Amazing birthday haul!

My boyfriend was real sneaky this year. I have a wish list on Amazon with colouring books and while he gained some inspiration from it, he never the less got me no less than three colouring books that weren't on the list but that were really spot on with what I love! I must say I'm really impressed. Not only with his choices but the fact that he encourages extending my colouring book library that already occupies an entire - albeit small - bookshelf. 

First I'm going to talk about these two beauties. I'd never heard of these books before; they are illustrated by Korean artist Jae Eun Lee and it's always interesting to see what an artist from a culture with very different artistic traditions makes of European themes and vice versa. I was impressed with the illustrations; they depict very accurate renditions of artefacts, fashion etc and in one of the pages I even recognised the palace gardens of Sanssouci! The illustrations are drawn with a touch of the Asian attention to detail and delicacy that really sets them apart from other books. That said, they are not that insanely detailed as say Tomoko Tashiro's books, aside from all the detailed work they do have plenty of larger areas for adding gradients, shading or your own details. I always love that balance in a book. I also love how both books are based on the original stories that have very little to do with the Disney versions. A bit of history and culture/literature lesson combined with colouring, can a girl ask for more?

The most awesome thing about these books is the versatility of the illustrations. In Beauty and the Beast, you will find interiors, costumes, portraits, fantasy creatures, landscapes, still life (food, beauty etc), flowers, and even decorative patterns. So no matter what you feel like colouring this book is guaranteed to have several pages to suit your mood.

In the Snow Queen there aren't so many interiors and rather more pages with animals such as deer and birds, and also beautiful landscapes. Both books are, in my opinion, pretty advanced. How about an entire double page filled with mirror shards?! Whew. But of course, like any book, this one is also what you make of it. I actually found my Pitt artist pens to be excellent in them, as the ink will make colouring progress quite quickly and the detailed bits will sort of create their own highlights and shadows so there is no need to overwork them with coloured pencil. But I do look forward to trying out my Polychromos as well!

The paper in both books is quite white but a little bit more ivory than in Lost Ocean. So it's a warm white hue. The paper quality is, thank Goodness, very good, Pitt pens don't bleed or shadow so there shouldn't be a problem with water-based supplies. 

Below I have videos of flipthroughs of both books. Enjoy!

 

The Snow Queen:

The third book is by indie artist Scot Howden. The books is called Colouring Fantasy and contains 24 images of all kinds of fantasy ladies: shieldmaidens, dragon trainers, mermaids, steampunk girls, fairies and so on. The images are fairly sensual without being too erotic. The lineart is more grey than black which makes it easier if you want to make them disappear under layers of colour. The only drawback of this book is the paper quality: it's an Amazon print-on-demand book and unfortunately Amazon only offers one kind of paper for anyone. So Amazon, will you please pay attention to all the artists out there so we can get books on paper that is worthy of all the amazing artwork out there? Thank you.

However the pages are single-sided so you should be fine with any media that isn't too wet because the paper would buckle considerably even with Pitt pens or Inktense used with very little water. I recommend coloured pencils for this book. 
For colouring inspiration I recommend visiting Scot's Facebook page where most of the gals in the book can be viewed as his original art. He really is a sublime colourist and I will so steal his colours! ;)

Here is a flipthrough of the Colouring Fantasy book:

A wonderful encounter!

I have mentioned how much I like belonging to my colouring communities on Facebook. Interestingly, it's the smaller of the two groups that I prefer, it has such a nice atmosphere (so does the other one but that one's a bit too large and therefore perhaps a bit less personal).

Anyway, since haul/supply posts are fortunately allowed in these groups ;), I've had the opportunity to see a lot of people praising the WHSmith colouring pencils. To be honest, I first fell for their very handsome design. They are just so pretty on the outside! And the quote, The spectrum sings, it's just so sublime. I know I'm being silly! :) but anyhow, the other day I posted in my fave group a small complaint about how I'd love to try these pencils but WHSmith doesn't deliver to Sweden. And lo and behold, a great number of members volunteered to mail me a set!! In the end we agreed with a fellow member to swap items: I would send her the postcard book Vinterdrömmar by Hanna Karlzon (the Dagdrömmar lady!) and she would send me the pencils. 

It was of course a small leap of faith, giving out your address to a virtual stranger and everything... but it felt right! Needless to say Samantha, as her name is, got my parcel first, shame on you again and again Postnord... but today the beautiful pencils arrived! As an added bonus the parcel even fit into our mailbox so we didn't have to drive all the way to the grocery store (since we no longer have any post offices in Sweden anymore)

Upon opening the parcel there was another surprise. I thought I'd get the24 set, instead there was a 36 set of pencils in the package! I yelled out so my fiancé came running in from the car. He thought we'd been burgled as I stood in the doorway, shoes and coat still on, screaming. Lol! Then he realized it was pencils... then he was no longer surprised!

This wonderful gift came with very good timing. I've been pining after the 72 set Inktense pencils. I have the 24 set but would really love to upgrade and they are crazy expensive. Recently we talked about treating ourselves to something nice as we moved into our new house just five weeks ago and we have hardly rested, spent each waking our after work unpacking and fixing around the house. The fiancé, or S. as we can call him, was going to buy a nice pair of gaming headphones and I was going to get the Inktense. But after some calculations we agreeed to not spend anything on luxury items as there are so many expenses around the house these coming months. We agreed on this this morning so to get these gorgeous pencils, together with a new friendship, was really great for me today. Thank you, Samantha :)