Vegebook and Vegepatterns by Nick Dolan

Whenever anyone asks me what is the most complicated colouring book I've come across, the first and only thought in my mind is Vegebook. With the release of a sequel, another word now comes to mind: Vegepatterns! These books are seriously unrivalled in terms of CRAZY intricacy and minute spaces, so if that's your thing then you've defintely come to the right place. I have never seen such bizarre designs and unbelievably labrinthine patterns, needing the finest of fineliners to complete!

They are the brainchild of Nick Dolan (interview here), a geologist from Las Vegas who goes by his artist moniker 'Vegenaut'- when he's not busy mining in the Mojave desert! He started creating these hyper-detailed doodles 14 years ago and now has two unique and distinctive books to show for it. Take a look inside the kaleidoscopic world of Vege below!

Pretty wild, huh? They are very intimidating for the beginner colourist due to the sheer amount of work involved, but when complete they are totally worth it. The designs are organic, symmetrical and intriguing, allowing you to lose yourself in the tangled tesselations. They have an ancient feel to them, as if they have been discovered on a cave wall in some deep Incan temple!

The illustrations are all one-sided in both books (30 designs in Vegebook, 65 in Vegepatterns) and the paper is smooth with an average thickness. As you can see in the previews, Nick's linework is generally quite thick but retains the small spaces, and the patterns vary from statuesque faces to quilts and snowflakes. Everything has an 'alien' feel to its structure, almost cell-like. They're certainly a unique type of colouring art that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

Here are my finished pages from the books! Note how I chose fairly easy ones to suit my laziness :P I did them with Stabilo pens and Promarkers.

Vegebook

Vegepatterns

I received these books in exchange for an honest review. You can buy copies on Amazon here:

Vegebook: A Curious Coloring Book for Peculiar People

Vegepatterns: A kaleidoscopic coloring book of perplexing patterns