Bird Critters by Sue Coccia

Bird Critters is one of 19 books by Washington-based illustrator Sue Coccia, who's Native American ancestry is very prevalent in her works of art. All of her pen-and-ink drawings contain a ladybird hidden somewhere in the image, to represent good luck, happiness and prosperity! The books themselves are based on animals of all different kinds, including sea dwellers, wetland amphibians, Ice Age beasts and more. 

Each animal outline is filled to the brim with smaller illustrations, making the pictures intricate and time-consuming to complete- and I say this in the best of ways because the things she hides inside are so interesting and enjoyable to colour. The spaces aren't too small either, so when finished it looks like it was hard work to do but it really isn't. The drawings are basic; it's just that there's so many of them on one page.

There's an array of detail in every image; 15 designs packed full of creatures within creatures, miniature worlds going on inside each giant critter. I found that completing each design in sections allowed me to discover something new in each one, which made me eager to move onto the next and see what else lay within the frame of the animal.

The book itself is spiral bound, meaning the removal of pages is straightforward, and is A4 sized. The back cover depicts each animal within alongside its name, in case there's any you don't recognise or want the specific name of (eg. Great Blue Heron). The paper used is extremely good quality- almost card-like- and there's only 1 design per page so bleed through from alcohol markers isn't an issue. Overall I really enjoyed completing my image and would love to collect all of Sue's books (it should be noted that there are some crossovers of designs, which are all listed on her website). This one took me 2 hours, but I'm sure you'll agree it looks like it should have taken much longer!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. You can buy Sue's colouring books on her website.