Thursday, May 26, 2016

The Official Outlander Coloring Book



The perfect gift for fans of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels and the Starz original series, this spectacular adult coloring book features forty-five all-new illustrations!

 

 THE WORLD OF OUTLANDER AWAITS

 

 From the lush green of the Scottish Highlands to the military red of a British soldier’s coat or the vibrant hues of a tartan kilt, the colorful world of Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser is now yours to explore. Featuring gorgeous natural landscapes, detailed drawings of Claire’s medicinal herbs, depictions of the books’ most beloved scenes and characters, and intricately rendered clothing, weapons, and armor straight out of eighteenth-century Scotland, these exquisite black-and-white images—from renowned illustrators Juan Alarcón, Yvonne Gilbert, Craig Phillips, Jon Proctor, Tomislav Tomić, and Rebecca Zomchek—are designed to dazzle and inspire. Fans of the series, as well as lovers of history and art, can party like it’s 1743.

 
Publisher: Bantam Source: Purchased



It’s official, I’m completely addicted to Outlander, so when this coloring book was released last year, I knew I had to have it.
 

First, let me start by saying that I love the size. It’s a 9inch by 9inch square and, for me, I seem to like the square coloring books a bit better. It seems the images are always a bit crisper and more detailed in the square books.
 

I love how this is composed of images from six different illustrators. Rather than just having one standard format, this book contains vastly different illustrations. While I liked each of them a few, unfortunately, do have shading lines. And I’m not overly fond of shading lines.

 
The images vary from very complex illustrations such as Claire in a garden that will probably take days to finish to large images of broaches and candlesticks that only took an hour to finish.  
 
The paper that it’s printed on is a nice, crisp white that allows the true color to show. It’s very smooth, yet all coloring mediums seems to work well on it. The weight is nice also as it’s a medium cardstock. I haven’t had any problems with the colors bleeding through, although I do place a piece of paper behind the image I’m coloring just to make sure nothing transfers to the page behind it.
 

I’ve had fun experimenting with the different mediums I’ve used in this one. So far, I’ve used colored pencils, felt-tipped pens, fine-liners and watercolor pencils. Each medium goes on smoothly and works brilliantly. And the paper is heavy enough that when using watercolors it doesn’t curl up. Although I do want to mention that if you do use watercolors, it’s best to work slowly. Do a bit here and there and allow it time to dry before moving on to the next one. Also, allow the page to dry before closing the book. I’ve found it best to work on a flat surface, just because, while the page does grab the water, it’s not rigid enough to hold the watercolors if it’s vertical.
 
What I really like about this book is that rather than having images on the both sides, this contains an image on one side and a quotation from Outlander (the book) on the back.
 


Overall, I absolutely love this coloring book. It’s basically a very condensed version of Outlander. Fans of both the book and television series will be delighted. I really hope that they release other coloring books to correspond with the other books in the series.   

 

If you color, what mediums do you enjoy using?  


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