Colouring Chinoiserie : A Sophisticated Activity Book
Colouring Chinoiserie Coloring Book Review
I pre-ordered Colouring Chinoiserie months ago when all I had to go on was a cover. I did not know what to expect from this coloring book for adults and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. Chinoiserie, according to the Webster dictionary refers to a decorative style of art “characterized by the use of Chinese motifs and techniques”. Do not let that confuse you. I expected Chinese patterns and traditional drawings. I did not expect a quirky robot character and cat on each page …but that is what I got! The artist, William Sim, has managed to combine traditional elements with quirky characters in a fun coloring book that delights.
William Sim has published a number of colouring books for adults including Colouring the Lion City and Colouring the World.
Cover & Layout
The cover of this coloring book book is card with a matte cover. The cover has some pre printed coloring on it and dashes of red foil highlights. The back cover contains partial thumbnails of the drawings inside.
The book measures 28cm x 21.5 cm (approximately 11 in 8.5 in). There are 50 illustrations in the book to color.
Art work for Colouring Chinoiserie has been presented on white, medium quality paper with one illustration per page.
At the start of the book there is a simple title page with a few elements to cover. The copyright and “about the Author” page have been presented as a double page with elements on each page to color. These are great spots to test out your mediums and see how they react with the paper and your coloring style and technique.
Illustrations
William Sim has a quirky, fantasy view of thee world and his art work is reflective of this. Expect to see traditional Chinese elements accompanied by quirky imaginings and always with a cute robotic character and matching robot style cat.
There are a number of illustrations featuring nature and animals including butterflies, monkeys, waterfalls, peacock, fish, cats and birds. In addition, you will find lovely pagodas, vases, handbags and the like.
The line work for the images is black. A variety of line weight is included in the book with some elements being in a fine line weight, others medium and some parts of images with a heavy line weight giving a lot of variation within each piece of art.
On the whole, the illustrations have been centered well on the page. However, there are a handful of images that run to the spine of the book which may be a little difficult to color. If you press down firmly on the book it will lay flat enough to color these areas.
There are a few images in the book that contain elements near the edge of the book. In these cases this results in a partial image of the item (eg half a vase).
There are illustrations that have large spaces for colorists that prefer open areas. However, most of the images contain a number of smaller patterns to color which may not suit all colorists.
Colouring Chinoiserie Video Review
Enjoy the video review below of Colouring Chinoiserie by William Sim.
Where to buy Colouring Chinoiserie
Happy coloring x
Lea
