Exotischer Urwald by Good Wives & Warriors

Summary
Current Price: £7.26
Number of Pages: 80
Size: 23 x 23cm
Paper colour: White
Paper surface: Smooth 
Paper thickness: Very Good 
Linework: Medium​ 
Perforated: No 
One sided: No
Binding: Glue
Drawings go into the spine: Yes ​
Waterbased pen bleed: None

As readers of this blog will know, I've championed Good Wives and Warriors books since I found out about the first one, Escape to Wonderland, last year. I've since reviewed the follow up and am waiting with anticipation for the third in the series to be released next month! A while ago I was contacted by GWAW to ask whether I would be interested in reviewing a completely different book they had worked on with a German publisher, and I jumped at the chance.

Exotischer Urwald, or Exotic Jungle, is a beautifully printed 90-page colouring book full of plush leaves and botanical influences! The book takes you on an inky journey to the jungles and rainforests in the world, native creatures featuring heavily throughout. Liberia, Australia, the Amazon, Borneo, Costa Rica is just a few of the areas you will visit, meeting their lovely indigenous inhabitants along the way. 

As with all GWAW books, the pages are filled up with illustration and detail but the spaces aren't too tiny, which is just the balance I like to keep me interested but not overwhelmed. The paper is a rich, white stock, allowing zero bleed or shadowing from waterbased pens. The pages are double-sided so its resistance to bleed is a necessity. The surface doesn't have a lot of tooth so pencils take to it well, allowing for blends and layering without too much white space. The cover is made of stiff card with fold-out flaps that are colourable and bookend the pages nicely. 

One of the best features of this book is the sneaky extras it incorporates in the back. The rear fold-out cover doubles up as two thick colouring postcards that you can cut out & keep.

GWAW books are always well made but the only drawback is the pages being double-sided. They have compromised on this by including a series of four one-sided pullouts at the back, all perforated for removal and made of extra thick card, similar to Johanna Basford's Artist Edition books. One of the four incorporates two designs, again perforated lengthways down the middle.

Here is my work in progress from the book, coloured with Polychromos pencils.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find it on Amazon here:

Exotischer Urwald: Ausmalen und entspannen