Chances are, you were into crayons before they were cool.
Ryan Hunter and Taige Jensen — the pair behind the popular 2007 video “Hipster Olympics” — have come out with “Coloring for Grown-Ups,” an activity book for people with a college degree (or two) who just want to color inside the lines.
Hunter said the duo’s YouTube masterpieces won them the attention from the literary world, and soon afterwards, an agent to ask them to write a book. Hunter said he and Jensen were unsure at first if they could pull off such an audacious feat.
“We’re filmmakers, we’re not essayists, we’re not novelists,” said Hunter. “So I thought, what was the kind of book we could finish sooner, and a coloring book seemed like a good idea. Pictures, not a lot of words.”
Jensen said the pair applied the same snarky sense of humor to the activity book that they showed off in their short films.
“We came up with the idea for a coloring book that would take some jabs at being an adult in a crude manner,” said Jensen.
And so Jensen and Hunter called up their long-dormant illustrating skills and designed puzzles and coloring pages that any twenty-something could relate to, including an “Escape the Toxic Relationship” maze, a “Who Farted in the Elevator” drawing that encourages readers to shade the culprit in red, and a blank mirror with instructions to “Draw the Person You Thought You Would Be Before You Abandoned All Your Hopes and Dreams” — along with several other activities which are not suitable to mention in a family publication such as our own.
And, of course, “Coloring for Grown-Ups” wouldn’t be complete without hipster humor. The book features several pages that lets readers use their colored pencils to poke fun at indie kids, with prompts like “Hipster or Homeless,” “Hipster or Hijacker,” and “Hipster or Hedge Fund Manager” — each one featuring a pair of identical sketches ready to be customized.
The pair are already at work at a line of accompanying crayons in adult colors, including “Cold Sore Red” and “Court-Ordered Urine Sample Yellow.”
Despite all the good fun, Jensen said the book signals the end of an era in comedy.
“It’s really the last gasp of making fun of hipsters,” Jensen said. “ ‘Hipster’ has just become a term for apathetic young people.”
Ryan Hunter and Taige Jensen present “Coloring for Grown-Ups” at powerHouse Arena [37 Main St., at Water Street, in DUMBO (718) 666–3049, powerhousearena.com]. Nov. 2, 6 pm. Free.