Safari by Emma Fällman

Summary
Current Price: £15
Number of Pages: 20
Size: 29 x 21cm
Paper colour: Ivory
Paper surface: Lightly Textured
Paper thickness: Very Good  
Linework: Medium, shaded
Perforated: No  
One sided: Yes
Binding: Lay Flat Glue  
Drawings go into the spine: Yes
Waterbased pen bleed: None

Emma Fällman is a Swedish graphic designer & illustrator who specialises in drawing fine art with just a pencil. Her work features on fabrics, wallpapers and silk scarves, as well as this first foray into the colouring world, an Artist Edition book called Safari.

This book takes you on a journey through the deep jungle, exploring exotic plants and flowers as well as discovering the creatures that inhabit it. Inside the pages you will find plushly feathered parrots, playful monkeys, shiny insects, majestic jungle cats, curious lizards and plenty more. There's also a lot of tropical foliage with wide, waxy leaves, and plenty of succulent jungle fruits all ready for you to add bursts of colour and bring it to life.

Emma's sketchy style has heavy shading which some colourists prefer as it takes the hard work out of deciphering light sources and where to put your darks and lights. It's not quite full grayscale, but certainly along those lines so if it's not your thing you'll want to give this book a miss. Here is the full flip-through of the book.

Artist Editions (or Tavelboks as they are called in Sweden) are made up of a small number of select designs (20 in this book) which are printed on very heavy, high quality cardstock. Even the heaviest of media, such as alcohol markers, can be used without any bleed onto the next page whatsoever. The surface is lightly textured with a slight tooth for pencils and has a rustic, ivory tinge.

Safari has a special lay-flat binding which allows you to colour right into the spine without wrestling with the book, and also lets you remove pages for display very easily. The book is sized at just a fraction taller than A4, giving it a narrow portrait format. Gold foiling sets off the title, and the blurb on the rear cover.

The book costs around £15/$18 and is available from Bokus who ship worldwide. Here's my finished picture, coloured with Sharpies.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find it on Bokus here:
Safari by Emma Fällman