Have you been swept up by the coloring-in craze? London-based Amelia Gregory, the founder of the fabulous Amelia’s Magazine, has.
“I didn’t think it would be my thing as I’m generally more of a crafter in my spare time – knitting, crochet and so on,” she says, “But now I see what all the fuss is about! It’s actually really fun to just zone out and color some interesting artwork by someone else. Now I just want to spread the word.”
And so she has created her own coloring book. But as the publisher of an online magazine and books dedicated to showing the work of some of the most talented and interesting up-and-coming illustrators, this is not just any coloring-in book.
The artists involved were found via an open call on Amelia’s website. Súa Agapé, for example (work pictured top), is a Guatemalan artist with a distinctive cosmic style; recent UK graduate Caitlin Gardiner’s illustration of fish trapped and escaping from a net (pictured above) was designed to be “great fun to color”; while Mumbai-based artist Sadhna Prasad’s contribution (below) explores parallel worlds, weaving together a love of dreams, memory and fantasy.
“It is different to other high-end colouring books on the market because each contributor has a double page spread: a full colour left-hand page that showcases their work and gives inspiration to the colorist, and a similar black-line image on the right-hand page to colour in. This idea was inspired by some coloring pages that I featured in my print magazine 10 years ago. And there are bios of each artist at the back.”
Amelia is funding the project by a Kickstarter campaign. “Last year I raised over £14,000 to fund my 10th anniversary book and I am hopeful I can raise the required amount to make this book too.” And this time she is doing all this with a three-month-old baby in tow…
Pledgers get copies of Amelia’s Colourful Colouring Companion (as she points out, it makes a great Christmas gift!), postcards or prints, depending on how generous you are feeling!
Amelia Gregory with her new Colouring book.
