by Gray Eldritch
Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform on March 13th 2017
Style: single page illustrations
Pages: 50
Format: Soft cover
Goodreads
Artist Gray Eldritch has compiled 25 of his pen and ink drawings from his sketch book into a coloring book with a morbid theme
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Dark Reverie Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Dark Reverie Coloring Book
Dark Reverie Coloring Book Review
Looking at the cover of Dark Reverie most readers that know me well, will be surprised that it has made it to my shelf, rather than a cutesy colouring book with bunny rabbits on it. Truth is, I don’t mind a bit of darkness including skulls sometimes. When I get too frightened, I just comfort myself with a bunny book 🙂
My hubby on the other hand, loves the dark, creepy and morbid and never needs to be comforted with a bunny book, if the book is too scary 🙂 When Dark Reverie Colouring Book arrived in the mail this week. He was immediately interested and gave it the studied attention he gives to my darker colouring books. Final verdict: – “Keep that, I like it 🙂 “ If you knew him, you would know that’s high praise indeed.
Is it a horse, a ram or something else entirely?
Cover & Layout
Dark Reverie Colouring Book has a soft, glossy cover that features a picture frame and partially coloured horned skull. The dash of vibrant colour in the image stands out against the predominantly dark cover which sets the scene for the pages inside. The color scheme and imagery selected for the cover immediately indicate to the casual browser that the theme of the book is dark with imagery of skulls and pentagrams. The cover is a good indication of the pages inside the book.
On the back of the book there are three thumbnail images from within the book and text promising “25 morbid colouring pages”
Dark Reverie is an in between sized colouring book. It is not small and it is not A4 sized. It is in between those sizes. Measuring in at 25cm x 20cm approximately 10 in x 8 in.
An enlarged version of the cover art has been included in the book for you to color as well sans title.
Ancillary Pages
There is only one ancillary page in the book which is at the back of the book and blank. This would be a great spot to test out your mediums or color palettes. I would like to see more pages, particularly a title page and a page showing where we can connect with the artist with his social media handles
Layout
The illustrations in Dark Reverie have been printed on single sided, white, trade stock paper. Some images are landscape orientated but on the whole they are portrait orientated. In total there are 25 images to color within the book.
As each image is printed on a single page you can choose to use whatever medium you fancy. As always, place a spare piece of paper in between the pages to avoid impressions from your pencils or bleed through from markers.
On the reverse of each image the title has been printed in a light gray font which matches the cover title font. This gives the page a touch of elegance without impacting on the image over leaf.
One illustration in the book has a pre printed black background.
All of the illustrations have been well positioned and centered ensuring they present a balanced picture and for ease of colouring.
Dark Reverie Coloring Book Images and Illustrations
Dark Reverie contains illustrations that are predominantly themed around skulls whether human or animal they are the focal point. You will find skulls interwoven with pentagrams and elaborate scrolls and frames.
There is one image that shows a scorpion anda human skull, which is one of my favourites in the book.
There are some very interesting animal pictures within the book as well including a bird Grim Reaper style, an octopus, a butterfly with a skull head, snakes and a bird of prey swooping.
When you need a rest from the skulls you will also find a little humour in the book with the Halloween image of carved pumpkins on a coffin. As Halloween would normally be the place you would expect a morbid and gruesome image, the artist has surprised us with an image that could even be classed as cute, depending on how it was coloured.
The blurb on the book states that the artist is a pen and ink artist, and the drawings reflect that. They have a real hand drawn feel to them which is enhanced by the use of black in shading, stippling and texture lines throughout the art.
Colorists that have a minor visual impairment will be pleased that although the artist uses variable line weights on the whole the line art is a dull black, medium weight and very easy to see. There is one image that has a finer line weight and colouring in the book.
There are a handful of images that for visually or motor challenged colonists may be too detailed but the bulk of the images have clear defined outlines and areas of open space suitable for colonists with these challenges.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”7855″]Detail Level
Where to buy Dark Reverie Coloring Book
| Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Book Depository |
Happy coloring x
Lea
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