Find Coloring Inspiration

Do you ever find yourself staring blankly at a coloring page and your box of markers or colored pencils?  If you're like me, you're wondering what colors to use. You see endless possibilities. I created a Pinterest board specifically to help you (and me!) get inspired. Click here to go to my inspiration pinboard.

I have a variety of photographs to help inspire you. I like to choose a mood for the illustration I color. This has helped me to set the right mood. The colors and photos on my board really take you to a different place! Give it a try and create your own.

Review - Secret Garden Artist's Edition Coloring Book by Johanna Basford

No secret that illustrator Johanna Basford is one of my favorites, and one of the favorites of many colorists. When I found this book at Marshall's for only $12.99, I immediately grabbed it. This was a wonderful deal.

The book is larger than normal size coloring books. There are 20 illustrations, which were the "best" from Secret Garden. The paper is very thick card stock that you could color on with about anything your heart desires. The pages are a beautiful cream color.

I am in love with this book.

I have a soft spot for high quality paper, and this one is on target. Mix that with Johanna Basford's beautiful illustrations and this book is a clear winner.

You are encouraged to remove the pages and frame. Not sure I'll do that, but I will enjoy coloring them! The pages aren't perforated, but still easy enough to remove, yet the  pages stay in place well.

I am still amazed at the deal I got on this coloring book.

If you are a Johanna Basford fan, pick up a copy of this book. The upside is also that there are no illustrations going into the margins and designs are single sided. The artist's edition is very underrated. This book is one of my favorites! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Review - Fairies in Wonderland: An Interactive Coloring Adventure for All Ages by Marcos Chin

I've loved fairies ever since I was a little girl, so of course I was drawn to this title.

The black-and-white line art is beautiful. You can tell by the cover the quality of illustration.

The paper is a bright white cardstock quality paper. I bought this book with my Stabilo fineliners in mind, and they do not bleed through. Cheap markers would likely bleed.

There is a riddle in the book and you have to find the keys/letters. I haven't solved it and won't. I don't care for those types of hidden gems in books. A story element is more appreciated.

The first half of the book is day and the second half of the book is night (with black pages). This is a nice element and inspires me try out metallic gel pens.

The illustrations are beautiful. No doubt about that. I am amazed at Marcos Chin's talent. There are both girl and boy fairies too. I really like that. The drawings are very intricate and delicate.

My qualm is that while coloring I felt like I was coloring the same thing over and over. One spread had many keys as part of the riddle. I was bored quickly.

The illustrations are unique, but they are heavily repetitive. Does that make sense? I want to stress how lovely the art work is, but I wished the riddle was gone and there was more variety in scenes.

This book is two-sided, and not made to tear pages out. Some of the designs do go into the binding in the middle and are hard to reach to color.

The binding isn't very sturdy and already looks worn after the few pages I've colored. I am hoping it doesn't fall apart, so be careful with your copy.

Review - Mommy and Me: A Mother's Heart Coloring Book: Inspiring Illustrations to Color With Your Child

The idea behind this book is nice. It's a book to color with your little one.

The illustrations are on one side of the page, and Bible verses are on the other side. The first half and second half of the book have the same content, except for one half has more intricate designs on the pages. For example, there are two lions. One lion is filled with intricate designs and the other is blank inside of the outline. I guess the child is supposed to color the simple one? The easy/hard illustrations are randomly mixed through the book. It's puzzling to me. Maybe have the designs facing each other in the book, so you can actually color together? I don't know how this is supposed to work.

There are quite a few pages that are just different squiggly lines and swirls to color. Not exactly exciting for me or my kiddo.

My favorite pages are the lions and the lady holding a baby. More of those images would have been welcomed!

I only tried coloring with colored pencils, but the paper quality seems decent enough that nice quality markers should be fine. Definitely wouldn't try your kid's crayola markers though, if you want to keep the book nice.

I really think this concept could be better executed. I hope they either make another version of the book or make a similar book with better images and a more cohesive flow.

The book is by Passio.

Review - Island Escape, My Caribbean Coloring Book by Jade Gedeon

Oh. my. goodness. I saw this beauty on the shelf at Walmart and rushed over to grab it. I could tell by the cover that the paper quality would be out of this world. This book uses watercolor paper! I don't plan to use watercolors, but I highly appreciate good quality paper.

This book has some fold out pages, but everything is perforated and one-sided. Awesome.

The designs really do take you to another place.

I like that some designs are very simple. I like to be able to finish a coloring page in one session; it makes me feel more accomplished.

There are buildings, water scenes, and plenty of local flair that you'd see in the Caribbean islands. It's a diverse book.

I also love that the pages are not white. They are a gorgeous light beige. Beautiful.

As you can tell, I love this book. It stands out from the rest. I couldn't wait to use my colored pencils on it, but I know fine liners would also do wonderful, as would watercolors!

I can't wait to buy more of Jade Gedeon's books. This gem has quickly become one of my favorites.