I’ve actually enjoyed “coloring book” fun since … oh, the 1980s, when (as they were called then) Altair designs became available. I have done many of those (and will upload some of them shortly). Recently, the relaxation for adults of coloring lovely artwork by others has become a “thing”.
My friend, James A. Owen, has created some coloring books from the illustrations he did for his Young Adult fantasy series, The Imaginarium Geographica. Although I do enjoy the coloring and palate he uses himself when having his pen-and-ink works colored, for myself, I tend to go for a stronger, more intense palate. I have a propensity for saturated colors, not subdued ones.
The first of his drawings that I tackled was this one:
“Dragons in the London Sky” — James has taken many photographs of clouds at sunset, especially those which hint at dragon forms. I went with how the leading edges of cloud formations catch the colors of sunset, and then quickly melt into the darker shades of dusk. I also wanted to try for the intensely luminous lavender-blue that the sky holds for a brief time at dusk. Using marker pens, and a lot of stippling, I achieved an effect that I liked. It definitely helped to have original artwork that inspired me to attempt these effects.
After that piece I wanted to try something else. James had included one drawing chock full of detail, and so I decided to try my hand at it. I wasn’t quite as happy with it, because I don’t think I was up to the challenge of this one. Too many unexpected details caught me.
The Goblin Market is, as I said, full of little details that surprise you when you look closely: Oh, the wizard and unicorn from The Last Unicorn, Gandalf sitting having a beverage, the fact that there’s more than steak and chicken on the grill in the foreground, Bone wandering along the pathway, and hey! the TARDIS in the background! And those are just for starters. It wasn’t easy to track all these things. But it was fun to try.
I figure two of these per post is a good way to start. No reason to over-whelm my post with several coloring book images at once.
It is relaxing to spend time coloring an appealing drawing, that’s for sure.
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