The Christmas Colouring Book (Search Press Colouring Books)

The book itself is paperback and A4 in size with a glue-bound spine. The images are printed single-sided and do not enter the spine. The paper is a good thickness and bright white with a little tooth meaning you can use just about any colouring medium you fancy. My water-based pens shadowed and bled a little but this isn't an issue because there is no image on the reverse. I found it very easy to blend and shade with my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. This book is part of a series and each book starts with 7 double-sided pages of coloured images that are contained within the book and then changes to single-sided black line images. This book contains images of all things Christmassy. From traditional to more modern, the images contain everything from presents to Father Christmas, snowmen to wreathes, Christmas puddings to Christmas trees and stockings and at the back there are even two pages of Christmas themed letters. This book is unlike most other colouring books and is more of a collection of similarly themed images rather than a cohesive book that tells a story. Many of the pages consist of a number of small images grouped together on the same page that aren't especially related to each other. To begin with, I found this quite off-putting because I love books that tell a story, however, the images are very nice and are great for practising blending and shading with coloured pencils and alcohol markers because the images are printed single-sided. This book contains over 80 Christmas designs.
In terms of mental health, this book doesn't have an awful lot of impact on it, though if you love Christmas, it's sure to increase your festive spirit. Because of the variety of image sizes, it's a good book for those of you with fluctuating conditions because if you can't focus much you can just spend a few minutes colouring one of the smaller images and then complete the larger images on days where you're able to concentrate a bit more. The line thickness is consistent throughout and is medium/thin so you don't need perfect vision or fine motor control to be able to stay within the lines. The images vary in intricacy and detail levels with some having lots of small spaces and others being much larger, open designs. This is a lovely addition to any colouring collection and is great for practising colouring techniques.

Search Press has brought out its own range of adult coloring books and here is the latest one to get colorists in the festive mood. There are over eighty designs in here ranging from whole page pictures to smaller motifs. Choose from Santas, angels, decorated trees, excited children, snowy houses, bedecked fireplaces and more. All drawn in a style reminiscent of Art Nouveau and featuring figures in Victorian costumes; as it says on the back part of the fun of coloring is to let the strain of modern life fall away so a vintage style is ideal! All the images are printed on one side of good quality white paper (which is midway between paper and thin card) so you can color using anything you like including markers and paints. Pictures are not too intricate so older children can join in too and if you are stuck for what to do there are sixteen pages of precolored motifs to give you ideas. Many of the pictures would be ideal as a starting point for craft projects and while this is NOT a public domain book in any way it says on the title page that you can reproduce pictures for your own personal use (eg cut out for cards) or for charity sales. This is an excellent quality coloring book that is sure to give hours of seasonal pleasure.

Elaine Hamer is a professional illustrator and she has worked on a variety of publications, including cookery and children's titles. She uses pencil, gouache and watercolour to create beautiful stylized, decorative and highly detailed illustrations. Elaine also works as a jewellery designer/maker and until moving into Kent lectured in jewellery making, art and design in the Midlands. She has two children, a son and daughter, and now lives in Kent with her husband.