Hem Ljuva Hem (Home Sweet Home) – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
Hem Ljuva Hem (Home Sweet Home) is illustrated by Emelie Lidehäll Öberg and published and kindly sent to me to review by Pagina Förlag. This book is only available in this format and is similar to the Swedish Artist’s Editions (Tavelboks), it measures 29.5x21cm (A4), it’s paperback with thick but flexible card covers which are white with green imagery from inside the book. The book has a green tape binding meaning the pages lie completely flat when the book is open and they can be removed for framing. The pages are made of thick cream card which is lightly textured and absolutely fabulous for using pencils on as they layer really well and blend seamlessly. Water-based pens also work really well on this card and don’t bleed through or sideways and there isn’t even a hint of shadowing either. The illustrations are all single-page designs and are printed single-sided so you can use whatever medium you fancy without worrying about bleed-through and mine didn’t even shadow when colouring the black sections of the image. The 20 illustrations are all posters, 19 contain text, 7 are written in Swedish, 12 are written in English, two of them include swearing (one English and one Swedish). The posters contain varying amounts of imagery and text with some just being beautifully drawn text and others just having a subtle message placed within a large colourable image. The phrases range from romantic to funny, exclamations to sayings, you can see them all in the images below. The illustrations also vary a lot from animals to flowers, objects to houses, scenes to collections and more, they are all drawn beautifully and are each packed with content so there’s loads to colour in each one. The posters would be ideal to remove and frame either for your own home or to give as gifts.

In terms of mental health, this book is great, I’m always a huge fan of books that offer a project that can be gifted or displayed because these are fantastic for showing us what we can achieve and for giving us a goal to work towards and afterwards, a reminder of what we can do. You could easily colour them to match the theme of a room or to stand out a look fabulous and I can’t wait to frame my finished page and brighten up my walls with it! The line thickness is consistent throughout and remains thin but not spindly. The intricacy and detail levels vary a little within each image with most being fairly intricate but having a few places with larger open spaces, therefore this book would be ideal for most levels of vision and fine motor control. The content is pretty uplifting and positive and sure to make you smile or laugh, even on your worst days and it looks even more fabulous once you’ve filled it with colour! The images are all a manageable size and will take varying amounts of time to colour depending on what mediums you use and how much blending and shading you want to do but none are overwhelming or likely to require weeks of dedication! Most of them consist of lots of component parts so you can colour them in sections if you wish, particularly useful if you’re having a bad day.

Overall, this is a fab book, it’s filled with beautiful artwork just begging to be coloured and displayed and it’s sure to perk up even the most symptom-filled days. The card is ideal for all mediums and the posters lend themselves to all types of colouring styles.

If you’d like to purchase a copy, it’s available here: https://www.printworksmarket.com/p/shop/books/all-books/hem-ljuva-hem-20-posters-to-color-and-frame.html

I run a fan group for the artwork of Emelie, please do join us and share your work.

The image below was coloured with Holbein Artist’s Colored Pencils, Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils and a black Sharpie.

Sagor Och Sägner (Tales and Legends) En Målarbok – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
Sagor Och Sägner is the second colouring book illustrated Emelie Lidehäll Öberg and published and kindly sent to me to review by Pagina Förlag. I have previously reviewed Emelie’s first book, Sagolikt. This latest book is different in format from Sagolikt, it’s the same format as Hanna Karlzon and Maria Trolle’s books, this book is hardback and just a little smaller than A4 at 21.6 x 25.8 cm. The covers are pale pink with a mostly coloured design from inside the book with gold foiling accents and lettering adding a touch of luxury! The spine of the book is burgundy with gold lettering. The pages are glue and string-bound and are attached to a sturdy ribbon which is flexible rather than being rigidly glued to the hardback spine; the spine is durable and hard-wearing but it can be a bit difficult to get to the very centre of some of the pages though this does ease up with use. The paper is thick, cream and smooth and pencils work fairly well on it, with it being relatively easy to build up layers for blending and shading; water-based pens don’t bleed or shadow (always test somewhere inconspicuous because everyone colours differently). The illustrations are printed double-sided and consist solely of single-page spreads apart from one double-page spread at the back.

The title translates as Tales and Legends and that’s exactly what you get in this book, images of fantastical creatures, scenes from fairy stories and, I assume, characters from Swedish folktales. The content is floral, girly, and quite similar, but not samey, to Sagolikt. The images are decorative and very nature and animal-focused. There are lot of mice and bunnies as well as doll-like girls and characters from stories. The images are really pretty and this book is absolutely ideal for anyone who likes fantasy, whimsy and images that are filled with childlike charm (not childish) but with adult levels of intricacy. The illustrations are also really cohesive and I didn’t feel that any of the pages contained filler images, each has definitely earnt its place and they look beautiful together but would look equally good removed from the book and framed. The images include mice, princesses, gnomes, flowers, woodland creatures, snow globes, a whale, teacups, a dragon, and lots of other beautiful objects and animals. Many of the pages depict imaginative imagery from a snow queen to a fortune-telling cat, a hare carrying a house on its back to mice being read a bedtime story, and fairies to mice showering in a teacup and so much more! The images contain a lot of realistic items used in very imaginative ways including lemons, teapots, cakes and acorns, all made into houses. The pictures are all very cute, fun and often light-hearted and they look absolutely stunning once you’ve added a splash of colour to them!

In terms of mental health, this book is lovely because it’s based around fairy-tale imagery which is full of charm and whimsy. The images aren’t overly realistic so there’s no need to use realistic colour schemes unless you want to and the animals pictured could be coloured as if they’re real, or as if they’re cuddly toys that have come to life so the possibilities are endless! The line thickness is consistent throughout and is medium/thin so it’s perfectly colourable for almost anyone and there is a little leeway to prevent you accidentally going over the lines. The intricacy and detail levels vary throughout and while the majority of the images are very detailed, hardly any of this is particularly intricate so this book will suit most people apart from those with particularly poor vision or fine motor control. The variance in difficulty level means that there is something suitable for your good days, bad days, and everything in between so this is an ideal book for those or you with fluctuating conditions or changeable concentration levels. The book offers huge amounts of escapism and truly transports you to a far off land where you can get out of your head, away from your thoughts and lost into a place filled with friendly fluffy animals, beautiful doll-like people, and quirky, whimsical landscapes. There are plenty of fairly large spaces where you can really practice your blending and shading and there are a number of objects that you can practice realistic colouring of wood, metal or fur on if you wish. The images are really pretty, so varied and just lovely to look at and to colour! There is plenty of space to add your own backgrounds or details if you wish but all of these pages look finished and there are no hints or written suggestions so there’s absolutely no need to be able to draw if you don’t want to.

I would highly recommend this book to those who like tales and legends, charming and cute imagery, and Swedish artwork because this book is beautiful and one I’m really pleased to now own. It’s a really pretty book with plenty of detail and interesting imagery, the paper is ideal for pen and pencil lovers and it really has a good feel about it.

If you’d like to purchase a copy it’s available right now from Sweden from the site below and if you use my exclusive discount code Lucy_PW you’ll get a 10% discount on all items in the Book category until the 8th of June 2017.
www.printworksmarket.com

If you’re a fan of Emelie’s work then please do join my dedicated Facebook group where you can share your coloured pages from all of her books and postcard books.

The image below was coloured using Holbein Artists’ Colored Pencils and blended with a Caran d’Ache Blender Pencils.

Fairy Tales Coloring Book (Sagolikt) – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
Fairy Tales Coloring Book is a Swedish book illustrated by Emelie Lidehall Oberg, originally published with the title Sagolikt and published and kindly sent to me to review by Gibbs Smith. I reviewed the original book, Sagolikt, HERE and this English language edition is identical in all respects apart from the language it’s written in and very subtle cosmetic differences with slightly different colour shades used on the covers for example but nothing that affects the use or enjoyment of the book, therefore the rest of my review is identical.

The book is 25cm square, paperback with flexible card covers that are cream with mint green and pale pink coloured illustrations with gold foiling accents on the front and back making it a really pretty and luxurious looking book. The covers have ¾ flaps which both have fully colourable black line drawings from within the book. The spine is glue and string-bound so it’s fairly durable but this does mean a little of each image is lost into it. The paper is cream, thick and lightly textured, it doesn’t bleed or shadow with water-based pens unless you press too hard in one spot, it works well with pencils and you can build up a good number of layers for blending and shading. The book contains 96 pages of double-sided images which are all single page spreads. The image content is really varied and contains all sorts of aspects from different fairy tales without being specific or telling any stories, each picture is a stand-alone piece though some content is similar. So many different things are pictured from all sorts of furry animals and birds to doll-like people and treehouses, gramophones and teapots to cupcakes and bunting, glass jars and flowers to tepees and underwater scenes. Some of the images are of more realistic scenes and others are purely fantasy-based from a tea party scene with cuddly toys to a family of clothed rabbits moving house; a glass fish bowl to a teacup village; and a beautiful country house to a city contained within a lightbulb. The images are really pretty and this book is absolutely ideal for anyone who likes fantasy, whimsy and images that are filled with childlike charm (not childish) but with adult levels of intricacy. The images are also really cohesive and I didn’t feel that any of the pages contained filler images, each has definitely earnt its place and they look beautiful together.

In terms of mental health, this book is lovely because it’s based around fairy tale imagery which is full of charm and whimsy. The images aren’t overly realistic so there’s no need to use realistic colour schemes unless you want to and the animals pictured could be coloured as if they’re real, or as if they’re cuddly toys that have come to life so the possibilities are endless! The line thickness is consistent throughout and is medium/thin so it’s perfectly colourable for almost anyone and there is a little leeway to prevent you accidentally going over the lines. The intricacy and detail levels vary throughout and while the majority of the images are very detailed, hardly any of this is particularly intricate so this book will suit most people apart from those with particularly poor vision or fine motor control. The variance in difficulty level means that there is something suitable for your good days, bad days, and everything in between so this is an ideal book for those or you with fluctuating conditions or changeable concentration levels. The book offers huge amounts of escapism and truly transports you to a far off land where you can get out of your head, away from your thoughts and lost into a place filled with friendly fluffy animals, beautiful doll-like people, and quirky, whimsical landscapes. There are plenty of fairly large spaces where you can really practice your blending and shading and there are a number of pages with jewels on for those of you who are currently obsessed with the gem-colouring that has swept through the colouring groups. The images are really pretty, so varied and just lovely to look at and to colour! There is plenty of space to add your own backgrounds or details if you wish but all of these pages look finished and there are no hints or written suggestions so there’s absolutely no need to be able to draw if you don’t want to.

I would highly recommend this book to those who like fairy tales, charming and cute imagery, and Swedish artwork because this book is beautiful and one I’m really pleased to now own. It’s a really pretty book with plenty of detail and interesting imagery, the paper is ideal for pen and pencil lovers and it really has a good feel about it.

If you’d like to pre-order a copy it’s available here:
Amazon UK – Fairy Tales Coloring Book
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/Fairy-Tales-Coloring-Book/9781423646624/?a_aid=colouringitmom

The image below was coloured using Stabilo 68 Fibre-tips and Stabilo Point 88 Fineliners.

Sagolikt – A Review

Sagolikt is a Swedish book illustrated by Emelie Lidehall Oberg and published and kindly sent to me to review by Pagina Forlag. Swedish colouring books have taken the world by storm and there’s no sign of them going anywhere, in fact, many of the favourites are finally starting to be picked up by US publishers and brought to the international community so that we can all enjoy these books. Luckily for us, Gibbs-Smith a US publisher has acquired the rights to this book and a number of other Swedish titles and will be bringing them to the English-speaking market so keep an eye out later in the year so you can pre-order this book! The title is in Swedish and doesn’t appear to fully translate to English but seems to mean fabled, mythical, or legendary and given the fairy-tale theme of the image content I’m guessing it means a mixture of all three!

The book is 25cm square, paperback with flexible card covers that are cream with mint green and pale pink coloured illustrations with gold foiling accents on the front and back making it a really pretty and luxurious looking book. The covers have ¾ flaps which both have fully colourable black line drawings from within the book. The spine is glue and string-bound so it’s fairly durable but this does mean a little of each image is lost into it. The paper is cream, thick and lightly textured, it doesn’t bleed or shadow with water-based pens unless you press too hard in one spot, it works well with pencils and you can build up a good number of layers for blending and shading. The book contains 96 pages of double-sided images which are all single page spreads. The image content is really varied and contains all sorts of aspects from different fairy-tales without being specific or telling any stories, each picture is a stand-alone piece though some content is similar. So many different things are pictured from all sorts of furry animals and birds to doll-like people and treehouses, gramophones and teapots to cupcakes and bunting, glass jars and flowers to tepees and underwater scenes. Some of the images are of more realistic scenes and others are purely fantasy-based from a tea party scene with cuddly toys to a family of clothed rabbits moving house; a glass fish bowl to a teacup village; and a beautiful country house to a city contained within a lightbulb. The images are really pretty and this book is absolutely ideal for anyone who likes fantasy, whimsy and images that are filled with childlike charm (not childish) but with adult levels of intricacy. The images are also really cohesive and I didn’t feel that any of the pages contained filler images, each has definitely earnt its place and they look beautiful together.

In terms of mental health, this book is lovely because it’s based around fairy-tale imagery which is full of charm and whimsy. The images aren’t overly realistic so there’s no need to use realistic colour schemes unless you want to and the animals pictured could be coloured as if they’re real, or as if they’re cuddly toys that have come to life so the possibilities are endless! The line thickness is consistent throughout and is medium/thin so it’s perfectly colourable for almost anyone and there is a little leeway to prevent you accidentally going over the lines. The intricacy and detail levels vary throughout and while the majority of the images are very detailed, hardly any of this is particularly intricate so this book will suit most people apart from those with particularly poor vision or fine motor control. The variance in difficulty level means that there is something suitable for your good days, bad days, and everything in between so this is an ideal book for those or you with fluctuating conditions or changeable concentration levels. The book offers huge amounts of escapism and truly transports you to a far off land where you can get out of your head, away from your thoughts and lost into a place filled with friendly fluffy animals, beautiful doll-like people, and quirky, whimsical landscapes. There are plenty of fairly large spaces where you can really practice your blending and shading and there are a number of pages with jewels on for those of you who are currently obsessed with the gem-colouring that has swept through the colouring groups. The images are really pretty, so varied and just lovely to look at and to colour! There is plenty of space to add your own backgrounds or details if you wish but all of these pages look finished and there are no hints or written suggestions so there’s absolutely no need to be able to draw if you don’t want to.

I would highly recommend this book to those who like fairy-tales, charming and cute imagery, and Swedish artwork because this book is beautiful and one I’m really pleased to now own. It’s a really pretty book with plenty of detail and interesting imagery, the paper is ideal for pen and pencil lovers and it really has a good feel about it. As I mentioned before, it’s unfortunately not currently available in English but it can be ordered worldwide from the Pen Store here – http://www.penstore.com/books-coloring-books/sagolikt

The image below was coloured using Stabilo 68 Fibre-tips. The gems were coloured using Faber-Castell Polychromos Pencils.