This is a beautiful book from the Complicated Coloring series, illustrated by Antony Briggs. As you've probably guessed, it's a book full of, wait for it... hearts, flowers and butterflies!
First of all I absolutely love the cover of this not-quite-A4 -sized book; it's got a soft-touch feel for easy grip, and it's black & sparkly! The hand-drawn illustrations look charmingly basic, but on further inspection you soon find that the book lives up to its series name! There are a variety of round, square, and heart shaped designs, a few of which are quite simple but for the most part, extremely detailed. Each image has two versions: one white with a black background, the other inverted as a grey outline on white. Here's a YouTube video from Complicated Coloring, showing you a peek inside the book.
Here's a slideshow of images for anyone who can't play the video:
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find on Amazon, here:
This is an 80 page paperback book full of designs from the Art Nouveau period, including animals, statues, scrolls, nautical, LOTS of leafy vines, and more. I'm not a big fan of the style I have to say, but there are some interesting images to colour here and a variety of different objects rather than one subject matter.
The illustrator, Judy Belchin, is a UK-based graphic designer, craft demonstrator and artist/illustrator extraordinaire. She has dabbled in the world of television, logo designing and even needle-felting, so has a lot of background and experience in the creative world. Art Nouveau was popular at the turn of the century and is identified by its ornamental curves, whip-like lines, and asymmetry- some great characteristics for colouring book designs. If you're into blending plants and flowers, take a look at some of the pages in the book and notice how how leaves and stalks are heavily featured throughout.
The paper quality is very good, thick enough for most non-alcohol markers and all one sided. An interesting thing about this book which I haven't seen before, is that the first few pages are filled with pre-coloured illustrations to give the reader pallet inspiration before they begin. I think it's an excellent idea as it shows you popular colours of the style and time period, which you wouldn't necessarily know otherwise.
I'd recommend this book to colourists who have a passion for art; particularly sculptures, statues, stained glass, and nature. I'm sure fans of historical design would love it, as it seems to be very true to the period. Here are my finished pages. I absolutely LOVED the stylised typography at the back of the book, which I'm now using as my signature on all blog posts :)
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find it on Amazon here:
After reviewing Theo's Unicorns are Jerks I couldn't wait to start on this one! All her books are so entertaining and Mer World Problems is no exception. As the title indicates, it's all about the difficulties of living underwater with no human luxuries like wifi and shoes! As always, Theo's illustrations are funny, giving mystical creature humane characteristics and struggles.
There are 20 drawings in total, on one-sided pages. The paper quality remains the same throughout Theo's books, and is good enough for most felt tip pens and of course pencils. The lines are bold and make it easier to colour quickly without having to worry about going over fine borders. To be honest there isn't a great deal you can say about this book as it's all self explanatory from the theme that runs through it. Anyone can colour Theo's books, young or old, experienced or casual. Children might not understand the caption references but I'm sure they'd love helping you colour in the simple pictures. The expression on my face was similar to the one on the picture below, when I came down from a bath and found my son had 'helped' me by colouring the background in pencil crayon! Bless him, he gave it a fab effort!
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find it on Amazon here:
I've finally managed to buy the full set of Spectrum Noir markers to review for you all (it took a while to save up!), and I'm so excited because I absolutely LOVE them. Like, I'm finding it really hard pressed to use any thing else when I colour now, neither my felt tips or pencils. As these are quite expensive and a serious purchase, I'm going to give you the pros and cons so you can make your own mind up about whether these pens are for you.
First of all you may have noticed I titled them as a 'marker system', which sounds a bit odd I know, but there's no way you can class these as a just bunch of coloured felt tips. These pens were created with crafters in mind, and with practice can produce some stunning, professional looking results. The tones are vast- 168 in total- and none are duplicates. Such a large range of shades means you can blend colours in a light to dark gradient seamlessly- more about that later. The coding system of the pens is a little bewildering to start with, but once you understand the way it works it's actually a very helpful and practical way to sort the different tones into families.
The letters on each shade indicate the family they belong to, eg. PP stands for Pale Pink. The number which follows specifies the intensity of colour: 1 being lightest, through to 11 which is the darkest shade.
Here's where it can get confusing: colour families are not all found in the same pack of markers. For example, OR1 is in the 'Yellows' pack, whereas OR2 & OR3 are found in the 'Brights' pack. Should Spectrum Noir have divided them more simply into pinks, reds, blues, or have they created more categories so you have to buy more sets to get the full range of each colour? I don't know.
Here are some pictures I have coloured with these pens so far, both for practicing shading and simple block colour use.
The pens come in twelve colour families (6 markers per set) for around £6-7 each, and then the bigger 24 packs of which there are 4: Lights, Brights, Darks, and Pastels. These packs are around £20-25 each, so as you can imagine, buying the whole set at once is a purchase most people would have to really think about before investing. As always my opinion is my own and I wouldn't allow anyone to coerce a false review, so you can be assured when I say that these are hands down the best colouring materials I own. Yes they take some figuring out, but just look at the results you can achieve if you're willing to put in the effort :) Here's one of the Spectrum Noir Pinterest boards to inspire you. There are loads of YouTube tutorials demonstrating techniques and tricks to help you, too.
If you have any questions or want me to clarify anything just comment below and I'll do my best to help with more info & pics :)
Flower Designs is a super pretty colouring book by designer Jenean Morrison from Memphis, Tennessee (one of my favourite places on the planet! BIG Elvis fan here :). Jenean has a successful background in art; her paintings can be found in another of my favourite places, Las Vegas, in the prestigious Bellagio, Mirage and Aria hotels. Very impressive!
Flower Designs the most popular of four colouring books Jenean has produced, and was even an Amazon bestseller for 8 weeks earlier this year. I think I've heard enough- let's have a look inside!
This is just a sample of the 50 beautiful flower patterns included in the book, most of them finished in a mid-thick line, all of them printed on one side. There are tiles, bouquets, mandalas, repeat patterns... lots of different styles, all centred around petals and leaves. Intricacy varies from highly detailed to fairly simple, for whatever complexity you feel like doing on the day.
Some of the illustrations have borders, others don't, but none of them go right to the edge of the page or into the spine, which is great. I hate it when you have to almost crack the book in half to colour into the binding! The book is paperback with a quality gloss finish cover. The paper is bright white but unfortunately quite thin. My triplus and stabilo pens did bleed through, but as I said the pages are one-sided so it doesn't really matter. I would still put some scrap paper between to be on the safe side. I forgot to do it this time when using my alcohol markers and ruined the following two designs :( I'd recommend this book for colourists who enjoy fine detail and taking their time on an image, as most of them are quite elaborate and would take a while to complete. If you also like colouring repeat patterns and tiles, you'll love this one :) Jenean also sent a beautiful postcard with the book, made from very thick 1mm card. I'll be including one with the giveaway, more about that below! This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find it on Amazon here:
These contemporary colouring books come from the pen of Mel Elliott, a UK based artist and writer operating under the brand I Love Mel. There are many books in the series, the most popular of which are centred around famous actors and singers including Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Taylor Swift and Ryan Gosling. Other titles include London, Fashion, 80's and Horror Movies, so there's lots to choose from if you love colouring quirky and out-of-the-norm books.
The first book I coloured was all about fashionista and model Cara Delevingne, which was pretty challenging for me as I don't know much about her or her style- I guessed her hair and eye colour as I wanted to interpret it my way! I must admit I'm not great at colouring faces; I find the shading difficult to gauge and I don't have enough patience to around blending skin & hair tones. A good thing about this book is that there's lots of fashion shots for all those who love adding colour and pattern to clothing, so if that's your bag then you'll love dressing Cara in whatever wacky colour combos you fancy!
The next book I received was Colour Me Good: Modern Art, which was so interesting before I even put pen to paper! Each page has a different piece of modern art in line drawing form, whether it be sculptures or paintings, there's 18 to choose from. Some are a little strange (okay, a lot strange) but isn't all art weird to someone?! It's all about your interpretation and what you class as art.
The first thing I noticed about this book is that on the opposite page to the each illustration there is a lined page for you to write down your feelings/thoughts about the art you're colouring. Mel says in the forward of the book that she deliberately kept information to a minimum when creating it, so that we the colourists will explore each piece for ourselves and come to our own conclusions about them. It's a novel idea for a colouring book and one that I like very much. It spurred me on to find out about what I was colouring and I discovered many things I didn't know in the process.
Both books are the same in terms of cover type, paper quality and size. The paper used is a thick, shiny type which is great for your pens not bleeding through, but I must say the glossy sheen to each page makes colouring with pencils seem 'sticky', so I'd say it's better to use markers. Each book is square shaped and paperback, so it doesn't take up much room on the shelf and is a nice size to take out with you. The linework is quite sparse, leaving it up to the colourist to add detail and if you wish.
I'd certainly recommend I Love Mel books to anyone who likes colouring and popular culture, there's so many to choose from! I was given these books in exchange for an honest review. You can find them on Amazon here:
I'm giving away a copy of this lovely book by Polly Pinder over on my Facebook page!
To enter: 1. Like the Facebook post below 2. Like my Facebook page Sharing is caring! This is a worldwide competition, so anyone can enter. The winner will be chosen on Monday morning :D Good luck everyone!
The paper quality is good, I tested Staedtler and Stabilo markers on and there was no bleed. I used Chameleon pens and Spectrum Noir's which of course did go through, but as this book has single-sided pages it's not a problem. I really enjoyed the shading effect produced from the Chameleon's, a product I will be reviewing on here soon.
If you feel beguiled by complex colouring pages and are looking for something a little more entertaining and lighthearted, Theo's books are definitely one's I'd recommend. Here are the 3 pages I've completed so far! I can't wait to do more, and get the rest of Theo's books :)
Mandalas and intricate artwork are fantastic to colour if you love patterns and detail, but sometimes I just want to colour something fun and simple. Theo Nicole Lorenz has made a series of humorous colouring books involving mythical creatures and animals in everyday situations, and I've got to say I absolutely love them all! It's been so refreshing to colour something that made me laugh. I love Theo's cartoonish style of drawing, and find myself wishing I had the talent to do the same.
Her series of books include "Dinosaurs With Jobs: a coloring book celebrating our old-school coworkers"," Fat Ladies In Spaaaaace: a body-positive coloring book", and "Mer World Problems: a coloring book documenting hardships under the sea" which I will be reviewing next time! In this book as the title says, unicorns are jerks! Take a look at their escapades, there are 18 of them in the book :)
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find it on Amazon here:
Whimsical Wings is part of a series of colouring books released by Streetlight Graphics, the US publishing company of husband and wife creative team, Glendon and Tabatha Haddix.
On first inspection this is a lovely soft-feel book with 21 quaint illustrations of winged creatures including birds, angels, insects and more. There is so much attention to detail in the designs, some more intricate than others but each as impressive as the last. The drawings are so charming and pleasant to look at, every one a delight to scruitinise before you even get colouring. With dragons, unicorns and fairies abound, you become enchanted by the combination of nature and magic within the pages.
Each page is one-sided, and the paper is of a good standard. There are some extremely small spaces on some of the pictures so get ready to put your fineliners to the test! If you're not someone who enjoys intricacy in your colouring then some of the illustrations may be slightly intimidating, but rest assured there are also some less elaborate designs included.
Take a look at my finished pages. I really enjoyed falling down the rabbit hole and exploring this very whimsical fantasy world (and putting my touch on it by giving the dragon an interesting read!)
This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find it on Amazon here:
|