by Ikuko
Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform on July 19th 2017
Style: single page illustrations
Format: Soft cover
Goodreads
<Grayscale and Underdrawing coloring book for adults featuring 24 hand drawn shaded images to color - 7"x10" coloring images on 8.5"x11" book. Beautifully and delicately drawn people in surreal scenes.
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Surreal Fantasy Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Surreal Fantasy – Color My Art by Japanese illustrator Ikuko.
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Surreal Fantasy Coloring Book Review
Of course, as soon as you see the cover you know why I fell in love with this gorgeous book when I seen it on Amazon. A bunny in a hat and a girl with bunny ears! How could a bunny lover, like me resist that!
Sadly, I wish the postal service had realized my love for this book as this was one that was lost in the mail and had to be replaced 🙁
Cover & Layout
Surreal Fantasy measures approximately 8.5 in x 11in and is roughly A4 sized.
It has a glossy white cover with a colored cover. The colors are muted except for vibrant red roses which form a backdrop on the cover art. The cover art has been included in the book for you to color as well.
A pink spine that is blank continues to the back of the book. On the rear you will see a gorgeous colored image by Ikuko which features in the book. Her logo of a cute girl with Minnie Mouse bow in her hair is at the bottom of the cover.
Ancillary Pages
The greyscale art for the colored image on the rear cover features on the title page for the book. On the reverse is information for coloring in the book and recommendations of pencils and mediums to color.
A sweet girl with a dog on a lead, blowing a trumpet and carrying a banner for you to write your name on, makes an adorable and different, nameplate page.
At the end of the book are thumbnails of the 24 illustrations in the book and each has been named. Details about the artist are on the reverse. Any of the previous pages mentioned, would be a great spot to test out your markers and mediums.
Layout
There are 104 pages within this book which makes it a little thicker than most coloring books. There are 24 original illustrations which have been printed twice in the coloring book. Although, I know many people do not like this, it’s something I love. I always feel I can safely muck up a picture and still be able to have a second chance at coloring it again. If you are a more confident colorist than me, than the second image gives you the opportunity to try a different technique, medium or color scheme. You could, of course, invite a friend over and both color the same picture too. Having that second picture gives you so many options that you would not have had without changing the price tag of the book.
Unusually, the duplicate set of images has been printed with solid black on the reverse of the page. This makes it easy to see when the book is closed where the second set of images commences and ends.
All of the art work has been printed on white, trade stock quality paper. You will need to pop a few pieces of paper behind the illustrations in order to avoid dents or bleed through if you use wet mediums.
Illustrations have been orientated mainly portrait style with some horizontal images in the book.
All of the illustrations are greyscale.
Coloring Book Images and Illustrations
Ikuko has a deliciously dreamy way of illustrating pictures that makes me instantly fall in love with it. Her greyscale is so delicate and pretty, that I could quite happily just look at the pictures without coloring them.
In the Surreal Fantasy her illustrations feature beautiful faces and highly detailed hair. Usually, the illustration revolves around a focal point of a beautiful woman or child without background elements. In a number of the illustrations there is a greyscale background as well which is so useful for showing light source. The background is not the same shade of gray over the whole of the page but a gradient where you can see it lighten and deepen. If you are a beginner like me, just looking at this background effect and then at the main focal point, helps you realise where the artist sees the light coming from in the picture and choose your pencils accordingly.
As well as the beautifully drawn people in surreal situations, there are also other elements that you will have fun coloring like metal birdcages, birds, flowers and butterflies.
One or two of the illustrations are slightly smaller than they could be on the page, and I would have liked them to be scaled a bit more to fit more of the page. The artist does state that they are smaller in the product description though “7 x10″ coloring images on 8.5″x11″ book”.
All of the illustrations are beautifully centered and positioned, well away from the spine.
Lovers of greyscale will no doubt enjoy this book especially if you are new to greyscale art work. I absolutely adore it and there is only one illustration that I’m a little so-so about.
Colorists that have a minor visual impairment may find the delicacy and softness of this greyscale difficult to see. If that is the case, I would suggest just coloring a small amount with a color wash over several sittings.
Many of the illustrations have large open areas of space which are great for colorists with a motor skill impairment.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”11396″]Detail Level
Where to buy Surreal Fantasy Coloring Book
| [easyazon_link identifier=”1547288418″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Amazon[/easyazon_link] | Book Depository |
Happy coloring x
Lea
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