Squidoodle's Adventures in Colouring & Doodling by Steve Turner

Squidoodle is the brainchild and alter-ego of Steve Turner, an artist from Kent, UK. His incredibly detailed work is all done in pen and pencil by his own hand, and from the weird & wonderful depths of his mind! I absolutely LOVE anything Steampunk, so as soon as I saw all the mechanical cogs and Victoriana I was sold! 

This is Squidoodle's first colouring book, and includes 16 original illustrations for you to colour. There's nothing monotonous or repetitive about Steve's art, every page is so interesting and a real treat for the eye. Each design is different in theme and style, from nautical to nature, hibiscus to hot air balloons. I would've loved to see more industrial/machinery/key&lock related drawings (visit the Squidoodle Facebook page to see more of his amazing art) but that's my personal preference. Maybe Steve will do an all-steampunk book one day...? Nudge nudge!

You're also encouraged to add your own doodles to the images, as many have been left with blank space for your personal touch. If that's not your bag then just colour it in! It doesn't take away from the level of detail or content so you're not getting loads of negative space that you don't know what to do with. Here's a peep inside the book...

The book itself is A4 with a glossy card cover and white, smooth paper. Each illustration is on a single sheet of paper (I'm so glad because pencils just wouldn't do for me in this book!) and is centred on the page so nothing goes off the edge or into the spine. The line work is bold with varying levels of intricacy from page to page. The quality of designs on offer is not to be understated, especially as nothing has been created digitally and this is all original artwork.

Here's my finished page. I wasn't sure whether I liked no background or background the best, so I asked my followers and got an overwhelming response for the latter! What do you think? I used lots of different alcohol markers for the details and my own mix of PanPastels for the sky.

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

Squidoodle's Adventures in Colouring and Doodling.