The Good Book for Coloring (Vol. 2) by Various

The Good Book for Coloring (or Carte Buna Petru Colorat) is a colouring book created in Bucharest! It is filled with the weird and wonderful illustrations of many top Romanian artists and has 50 drawings in total. It's a very 'artsy' book with lots of quirky, alternative styles of illustration. These have all been collated- and in a few cases created- by Laura Leonte, a copywriter, artist and mother. Laura briefed the artists with this simple scenario: "Imagine you're with a child you want to impress. They ask you to draw something for him/her to colour. What would you do?" So it is very much a book for the whole family, not just adults or children alone.

The book's theme is Friendship. At the back, there are a few interactive pages for you to take part in, like removable 'friendship coupons'! One of these pages asks, 'A true friend always tells you when you have something in your teeth. Draw a friend with parsley in their teeth. The more parsley, the better friend you are!' Which I think sums up the intent of this book perfectly- it's not to be taken seriously, it's fun and eccentric and different! There's such a wide variety of material here, you're bound to be drawn to at least one style! Included in the book is fine art life drawings, cartoons, quick sketches, and dream-like scenes. See what I mean below...

The paper is bright white and great quality, and everything can be coloured- even the cover! All pages are perforated, which is a great idea because some of the more artistic illustrations would look fantastic on the wall of your colouring area- a definite talking point. This quite substantial book only costs a little over £6, with around £3 postage from Romania, so it's a good price for the amount of colouring hours you're getting. I think a lot of the appeal for me is that so many famous foreign artists, tattooists, and designers are involved; it feels like a portfolio of different (there's that word again) approaches to illustration. Note: language is a mixture of English and Romanian (Laura can translate on request!).

Of course I chose the page with pizza on it! I swear I'll turn into a margherita one day (or basically any type of junk food)!

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. You can find your copy on Laura's Etsy. Find out more about her on her blog, CompulsiveDrawer.