Colour Me Good: 'Cara' and 'Modern Art' by I Love Mel

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:

Colour Me Good: Cara Delevingne

COLOUR ME GOOD MODERN ART