by Miki Takei
Published by Kawaride Shobo Shinsha on 26 November 2016
Style: color inspiration images, Contains Extras, double page printing
Pages: 72
Format: Dust Jacket, Glue & Stitched
A delicately drawn coloring book filled with illustrations depicting fairy tales and a feminine form of horoscope.
Colors Make You Happy Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Colors Make You Happy by Japanese Coloring Book Illustrator Miki Takei.
Colors Make You Happy Coloring Book Review
From what I have read online about this second coloring book from Japanese illustrator, Miki Takei it was created in response to requests from fans. Fans had asked for art work that was delicate with a girly, dreamy appearance including fairy tales.
Cover & Layout
When you first see the dust jacket of Colors Make You Happy it induces a little smile. The colors that decorate this in beautiful pastels are so deliciously sweet and pretty. I love how the cover has been designed showing all the pastel prettiness with some line art interspersed subtly here and there. On the front cover we can see a collage of famous females from Fairy Tales including Cinderella and that lovely glass slipper. The flaps on the dust jacket are white and plain. The back cover continues this theme and features an assortment of animals, fruit, flowers. An aqua spine complements the color palette.
The inner cover is aqua with white line art featuring cute kitties and gifts. The cover art has also been included in the book for you to color as well.
Ancillary Pages
There are two lovely rice paper sheets with an aqua pattern of little flowers that are used as a protector between the front and back cover. The start of the book commences with a beautifully pastel colored title page with some line art elements remaining for you to color as well.
Over page there is a message from the artist and more colored art work that follows. A beautifully fully colored Cinderella is so pretty that you just want to frame it in a girly girls room. Over the page there are two pages of instructions with pictures on how to color Cinderella. The text is in Japanese and I wish I could read it. This is followed by another full page colored piece of Rapunzel including 2 pages of how to color her in.
A restrained title page follows which has a few elements to color in. This would be an ideal place to test out your pencils.
Layout
The illustrations are all printed on both sides of the sturdy, off white, medium quality paper that is almost card like. The paper is smooth and has a real thickness to it although like all coloring books it is not the correct paper for markers. All of the art work has been orientated portrait style.
Throughout the book there are a number of double page spreads totaling 14. The art work does run to the spine of the book and could be tricky to color in these scenes until the spine loosens enough to access that area.
The remaining images are all printed as single illustrations on the page and have been well positioned to make coloring easy.
Illustrations
The art work that Miki Takei produces is very fine and delicate. Her art work reminds me of Tomoko Tashiro but not as detailed. There is a wide range of illustrations in this book including excerpts from well known and well loved fairy tales like Cinderella, Rapunzel and the Wizard of Oz. The zodiac is also represented. There is an overview illustration of the astrological signs and then each star sign has been drawn featuring a beautiful girl fitting the theme of the sign.
Throughout the book Miki provides a number of different types of things to color in including animals and flowers.
The line art is dull black and fine. I am finding it easy enough to see with my minor visual impairment but for coloring any detail I will pop on my glasses. Some illustrations are more detailed than others and this may present challenges who do not like fine detailed art work.
Most of the art work has background and foreground elements and not a lot of white space for snazzy background effects although most would look beautiful with some background color added in.
The cover entices you to color these in pastels and I immediately thought of my Holbein pastels when I seen it. However, you should choose any color palette that takes your fancy
Colors Make You Happy Image gallery
Please click on an image below to view more detail.
[foogallery id=”5153″]
Bonus
At the end of the book there are two pages of little note cards to color and cut out. They feature smaller illustrations from the book including cute animals, flowers and that glass slipper. The paper that these are printed on has me perplexed and I am not 100% sure if it is the same paper as the balance of the book or if it is slightly thicker. The paper in the book is a very sturdy paper, and in the absence of any details that I can find about the paper quality, I am going to say that it is the same paper.
Where to buy
| Etailer | UK Seller | Amazon Japan | Yes Asia – Free Shipping |
Happy coloring x
Lea
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