by Maria Trolle
Published by Pagina förlag on 29 May 2017
Style: double page printing, pre colored background
Format: Hard back
"Join the magic of the twilight, when the day and night boundary is blurred and dark shadows play a jerk.
Meet the animals that go to sleep and the lush greenery that closes for the night and watch out for all the little goblins that wakes up in the corners. Let your mind come to peace by coloring the most beautiful plants and essence of the twilight hour.
In this book you will also find a plant register, for those who like to color naturally."
Skymningstimman Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Skymningstimman Malarbok illustrated by Maria Trolle.
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Skymningstimman Coloring Book  Review
Maria Trolle has a legion of  fans since the release of  her first coloring book, Blomster Mandala and the follow up Vivi söker en vän.   Fans were delighted when Blomster Mandala was released as an English imprint, named Twilight Garden and  maintaining the same quality as the Swedish edition.
Her third coloring book,  Skymmingstimman appears to roughly translate to Twilight Hour in English.     Skymmingstimman follows the same theme as Blomster Mandala.  Features include  lots of cute animals and Maria’s love of nature showing through, with her beautiful flowers and plants.   In addition to that, Skymmingstimman has the same whimsy and the same cute little girl featured on the pages that we fell in love with in Vivi Soker en van.   Due to the incorporation of  the cute little girl in Skymmingstimman the book will appeal to a wider range of colorists.
One thing that I really love about Skymmingstimman is that Maria has realised that not all colorists are as good at gardening as she is. Â Â Included in the back is a super helpful index of the flower names included in the book together with the page numbers. Â Â This makes it so much easier if you are unsure about how to color a flower, Â you can look it up and do a spot of research before diving in. Â Of course, you do not have to color the art as it is found in nature but it is great for those that like to produce a natural look.
Skymningstimman Cover & Layout
Skymmingstimman has the same look and feel of  Blomster Mandala and Twilight Garden.   The cover is hard back with beautiful pre printing on it in pinks, mauves and teal.   This is highlighted by gold foiling on both the front and back cover.
A lovely bronze cloth binding protects the spine with title and artist name in gold foil.
Skymmingstimman has the same measurements as Blomster Mandala and Twilight Garden being 25cm x 21.5cm (approximately 10in x 8.5in)
My only niggle with the books from Maria Trolle is that, Vivi being a paperback, looks the odd book out when they are arranged on my shelf.    The obsessive compulsive in me,  would really like Maria’s publishers to release Vivi as a hardback with the same size and design as these books, so they would all look good on my shelf together 🙂
Ancillary Pages
Both ends of the book are protected with a lovely double matt black protective pages.   A text based title page follows featuring a butterfly on it.  Over page a dedication to Maria’s family and copyright information is presented.  These pages would be the best place to test out your  mediums.
My title page has some black marks on it which may have been caused by the printing process. Â Â It’s a small blemish on an otherwise beautiful book.
A lovely nameplate page follows with details in Swedish.
At the end of the book a two page plant register has been included. Â Â These pages and the final page are decorated with insects and flowers to color.
Layout
Illustrations have been printed on both sides of the off white, medium quality paper.
There are 14 double page scenes within the book with the bulk of the images being single page illustrations. Â Line art does run to the spine of some of the images. Â Â The spine should begin to loosen with continued use making it easy to color in these areas.
There are 32 pages with a pre printed black background.
The bulk of the images, have been well positioned and centered on the page.
Skymningstimman Coloring Book Images and Illustrations
Out of all Maria’s books that have been released to date this one is easily my favorite. Â Â It has a beautiful mix of whimsy, flowers and fairy like creatures that made me instantly regret not buying two books.
Inside Skymmingsimman the theme of the book shows you what happens in the twilight hour. Â Â That time of dusk where the animals are winding down for the day and night is falling bringing with it, forest creatures both cute and quirky.
You will find an abundance of flowers throughout Maria’s book of all different varieties. Â Â In Skymmingstimman you will also find cuddly and sleepy cats, beautiful birds, squirrels, insects, deer and bunnies.
Some quirky little characters are featured in the book as well. Â One reminds me of a little tiny Halloween ghost.
Featured throughout you will also find  sweet young girls.   She may be cuddling cats in a tree,  she may be in the form of a fairy,  she may be sitting in a pool of her own long hair or a tiny fairy in the garden.
This coloring book has managed to combine whimsy with very realistic flowers and animals, which is quite an art.
The line art is black and crisp and very easy to see on most of the pages. Â In my copy, however, there are some lines that have printed in a lighter, duller black.
On the whole, Â a medium line weight has been used but there are some lines within images that have a finer line.
Colorists that have a minor visual impairment may find that the amount of flowers on each page may have too much line art for them to accurately distinguish between elements. Â Many of the images with a pre printed black background may be worth attempting first, as the bulk of these images have less line art plus there is a very readable contrast between the line art and the page background, making it easier to see and color.
Even though there are a number of pages with a ready made black background, colorists still have many other pages that they could add background effects to if they wished.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”9232″]Detail Level
Where to buy Skymningstimman Coloring Book
At the time of writing, Â there is no indication that an English edition of this book will be available.
| PrintWorks | Bokus | Pen Store |
Depending on where you are located in the world, Â you may prefer to buy the Dutch imprint of this book, Â Schemertijd available from 15 September 2017 from Book Depository (free shipping worldwide) or Amazon UK.
Where to buy Nightfall Coloring Book (English edition)
The English edition of this coloring book will be released in March 2018 under the name of Nightfall.
[easyazon_image align=”center” height=”500″ identifier=”1423649168″ locale=”US” src=”http://coloringqueen.net/my_content/uploads/2017/11/61Z42LI2BW7L-1.jpg” tag=”mygamingweb-20″ width=”420″]You can pre order it here at [easyazon_link identifier=”1423649168″ locale=”US” nw=”y” tag=”mygamingweb-20″]Amazon[/easyazon_link]
Happy coloring x
Lea
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