’ll put it on my list. I did mention it in one of my earlier videos but can’t remember exactly which one.

[@ceaottermom]

Paul Marles as I said I just found your channel and you have mentioned it was in one of the older ones. I have watched almost all of them but didn’t find that. Thank you

[@sarrabenamara9196]

Thank you... that was helpful

[@paulmarles]

You're welcome.

[@yeralvargas4616]

Thank you Paul!

[@paulmarles]

You're welcome.

[@berenicedavey7407]

What do u do if u don't hve illustrator please. I really appreciate your videos. New to this so learning a lot from yourself and others. Cheers

[@paulmarles]

Canva, Inkscape, Gravit Designer.

[@dreamscapeai7]

Oh I saw this for the first time. Do you have a beginner guide to publishing books like this?

[@paulmarles]

I’ve got a playlist on the channel on tutorials

[@TheBee2013]

Hi Paul, I noticed last days that the BSR for many books doesn't appear any more with all the extension I usually use for that, and I heard that the Amazon BSR will not be available for all of us and to get that you should have something called API agreement or something like that. Do you have any idea about this subject Mre Paul thank you

[@paulmarles]

It's happened with my plugins as well. Wait to see if the plugins update.

[@ivanaivaana604]

First I click Like, then I watch the video.

[@paulmarles]

Thank you 🙏

[@zakariaekharoufi6548]

helpful video thanks

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome.

[@NeVstaneMi]

Hi, I have a question and I would be really happy if you could help me.. i've started 3 weeks ago and i've published around 20 books. The problem that i'm facing is that i cannot find the notebooks in the amazon search even if I search the full title and subtitle of the book. Do you know why and is there something i can do? Thank you in advance and keep up the good work!

[@paulmarles]

Probably Amazon hasn’t indexed your books for your keywords. It takes a little time. Wait and see.

[@bobwilson7275]

Hi Paul love your videos im still at school and my parents are not well off so cant afford illustrator i have inkscape but is completely different to your videos and i cant find half the boxes can it be done in inkscape if not are there any free software out there once again great videos i have subscribed

[@paulmarles]

The only free options are Inkscape and Gravit Designer. Thank you for watching my videos and good luck. Great to see you’re starting on your entrepreneurial journey whilst at school. 👍👍

[@tekno6056]

Thanks for sharing man.

[@ezyunboxing6823]

Is this enough modification for basic POD license policy of creative fabrica

[@rebecafreites3652]

Very useful tutorial! Thanks a lot!!!!

[@paulmarles]

You are welcome!

[@tasha1985]

Great video please keep these coming..Can You show us how to do it using our own drawn image in the center over a mandala. I have my own images I'd like to use. Also is there a way to draw your own background and add it..

[@paulmarles]

I’ll put it on my list and see if I can think of a good video that might demonstrate what you want.

[@tasha1985]

@@paulmarles Thanks you for reply and I'd appreciate it.

[@andromeda3158]

Thank you

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome.

[@CathyHerold]

Hi, Paul, I just started publishing no-content books thanks to you. I have a question. I noticed that KDP on my dashboard is asking me to also make my hardcopy paperbacks into Kindle formats. Should I do this? Except for a copyright notice and a foreword, my books are all no content. Thank you.

[@paulmarles]

No. You just ignore that.

[@CathyHerold]

@@paulmarles Thanks!

[@ozemamoreta3308]

hi Paul, how can i add facial features? I want the animal figure to have eyes and a nose...

[@paulmarles]

You could draw them or take them off other vector images.

[@ozemamoreta3308]

Thank you! I love your videos, blessings

[@sardorerkinov4628]

Hi Paul. I upload my first low content notebook journal to KDP. It is already 4 days in review but Amazon reviews time 72 hours so what I must to do?

[@paulmarles]

Wait.

[@esinwokecwisdom4692]

Thank you so much man.

[@paulmarles]

No problem!

[@melissawake3622]

Can you do one on a cover page for color books

[@paulmarles]

Yes. 👍

[@taha-fd6cr]

Sir, I have a question please, should we select bleed or no bleed when uploading the final work( Coloring Book Animal Mandala ) on kdp?

[@paulmarles]

It depends if your page has bleed or not! The page I demonstrate has bleed.

[@djaf19811]

what about the bleed this coloring book is with bleed or no bleed

[@MdTanvir-id7ce]

no bleed is safe option.

[@paulmarles]

The image is going right to the end of the page so you would choose bleed. You would adjust your page size accordingly.

[@djaf19811]

@@paulmarles thanks

[@mikem1962]

Using Illustrator 2018 and having a hard time getting the bounding box to work. Fairly new to Illustrator so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[@paulmarles]

go to top menu - View - Show Bounding Box.

[@joelopara2277]

Thank you paul but cant i create a pdf within illustrator

[@paulmarles]

Yes you can. If you find that method quicker than the way I show then go for it.

[@joelopara2277]

@@paulmarles thank you so much I am very grateful

Hello, Thank you for your videos. Just recently I've started creating coloring books and I tried this video with Illustrator. I don't know what I'm doing wrong but when I come to "pathfinder window" part a message appears saying "The filter produced no results. Please select one or more filled paths." I double-checked several times but every time the same message appears. What could be the problem? Please help. Thank you :)

[@paulmarles]

Are you putting a bounding box around the image and selecting it all?

@@paulmarles thanks I solved it today with one of photo editors that I have installed on my PC. Thanks for your help.

[@rph1496]

@@paulmarles i am getting this same message

[@aiman6131]

Thanks for the video! I have a quick question, so this would be one page of the book and you just need to swap and use other animals for example to get more pages for the book isn't it?

[@paulmarles]

Yes, that’s correct.

[@alinaoaida6660]

Hello! I am new in KDP and I have a question regarding CreativeFabrica. Can we use the coloring pages from Fabrica directly in our book or should we modify them (even if we pay for subscription)?

[@paulmarles]

I would modify them even if a small amount.

[@BlissfulMoments45]

Thank you so much for your advice. This is very useful for me. I get a lot of ideas for improving my book.(=

[@paulmarles]

You’re welcome 😊

[@melissawake3622]

Can you use something other than PowerPoint

[@paulmarles]

Yes - keynote, affinity publisher, adobe indesign, Canva.

[@wesleybilly8097]

good viideo. thank you

[@hannahbanana3946]

Do you have a tutorial on how to color in the mandala for the book cover?

[@paulmarles]

I don't. I think you would have to use the pen tool, draw around each shape and fill with color. Sounds a bit of a long process. I'll have a think to see if there is a quicker way.

[@impostervt]

Just curious: have you ever considered hiring a ghost writer to do a long form book? A lot of people talk about it on KZbin and it seems like the keyword skills you have would work there as well.

[@paulmarles]

No, I haven’t but I’ve recently been part of publication of a novel and used similar keyword principles. They would be more applicable to non fiction work.

[@aiman6131]

@@paulmarles but I think with long-form books you get paid per page read isn't it?

[@Seaux_What]

This does not work. I have tried 7 times and each time I select the minus back option the entire image disappears. The images are both SVG. Is this using an older version of Illustrator?

[@paulmarles]

I'm just using the version of Illustrator that was around when I did the video. So not that much older.

[@casual_designer]

Pro-tip from a professional designer: You don't use Powerpoint for desktop publishing. You can export your art from Illustrator in myriad of files: PDF, EPS, JPEG, etc.

[@paulmarles]

I appreciate that but I’m not using it to export art per se, I’m using it as a quick and efficient way of collating 120 pages into a pdf document for the KDP platform. Any easier suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[@casual_designer]

@@paulmarles I see. Typically any publishing is done in InDesign because it can handle more data per file. For fast collating...I'm not sure, my process is different. I create a single file in InDesign then export as PDF. Your process is unique....you get interior pages separately... *I don't do that. The "proper/right" way is to collate in Acrobat.

[@jennywhisconier7777]

luv

[@valesans]

what if you dont have illustrator?

[@paulmarles]

Gravity designer and a Inkscape.

[@NewYorxx]

I’m pretty sure the term mandala is trademarked. Do you use that name or something else? I’m always cautious of the title because Kdp doesn’t play around.

[@paulmarles]

Have you checked on uspto.gov?

[@onlinebusinessentrepreneur4291]

My print option only show premium color interior with white paper it is too price for print almost $9 for print only then how in the world I can upload coloring book it is possible to change normal color paper instead of premium

[@paulmarles]

Are the pictures in your interior in color?

[@onlinebusinessentrepreneur4291]

@@paulmarles Yes I leave a color picture for reference

[@TheZINSAM]

me again : 90's liker :) .. Many thanks

[@lobnalobna7489]

i like you men you are the best

[@joannebolivar3987]

This is really puzzle to me, I've spent 7 hours trying to watch video's on how do I get each of the separate Halloween pages I made into a single book? I have enough puzzles, painting, writing, math pages downloaded to make about 50 books. All I need to do is create covers and learned from you but now need to get the insides together. Am I the only one this confused? Thanks.

[@paulmarles]

I do mine in PowerPoint or keynote.

[@pat4005]

You can assemble the separate interior pages into a PDF file to upload. I think there are free PDF file apps online but I don't remember the names of any because I'm able to use a couple I have that came with both a subscription and my on computer. You may even have one that came with your computer. Check your apps because if you can read PDF files, you may also have the ability with the same program to assemble them from the separate pages. Another possiblity is that if you have a scanner (or know of someone who does, or your local library or even an office supply store like Staples), you can scan the images you made directly into a PDF file. But then you may have to "clean-up" the scanned images, so it's probably better just to create them in the computer and use a free program to assemble the PDF file,

[@joannebolivar3987]

@@pat4005 You have helped me to finally get some books together and I truly appreciate your help! I'm of the age where we had a telephone and 4 party lines on the wall! Then came the land lines. I'm learning slowly but surely. Good news is I do have the PDF files. Again, thank you so very much.

[@TheZINSAM]

But Just attention : the pattern chosen are not full POD licenses!

[@paulmarles]

This is an example. You would obviously choose your own graphics.

[@mrr5779]

please ,add English subtitle ....

[@paulmarles]

I think if you turn on closed captions they will appear.

[@MrTycoon1995]

just a little tip. i see you are struggling if i can say with showing your cam and illustrator. you can select windows>navigator and place your cam inside this space. give it a try looks 10x more professional.

[@paulmarles]

My camera isn’t connected to the computer though. If I’m understanding what you mean correctly.

[@MrTycoon1995]

@Paul Marles 'piximperfect' watch a video of this guy and you will get what I'm saying. basically you just place your camera over the navigator space. have a good one mate ✌️

[@peace.n.blessings5579]

Thank you

[@paulmarles]

You're welcome.