by Rafael Araujo
Published by Phi Arts on 26 July 2016
Style: single page illustrations
Pages: 60
Format: Card cover with fold out, Glue Binding
Goodreads
A completely different coloring book from the norm that would appeal to a large number of colorists, artists, architects and those with an interest in mathematics and geometry
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Golden Ratio Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed watching the Golden Ratio Coloring Book video review above.
Golden Ratio Coloring Book
One of the greatest gifts that I have been given doing these coloring book reviews is the expansion of my mind.  My mind consisted of “work” stuff for so long that it had not been opened to other things and experiences.   With coloring books, I have been given the gift of rediscovering languages and been inspired when looking at coloring books like Bon Voyage.  I have learnt about other cultures (image direction) from my bunny book. I have enjoyed beautiful artwork by Jasmine Becket Griffith, at a more affordable price, and I have reconnected with my childhood and some of my favorite fairy tales.
Other things that make me reconnect with my childhood is my new Golden Ratio Coloring Book.    It makes me think of school.   All the friends that you have lost contact with and are now reconnecting with due to social media.  The classes that you took and the effect that they later had on you.   When I was a child, I’ll be quite honest, I was a ratbag at school 🙂  My report cards all say “disruptive influence” 🙂 I was never very attentive during math/s at school. I used to avoid school completely and especially maths. However, I remember Phi and the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci.  I never thought I would see these things later in life in a coloring book 🙂 To be honest, I never thought that I would buy a book that was mathematically based.
When I seen the Kickstarter campaign for the Golden Ratio Coloring Book I knew that I had to have it.  I liked that the Golden Ratio Coloring Book was different to my other coloring books. and I recognised some of the geometry and the Fibonacci spiral.  There was something intriguing about it.
Refreshing my schoolgirl knowledge of the Golden Ratio I realised that this was not the first coloring book that I have with this mathematical bent.  I was fascinated with this article that I read on how the golden ratio applies to design.
The Golden Ratio is what gives images a correct sense of proportion, and the pleasing sense of dimension that we get when we are looking at a page sometimes.   Perhaps, it’s the reason that sometimes a page may feel “wrong” to you, but you can’t put your finger on why.  More often I describe it as not being balanced. Artists and designers that use the Golden Ratio create images that are more pleasing to the eye due to this sense of proportion.     It is also something that we see in nature as well which is probably why Rafael has a number of nature based art works, some included in this book.
All along, I thought that I had been avoiding the dreaded maths and really it’s right there in front of me.  It makes me wonder if I had paid more attention in school, and actually gone to school, if I would have recognised this earlier in my coloring books 🙂
Cover & Layout
The cover of the Golden Ratio Coloring Book is a beautiful fold out card.   The design has a “blueprint” feel to it with colored spiral shell on the cover together with all the directional lines.  The title has been printed in gold foil.  The cover is embossed to give you the feel of the different lines forming the images on the front and back.  You can run your finger across it and feel that you are the one creating the drawing.
The Fibonacci spiral is on the inner part of the french flap together with a note from the illustrator. On the back french flap, is a short bio of Rafael Araujo. The inner covers contain perfectly drawn circles with petals in grey ink that you could color in if you wished.
The book measures 9.8 x 9.6 in
Layout
The 25 illustrations in the Golden Ratio Coloring Book have been printed on beautiful Italian archival drawing paper.  The look was selected to reflect the parchment similar to those used by the masters in the Renaissance.   The paper is divine.  It is a heavy weight paper, ivory in color and has a real tooth to it to grip whatever medium you choose to use on it.
The illustrations are all printed one per page and can be gently removed from the glue binding for use or framing.
Golden Ratio Coloring Book Illustration Gallery
Click on the images below of the Golden Ratio Coloring Book to see more detail.
[foogallery id=”3803″]Illustrations
The illustrations are all printed with their hand drawn glory.  That means that lines that you would often expect to be erased are included. You can see the creation process of completing an image. You may also see the mathematical equations and Phi throughout the art work.
You will see beautifully geometric designs from a base drawing and then further on more of the drawing with added detail. In addition to the geometric designs there are also images from nature.  The process of applying the golden ratio to a seashell image across three pages is beautiful.  More impressive is the journey of the creation of a group of butterflies on four pages.
Many of the illustrations show the initial working design and over pages this is built up with more geometric layers until the completed picture emerges. It really is quite fascinating.
The lines are dark grey and black throughout the book and the line weight varies depending on the dimension that is being showcased.  Some lines are quite solid and distinct whilst others are greyscaled with shading.
This is an interesting book and would appeal to many different types of colorists.    Colorists that like an intellectual journey and have a bent for symmetry will enjoy coloring these images. Colorists that prefer more abstract, pattern or geometric shapes to bunnies and fairies will like the change of pace.  Those new to coloring will enjoy the larger areas of space for ease of coloring in many of the images.
Whilst beginner colorists will enjoy this book, the beauty in the art work would also be appreciated by more experienced colorists.   Adding blending, shading and color theory to the line art would bring a new level of dimension in these pictures.
Where to buy the Golden Ratio Coloring Book
You can no longer purchase the Golden Ratio Coloring Book via the Kickstarter campaign as that was fully funded and has been completed. A lot of Kickstarter campaigns never get off the ground. They do not get the number of backers required to fund the project and cannot gather enough interest.    There’s clearly a lot of people interested in coloring and the Golden Ratio as the campaign stats show:
Happy coloring x
Lea
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