This book is mind blowing, there is no other word for it.
The white dust jackets with splashes of colour is eyecatching, and the bright blue underneath even more so.
The spine is glue and string bound, providing some extra support, but still allowing the spine to ease with some use. Images do enter the spine, but as most aren’t full page images, this is not a huge issue.
The paper is quite heavy, and pencils lay down very nicely on it. Images are double sided, so if you use markers ensure you check for bleeding and be light handed to preserve the image on the reverse.
Coloured with Polychromos
Images
Camilla D’Errico is a bit of a rockstar in the anime/manga art world, with a number of comics, artworks and other ventures under her belt. She has also released two art books prior to this colouring book release.
With that, it comes as no surprise that the artwork in this book is superb quality. At first glance they seem very odd and mismatched, but as you look through and glance again, the images seem to make more sense.
There are a handful of ‘patterned’ pages, although unlike other books, these do not seem like filler. Amongst the images you will also find dragons on leashes, narwhals and mermaids, unicorns hatching from eggs and a robot and girl in love.
All images are drawn in the artists signature manga style, with a sketchbook feel to them. Camillas friend and muse Ayako, a cute anthropomorphised blob pops up every few pages to offer advice or commentary on the piece. This doesn’t bother me, but some feel that this makes the images seem disjointed.
Line thickness varies from thick to thin throughout, even within images. These switches are natural, and do suit the style and images. Intricacy is low to moderate throughout, with many larger spaces through the book.
Health
This type of fantasy is perfect for escapism when you are feeling down, and the level of detail in the image is also very well suited for these times.
The images may be a struggle for those who have fluctuating concentration levels as they do have a ‘flow’ so you might find it difficult to stop and start.
The intricacy means that those who have fine motor impairments most likely will not have an issue with this book, but please do check.
The varying line thickness may present a challenge to those with vision impairments, but as always, check the images and video before you decide.
Thankyou for reading and I hope you’ve enjoyed this review,
