The Menagerie by Claire Scully and Richard Merritt

Number of Pages: 64 
Size: 29 x 29cm 
Paper colour: White, with coloured accents
Paper surface: Smooth 
Paper thickness: Good 
Linework: Fine​ 
Perforated: Yes
One sided: Yes
Binding: Glue 
Drawings go into the spine: Yes ​
Waterbased pen bleed: None

Co-illustrated by esteemed artist of the Art Therapy series, Richard Merritt, one of the newest colouring books to hit the shelves is this beautiful volume of animal portraits. They are all waiting expectantly for you to bring them to life with colour, filled with hundreds of tiny shards and ornamental fragments of pattern. In Richard's usual style, there are pre coloured editions to each page, although none encroach on the illustration itself and are all pastel coloured so as not to domineer the page.

The book lives up to its name with the veritable menagerie of creatures, including the Bengal tiger, Highland cow, Norwegian Forest cat and Masai Lion, amongst more well-known members of the animal kingdom like the otter, horse and even a British bulldog. 

This substantial book makes a sizeable canvas to colour, my picture taking approximately 3 hours of continuous colouring to complete. Each page is perforated which is great as these large format pages will look fantastic when framed. The cover is accented with silver and bronze foil embellishments, giving it a beautiful texture and eye-catching first impression. 

So whether you're a keen colourist, animal lover or a perfect blend of both, this book will be one that I can see people coming back to again and again. The only problem is choosing which intricate animal head to colour first!

Here's my finished page, which I coloured with Kurecolor Zig brushables and alcohol pens.

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review. You can buy your copy for just £5 at The Works, online or in store. (price correct at 23.10.15)