Tierzauber by Richard Merritt

25/4/2016

Summary
Current Price: £7.54
Number of Pages: 64
Size: 22 x 22cm
Paper colour: White
Paper surface: Smooth
Paper thickness: Very Good
Linework: Fine
Perforated: No
One sided: No
Binding: Glue
Drawings go into the spine: No
Waterbased pen bleed: None

Richard Merritt, acclaimed co-illustrator of bestselling adult colouring book The Menagerie and upcoming releases The Aviary and The Aquarium, is back with a German published book- Tierzauber. The name translates to Animal Magic and the book certainly delivers on its title. The 64 pages are packed with just about every animal you can think of off the top of your head! To name a few: Penguins, Rhinoceros, Koi Carp, Horses, Badgers, Foxes, Monkeys, Zebras, Walrus, Tortoises, Cockatoos, Eagles and even a Snail! There's also more domestic animals like cats and dogs, so no species is left out!

The illustrations are everything you've come to expect from Richard's previous books: highly detailed and heavily patterned. If you're a Millie Marotta fan or were one of many who loved The Menagerie, this book will surely be high on your wishlist! Check out some of the amazing images below.

The book is a really lovely size and format at 22cm square, fitting nicely in your bag to take out or on holiday with you. The cover is a thick soft-touch cardstock with shiny gold details, and has double-wide flaps that you can open out and colour.

The book is double sided but the paper quality is really good; the water based pens I tested not bleeding through at all. There may be some slight shadowing in areas, but certainly nothing that colouring the reverse image wouldn't cover.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this book as I thought it was going to be too detailed for me, but I thoroughly enjoued colouring it. I used Ergosoft pencils and a Zig Writer pen, and I think the key to the intricacy was keeping my pencils to a sharp point. Unfortunately Ergosoft need sharpening quite frequently so if I was colouring it again I'd use something with a denser lead.

Here's my finished picture, a poisonous (I think) Tree Frog! I coloured the leaves and branch in black as a silhouette effect; I may go back later and add a blue nighttime background in pastels.