Review - Secret Garden Artist's Edition: A Pull-Out and Frame Colouring Book by Johanna Basford

Secret Garden Artist's Edition: A Pull-Out and Frame Colouring Book by Johanna Basford
Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
Released: September 14th 2015
My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

From the publisher that brought you the hugely successful Secret Garden andEnchanted Forest by illustrator Johanna Basford - this special artist's edition features 20 beautiful, pull-out art prints for colouring in. Colouring fans of all ages will enjoy immersing themselves in a selection of the most popular artworks from the original book, now presented in a new, large-scale format for maximum colouring enjoyment.

Each detailed illustration is printed on high-quality card and can be removed easily for framing or craft projects. (from Laurence King website)

I was very excited to receive this for review! I, like many people, have developed a great fondness for colouring books lately. There are so many pretty ones out there! I actually have a copy of the original Secret Garden by Johanna Basford and I adore it (though I’ve got the really old one, before it was reprinted, so I have the paper that all pens seem to bleed through, which is a shame). The Artist’s Edition, though, is even better in my opinion. First, because you can easily pull out the pages to hang up or display the ones you really like (one day I will colour a picture to perfection, and I will display it proudly. It is not this day, but it will happen). Plus, even if you don't want to do this, or if you're like me and only want to pull out one you really think is perfect, this edition is great because each image is printed on to card. Card is more durable and better for hanging or displaying, but it also means your pens won’t bleed through the pages, even if you colour over the same part ten times. On top of that, each image is printed on one side of the card only, so there's even less chance of accidentally messing up another picture (I have had many pen smudging disasters in my days of colouring). Having this card is a huge benefit for me, because I love using fineliners and felt-tips to colour in. They make everything brighter, and when the images are as amazing as the ones in Secret Garden Artist’s Edition, I feel like only the brightest and most colourful pens will do (sometimes the pictures are so pretty I’m actually afraid of colouring them in and ruining them. I could just hang them up as is).

The images themselves, like in the original Secret Garden, are absolutely beautiful. And so detailed! How long must it have taken to produce some of these? They’re honestly amazing. Here’s one of my favourites, a peacock I have started colouring in.

I have yet to finish this one, but I really find colouring relaxing and a great way to pass the time. You get so absorbed in it - I started this peacock and didn’t realise that like, two hours had gone by until I looked at my laptop. 

I will definitely be getting myself some more of these colouring books to add to my collection (I’ve had my eye on Johanna Basford’s Enchanted Forest for a while, and her new book, Lost Ocean, looks amazing too!). Even though I am definitely not the best in the world at colouring, I really do enjoy doing it, and having books like these makes it all even more fun (even if I do sometimes get jealous of people with fab artistic talent who produce the most wonderful images ever). I highly recommend this particular version though if you want to display your pictures, or if you are like me and love using felt-tips or other sorts of pens to colour in, because I can guarantee they won’t bleed through the page and you won’t mess up any other images by accident.

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Review: Adventure Time - The Original Cartoon Title Cards (Vol 2), Seasons 3 & 4

Adventure Time - The Original Cartoon Title Cards (Vol 2), Seasons 3 & 4 by Pendleton Ward
Publisher: Titan Books
Released: August 7th 2015
My Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

Adventure Time’s adorably weird and wonderful post-apocalyptic world has captured the hearts of fans worldwide.

Featuring all the title cards from seasons 3 and 4 of the show, plus early sketches, creator commentary, and exclusive insights into the vast and varied inspirations behind the art, the second volume of Adventure Time - The Original Cartoon Title Cards is an absolute must-have for every fan. (from Goodreads)

So I’m a huge fan of Adventure Time and was very excited to be able to review this book. I have to admit, before reading this, I never really paid attention to the title cards of each episode while watching the show, but I definitely will now!

It was really interesting to see the work and thought that went into each title card. A lot more effort was required to create them than I expected, and the title cards themselves actually had a lot more meaning than just introducing each episode. Many of them hinted at what happened in each episode, in really subtle ways that you wouldn’t notice until you thought about it a bit more. However, others were intentionally misleading, which I thought was really cool. The creators would have an idea of what they would want you to think was going to happen, while really, something else entirely would occur that you completely didn’t expect. I really liked that and will definitely be studying the title cards a lot more thoroughly when season 7 starts airing, while keeping in mind they’re not always as they seem.

As well as that, the amount of detail in some of these title cards was amazing. There were so many intricate little things that just added to the whole picture to make everything more eye-catching. It was great to see how things changed from the original sketches to the full colour versions that were shown with the episodes. Colour can make so much difference, and I learnt from this book that typography is definitely important as well as the actual images, and can change the way things look overall instantly.

I loved seeing what inspired each title card as well. The creators were inspired from many different sources like Hitchcock movies, or film noir. One of my favourites ones was the title card of season 3, episode 5 (“Too Young”), which was inspired by romance novel covers - it worked so well and gave off the exact intended vibe. I liked seeing which title cards were a bit more difficult to design as well - for example, the creator for the title card of the episode “Still” originally had a bit of trouble coming up with an idea to portray stillness, before eventually settling on Finn and Jake as statutes in the background.

Overall, I found this book a really great look at the behind the scenes aspects of Adventure Time. It was really fun to study the title cards in a bit more depth and learn about how they were created, as well as find out why they were so important in introducing and setting the tone of the episodes. It also enabled me to relive some of my favourite episodes, and I’m really excited for the new season to start now. Highly recommended to Adventure Time fans. 

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Review: The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris

The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris
Publisher: Quirk Books
Released: June 2nd 2015
My Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads

You know about Batman, Superman, and Spiderman, but have you heard of Doll Man, Doctor Hormone, or Spider Queen? In The League of Regrettable Superheroes, you’ll meet one hundred of the strangest superheroes ever to see print, complete with backstories, vintage art, and colorful commentary. So prepare yourself for such not-ready-for-prime-time heroes as Bee Man (Batman, but with bees), the Clown (circus-themed crimebuster), the Eye (a giant, floating eyeball; just accept it), and many other oddballs and oddities. Drawing on the entire history of the medium, The League of Regrettable Superheroes will appeal to die-hard comics fans, casual comics readers, and anyone who enjoys peering into the stranger corners of pop culture. (from Goodreads)

If you have even the slightest interest in superheroes, and also possess a sense of humour, then you will probably enjoy this book. It’s not often I review non-fiction but I couldn’t miss the chance to read this! 

I will confess that I am not greatly knowledgeable when it comes to comics and superheroes (I know a little), so I actually learnt a lot from this book (like that a lot of the costumes in the 40s were fabulously awful and I think we should bring a few of those back). I also just really enjoyed reading about some of the crazy concepts people had come up with over the years. Some of these superheroes were truly odd (The Eye for one - there was just no explanation there!) while some were, in my opinion, terrifying (who thought a CLOWN would be a good idea? Clowns are creepy and frightening and okay maybe I was scared of them as a child but that’s not the point, clowns are just rubbish crime-fighters). Some had ridiculous names/powers (Dr Hormone and Ultra the Multi-Alien come to mind) whereas others weren’t actually too bad and seemed to have just unfortunately been cancelled before they could really take off. Wolf-Man though - that was just downright lazy. It’s like no thought went into that name at all.

I loved the artwork/images from the original comics that were included throughout as well. Certain characters had two extra pages that often contained panels from the actual work, and some were absolutely hilarious. I couldn’t imagine actually walking into a shop and buying these things! The author’s writing style was also very enjoyable, and I found myself laughing quite a bit. I definitely think that made a lot of difference, because if this had been a purely factual book with no (or unsuccessful) humour, I probably would have been bored. The inclusion of all the images really helped improve the reading experience as well, and the book would not be as fun without them.

In terms of how “regrettable” these superheroes were - some definitely were (seriously - CLOWNS) but I would definitely be intrigued to see if any of them are ever revived some day soon. We’re living in a time where superheroes are very popular and it’d be interesting to find out how successful some of these characters would be now if they ever made a come back (please no clown superhero movies though - I beg of you).

Overall, this was a really fun and somewhat educational read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in superheroes or comics from the past!

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