Colouring Quest Part 1:My collection

Have you started colouring yet? It's been proved that colouring brings logic and creativity together to help develop our motor skills. It also helps with stress so is a great activity after a long day at school or work! I love colourng for many reasons, so I decided to start writing a new blog series called 'Colouring Quest'! In this brand new post I'll show you some of the colouring books from my collection! I have a wide variety of books ranging from nature books to fashion books. I hope you will enjoy exploring my collection in this colouring quest!

Firstly here's my 'Colour Yourself A Whimsical Woodland' illustrated by Heartfelt Illustrations. I find this colouring book interesting because once I have coloured all of the pages, I can display them all together  in a massive picture! This would be great to decorate my room with because it will show my colouring techniques! The paper is of very high quality so is lovely to colour on. Check out Heartfelt Illustrations facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/heartfeltillustrations/ !

Here's my 'Day of the Dead' colouring book. It is created by the artist Thaneeya McArdle. I became fascinated with Thaneeya McArdle's work when I studied her in school a while ago. The bright colours and busy patterns drew me in straight away! I love this book because it is full of culture. The Day of the Dead is a festival celebrated in Mexico where people remember loved ones that they have lost. It is often thought of as another version of Halloween but it is quite different. The festival is not meant to be scary like Halloween but instead a joyous occasion. This book is great for beginners because it has a small guide of how to colour in the first few pages showing how to use colour and even has fully coloured examples to inspire you. This colouring book is different from the rest of my books because I can choose whatever colour I want and it will still look fabulous! You can see Thaneeya McArdle's websire here: http://www.thaneeya.com/ .

The next book in my collection is the 'vogue' colouring book by Iain R Webb. I am excited about this book because I read vogue every month for inspiration for my fashion designs. Each picture in the book is based on a page from Vogue in the 50s. I love the 50s aspect of it because I love the feminine and elegant fashions of that era. There is a little nugget of information about each illustration which is interesting to read since it gives a better understanding of the picture. With this book, you even get to colour in your own front cover (differently to the original). I was pleased to see an introduction from the artist before exploring the pages because it is motivating to see someone successful talk about fashion.There's space on several of the illustrations to draw your own patterns onto the fabrics as well as adding colour so you can personalise the pictures. You can read more about thsi colouring book at: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2015/10/02/vogue-colouring-book-illustrations-release !

Next I'll be showing you another fashion themed colouring book called '1960s Fashion' created by the company PEPIN. I'm looking forward to experimenting with different medians for this book because it is created so that you can even use watercolours on it! Most colouring books aren't designed so that you can use paint but these illustrations are one-sided! I like how both of my fashion themed colouring books are from a particular era. It is useful for people interested in fashion design to have fashion colouring books because you can practice shading clothes to show the folds in the fabric! I like how there is a lot of space on each page because I can create backgrounds for the designs if I want or I could add to the illustrtion. There's endless possibilities with this colouring book (and the others) to be unique.

The last group of colouring books are called 'Secret Garden', 'Enchanted Forest' and 'Lost Ocean'. They're all by the Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford. If you know anything about adult colouring books, chances are you know Johanna Basford. She calls herself an ink evangelist because she draws everything by hand with fineliners. I hear that she draws her pictures much bigger than the final size so that it is easier for her to draw the immensely detailed pictures. What I love about her books is that they are a good mix of very detailed and slightly less detailed pictures. The reason I love this variety is because you can try out different techniques for each picture. For example in less detailed ones you can create stunning gradients whereas in the more detailed ones you can use fineliners and a good colour scheme to create an equally brilliant yet different effect. The paper n her books is of good quality but I reccommend still using coloured pencils for the original editions to avoid bleeding through pages. I love the little extras such as the pattern on the dust cover and front cover as well as the fold out pages that are sometimes included!

Well that's it for the first post in my new blogging series Colouring Quest! I hope you've enjoyed having a peek at my colouring book collection. Hopefully if you're looking for a new colouring book I have inspired you to choose one of my recommendations or have a good rummage online and in stationery shops for the perfect fit! In future posts I'll be sharing more colouring content such as my completed pages and my tips.

Tell me in the comments what you's like to see me write about colouring! What books do you have in your collection?