by David Petersen
Published by Archaia on October 11th 2016
Style: double page printing
Pages: 96
Format: Card cover
Goodreads
David Petersen's comic series Mouse Guard can now be enjoyed as a coloring book.
Over 50 black and white illustrations showcase the intricate detail of the environments, cities, and characters from across the Mouse Territories.
"In Mouse Guard mice struggle to live safely and prosper among harsh conditions and a host of predators. Thus the Mouse Guard was formed: more than just soldiers, they are guides for common mice looking to journey without confrontation from one village to another. They see to their duty with fearless dedication so that they may not simply exist, but truly live"
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Mouse Guard Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review above of Mouse Guard Coloring Book by David Petersen.
Mouse Guard Coloring Book Review
David Petersen is the illustrator behind the successful comic book series Mouse Guard. Mouse Guard is a beautifully presented comic that is published in a number of volumes.  It features mice and their adventures and survival in the world. The concept of the Mouse Guard series is both sweet and frightening and gives you something to think about, should you wish to do so.
The drawings are stunning! The colored works that David Petersen creates are so realistic for a fantasy world that you may need to pinch yourself.
As with any artist of this caliber, his art works are expensive to buy. If you visit his website you can purchase an original piece of line work for about $1000-$1500. Thankfully, for those of us that are addicted to pencils as well as the art work, a coloring book has been created for us to enjoy.
Below are some of the Mouse Guard Books that David Petersen has created so you can see how this art work looks when colored.
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Cover & Layout
The cover of Mouse Guard features an intricate scene of two mice overlaying a background of bees and honeycomb. The art work on the front cover, with the expansive use of black, hatching, line variation and pointillism is indicative of the art work that you will find inside.
The title in a reddish brown is the only color on the front and spine of the book.
On the back cover there is a two paragraph text blurb about the book and a small element to color in.
On the inner covers there is a map of The Mouse Territories showing The Northern Sea and Darkheather at the front and Wild Country at the rear.   The map has been printed in dull black and would look great colored in with pencils or markers.
Mouse Guard Coloring Book measures approximately 25.5 cm x 25 cm (approximately 10 in x 10 in).
Ancillary Pages
A plain text based title page opens the coloring book with the publishers logo at the foot.  The back of the page contains a small element to color in.  This is followed by another text title page sans publisher logo with copyright information and a small element to color in.    Any of these pages would be a great place to test out your mediums and see how they react with the paper and your coloring style.
Layout
Illustrations have been printed on both sides of the cool white, smooth, medium quality paper.    All of the images have been orientated portrait style.     Throughout the book there are 28 pages containing double page scenes with the balance being art on a single page.  Although the art work does run into the spine, it lays down reasonably well enough to allow coloring in those tricky areas.
As the art work has been printed on both sides of the paper, it is not suitable or alcohol based markers, as it would damage the reverse of the page.   You may want to test out your water based markers, fine liners, gel pens and the like discreetly on the ancillary pages and see if you experience bleed through.
Mouse Guard Coloring Book Images & Illustrations
David Petersen has certainly found a new fan here.    His illustrations and art work is so detailed, realistic and full of fantasy that it is hard to resist.     Cute little mice in outfits ranging from day to day to warfare will intrigue you.      Elements of nature that he incorporates with such detail will have you coloring for hours.     As well as mice you will find intricately drawn tortoises, snakes , fish, birds and other animals.      The animals are not drawn still and in portrait style, but rather in motion. The imagination that it takes to do that amazes me.
You will find that the line art is very rich in black which is used extensively for shading, texture and dimension in the images.
Many of the illustrations have been drawn comic book style in panes on the page while others are further made into art with elements outside the frame or border that surrounds them.
David Petersen has an active imagination in order to draw this series of books and to create this coloring book.   Colorists will enjoy the variety of scenes that there are to color in including duels, nature and interiors.
Each drawing is packed with detail and this may be overwhelming if you are visually impaired or have motor issues.    Personally, I’m quite happy looking at the uncolored line art as it is just beautiful.
Please click on an image to view more detail.
[foogallery id=”5597″]Where to buy Mouse Guard Coloring Book
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Book Depository |
Happy coloring x
Lea
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