Strange Designs by Kimberly Garvey

4/9/2015

This is a book of both abstract randomness and realistic objects, so it definitely lives up to its name! It really reminds me of the 60's; flower power, psychedelic patterns, and groovy 'far out' shapes. There's lots of zentangles and haphazard things thrown together to make one picture, meaning lots of detail but not necessarily intricacy. Most of the doodles are each made up of smaller sections, so there's a lot of colouring hours in the book. Have a look at this video Kimberly made of inside...

...and here's a slideshow just in case you can't view the video.

Although this A4 book only has 36 illustrations, there are 76 pages as each image is single sided. The paper is the same thickness as normal printer paper, so I'd recommend putting a few scrap sheets behind before you colour so as not to destroy the next page. The artwork is all very thick and bold, so if you enjoy colouring fine, delicate illustrations then this probably isn't for you. If you like zentangles and randomness, you've found a favourite here! I really enjoyed looking at each picture in depth, as you can miss a lot of the hidden details just by glancing through. Each drawing is also contained in a wobbly border, so you won't be going off the page or into the spine which is a bonus.

Here's my finished page, coloured with Spectrum Noir markers and pastels.