Although I am currently the very, very happy owner of 16 beautiful coloring books – and haven’t colored in ten of them, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a pretty extensive wishlist of additional books which I would at some point love to add to my collection. In this post I’ll be summing up the four books that I’m most excited about adding to my collection, as well as the condition I’ve set myself in order to be allowed to purchase said book.
So why a condition? Excellent question! I want to make sure that I color in the books I own, and so every book that is currently on my wishlist can be bought, but only if I make sure that I meet the condition I’ve set myself for the purchase. I might have condition which says: color three pages in book X and two in book X before buying – that way I give myself a double whammy: on one hand I am working towards a reward (new book = a shiny new dopamine boost) and on the other hand I’m making sure I actually use the books I have and allow myself to fall in love with those books all over again!
3. Magical Worlds – Johanna Basford
First up is the reigning adult coloring queen Johanna Basford’s Magical Worlds. I am positively obsessed with Small Victories – it’s by far my most colored in book ever since I started coloring and I love her whimsical, dreamy style so much. It works so well with my coloring style! I also appreciate how she inserts a bit of magic in all her coloring. She recently released a new book which focuses on wildflowers, but has said that she makes a point of drawing realistic things just a wee bit different, so that the people who color in her books feel the freedom to go absolutely wild with their colors. And I love that! Out of all her big book releases Magical Worlds speaks to me the most, I just love the little worlds, castles, isles, animals with buildings and toadstools and I would absolutely love to add it to my collection!
Condition: color at least 10 pages in Small Victories and 20 small vignettes (mutually exclusive)
2. Winter Wonderland / Moonlight Mischief – R.J. Hampson
One of my absolute favorite illustrators of whom I do not own books yet, is R.J. Hampson. His style is so pretty and whimsical – intricate without being overwhelming and with each picture he manages to tell a story. I am simply obsessed! Honestly, I could probably pick any of his books and be fully content, because there’s no book that has pictures I don’t like. I have a couple books that stand out as favorite though, being Winter Wonderland, Moonlight Mischief, Night Garden and Serendipity.
What’s even more fun is that my bestie Iris is also obsessed with his pages and that we both realized that the self-published books on Amazon are not fully it for us, and so by the end of January we aim to order two of his books together and print them at my home printer with nice 200gsm mixed media paper.
Condition: color at least 1 page in Spooky Coloring, do NOT purchase any books beforehand.
1. Mythographic: Dragonspell – Joseph Chatimbang
How can I explain how obsessed I am with this book? I am a dragon girlie for life — although I’m not the biggest fan of the traditional big bad lizards used in most high fantasy thought up by white cis-men. And so this book is PERFECT for me, as it contains all sorts of different dragons and all the scenes are so beautiful. I could honestly picture myself coloring them all! There’s something about Joseph Chatimbang’s style that is both super intricate but not overwhelmingly so –unlike some Kerby Rosanes books that verge on doodle-style, and I’m just obsessed. I honestly think that this is going to be the absolute best gateway into the Mythographic universe and I feel so ready! I also love how the pages are single-sided, which allows for a huge variety of mediums, including alcohol markers and waterbased mediums without worrying about ruining the illustration on the other side of the page.
Condition: color at least 3 pages in Dragons du Monde by Diane Dufour and 2 in Mythomorphia by Kerby Rosanes.
I’ll finish this post with these gorgeous illustrations which Joseph Chatimbang shared on his Instagram. Don’t they just make you want to pick up your Inktense and go to town?! This book is at the absolute top of my wishlist with a very, very good reason!
