Published by Pagina förlag Style: double page printing
Format: Hard back
Emelie Lidehäll Öberg follows up from her first coloring book Sagolikt (Fairy Tales) with the same charm and distinctive style that her fans know so well.
Sagor Och Sagner Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of the Swedish coloring book, Â Sagor Och Sagner.
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Sagor Och Sagner Coloring Book  Review
It’s over a year ago now since I fell completely head over heels in love with the art work of Emelie Oberg.   At the time, I was purchasing  Sommarnatt by Hanna Karlzon and the cover of the charming Sagolikt caught my eye.  It was coming up to my Birthday so I figured I deserved a few Swedish coloring book treats and added it to the cart.    When it arrived,  I was besotted with the book and too frightened to color it in case I ruined it.   I was over the moon with happiness, when the English edition of Fairy Tales was released.  It’s so much easier and cheaper to replace an English edition for me in case I ruin it.   The original Sagolikt is in my shelf,  pristine with my favorite coloring books.  Over a year later, and hundreds and hundreds of coloring books later, it still remains one of my favorite coloring books.
I think the reason that I love it so much is that in a world of crazy chaos, Â this art work is so naively sweet, innocent and charming. Â Â Looking at it, Â with the beautiful positioning of each drawing and each element on the page, makes me feel calm and soothed. Â Â Of course, Â it doesn’t hurt that there are generally adorably cute critters and cupcakes in Emelie’s books – two of my favorite things!
Cover & Layout
The cover of  Sagor Och Sagner is hardback with a rich crimson, brown binding.   Cover art has been set against a light lilac/grey backdrop and features crowns, flowers and a bunny.  On the back cover, similar imagery is featured.  Gold foiling has ben applied both front and back.  The spine features the title, artist and publisher details in gold foil as well.
My only disappointment with the book is the cover.   I love the cover!  I just wish now that Fairy Tales and Sagolikt was hard back as well.   I would love them to look “uniform” on my shelf with the same size and format.   Maybe, I am just a little OCD 🙂
Ancillary Pages
Double protective pages, in the same color as the binding, Â feature at the front and back of the coloring book.
A gorgeous crowned deer features on the title page of Sagor Och Sagner with copyright information on reverse.
The nameplate page follows which features the front cover art. Â Details for the name are in Swedish.
Layout
Illustrations have been printed on both sides of the off white, medium quality paper. Â Â The paper is very similar, if not the same, Â as other coloring books from Sweden published by Pagina Forlag and the English editions published by Gibbs Smith.
There is only one double page spread within the book where the line art does run to the spine of the book. Â However, the binding of the coloring book makes it easy to color in these tricky areas.
All of the illustrations have been nicely positioned and centered on the page. Â Most of the line art avoids the spine area with only a handful of images coming close to this part of the book.
A handful of illustrations fill the whole of the page with line art. Â Â The balance of images have enough white space for adventurists colorists to add background detail, if they wished.
Sagor Och Sagner Coloring Book Images and Illustrations
The theme of the book  is Fairy Tales and Sayings and the illustrations reflect that “fairy tale” quality.   The illustrations follow the same look and feel as those in Sagolikt with one exception.  In Sagolikt the illustrations of people had a “doll” like appearance with rounded cheeks,  in this book that cheek outline is absent.
In Sagor Och Sagner Coloring Book you will find cute critters, some wearing little outfits and others jewelled and crowned.   There are detailed houses and an abundance of  flowers of all different varieties throughout the book.  Lending to the fairy tale theme,  you will find Princesses, elves, fairies and adorable fairy houses made from fruit.
Emelie’s line art is black, crisp and very easy to see. Â Most of the lines are of a medium weight but texture on fur on the animals is in a finer open line.
Colorists that have a minor visual impairment will find that most of the illustrations have open spaced elements making it easy to color. Â Â there are a handful of pages that have a lot of elements on the page that may be challenging for colorists that have a minor visual impairment or arthritis but these could be worked on gradually, over time.
Detail Level
Where to buy Sagor Och Sagner
Within Sweden | International |
I hope that there will be an English imprint of Sagor Och Sagner but, at the time of writing, Â there is no indication that that will be the case.
Happy coloring x
Lea
Wow- Sagor och sagner is such a gorgeous book! Does this book contain any gemstones? It’s definitely one to add to my Christmas wishlist! I love the whimsical dreamlike quality. I can imagine sitting round a fire in a Swedish log cabin with a mug of cocoa hearing all these tales and legends of magic and delight:)
Having a look at the video walk through at the top of the page there are a few images where you could use a gemstone effect at the start of the book but not many. If you are interested in coloring gemstones there are other books where you may find more images eg Glamourista by Jennifer Zimmermann, Magical Dawn has a lot of crystals in it if you like that look, if you check out Vitruvian Art on Facebook you will find gemstone tutorials as well as coloring books. Happy coloring x
Thanks for your response and recommendations- much appreciated!
This is such a gorgeous book, I love Emile’s style- so charming!
I don’t know which I prefer- this or Fairy Tales, her previous book!
I do love the hardback cover on this one… It’s a shame it’s not available on Amazon yet. I’m worried if I order from a Swedish bookstore it may not arrive in time for Christmas- I’ve heard shipping can be expensive too.
If you had to pick a favourite which would it be? This or her previous title?
Thank you:)
I fell in love with Sagolikt a year ago when on a whim I bought it as a birthday present for me… I loved it so much that when the English edition, Fairy Tales was released I quickly bought another 🙂 However, if I had to choose……I love the hardback of Sagnor och Sagner and IF it is ever released as an English imprint I will grab another copy. Shipping is expensive everywhere – it’s just a fact of life. I do without most things in order to buy books and that’s a choice I make and I just live with the cost of this hobby. As I do not know where you live, I can’t guesstimate whether the parcel would arrive by Christmas or not. What I can say is that the mail is very slow at this time of year as expected. You can check with Printworks whether they ship to your country and estimate of the shipping time before you buy the book. Happy coloring x