Whimsical Woodland Creatures: Coloring for Artists by Skyhorse Publishing
My rating: 4/5 cats
july project is OVER!
time for july project! with all the usual warnings:
this is my july project, so it’s gonna pop up every now and then throughout the month, but i will be adding a new picture to the review every day whether i float it or not.
yes, i’m trying another coloring book. because, let’s face it – february’s coloring project – Cats in Hats: A Peaceful Artist Coloring Book was a disaster. but this time, i actually looked at the pictures before buying the book, and they are infinitely better than those uggo cats. it’s not as challenging and intricate as many of the coloring books you expert colorers are into, but i’m a novice here, so i’m just dipping my toes. also, this time i am using markers instead of colored pencils, to see if coloring is more fun when your hand’s not all cramped up from pressing down to make bold and vivid colors. i spent a whopping 5 bucks on my markers, so again – not looking to go pro here or anything – just looking to color in some animals while binge-watching Scandal.
here we go:
July 1
i colored a mean, rabid bear! and i also learned about cheap markers, and the way they make those ugly, uneven-looking color-bleeds. oh, well – thirty more days to improve!
July 2
i know you will find it hard to believe that this is not actual nature photography from the pages of national geographic, but rather a picture i colored in a coloring book, but i assure you – as realistic a color scheme as this is, it is indeed just a drawing.
July 3
i nearly forgot to take a ‘before’ picture, so this ‘before’ picture is a little colored-in. anyone want to place bets on how many times i do this before the month is out?
July 4
this is a patriotic animal! happy 4th, everyone!
July 5
when coloring, symmetry is key!
July 6
i think this guy is my favorite so far. i don’t really have a lot to say about these drawings, and i apologize for that. i guess this project only requires slow, appraising nods, showing an appreciation of the fine arts.
July 7
and with this bunny, sad to say, i have officially run out of episodes of Scandal to marathon. how will i ever learn how politics works now??
July 8
with this one, i considered stopping at this point, because i kind of liked the way it looked half-unfinished
but you know me – i strive for realism in my coloring projects fo sho, so i kept at it
i think that is the happiest fox i have ever seen.
July 9
now, i know this is supposed to be a bunny, but i don’t understand its face. WHERE IS ITS FACE? i do not care for its heart-shaped nose, and is that flower supposed to represent its eye?? that’s goes beyond “whimsical woodland creatures” and straight into crazy nature town.
July 10
i am pretty sure this is not what deer look like in nature, and all the other deer of the forest will recognize him as a plant, sent to gather data for all the deer scientists, and will behave unnaturally in order to throw off deer research for decades to come. that’s what you get, science…
July 11
this snail got into the magic mushrooms that grow in the forest. he is freaking out, man…
July 12
not my finest batch of picture-taking, to be sure, but at least i managed to capture the important part – the bloody-beaked evidence of murrrrrderrrrr
because i know what birds get up to…
July 13
i like this bear so much, i have decided to call california and offer it as a replacement bear for their flag. because this
is a much less-fun bear, sez me.
July 14
HAPPY BASTILLE DAY!! and yes – i have chosen a frog to celebrate the occasion which is one of those things that iiii can do, and it’s totally not racist.
Vive le 14 juillet!!!!
July 15
look at me!! i am a whimsical woodland creature!! admire my whimsy!!
sometimes it’s just too hot to caption properly.
July 16
this book is doing nothing to disabuse me of my conception of birds as evil evil monsters.
July 17
i gotta learn to stop taking such blurry pictures, but still – i think this is a pretty sweet neon raccoon. BTW – i have finished all available episodes of Scandal and have now moved on to binge-watching Pretty Little Liars. i’m learning just as much with this show as i did with Scandal. mostly about how into fake eyelashes and foundation teenage girls are.
July 18
in honor of the pangram “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” with this drawing, i have used every single marker in my marker box. which is not 26, but 36, but do i get points for good intentions?
July 19
“look at me! i’m not a bore!”
oh, the puns… how i loathe myself…
July 20
you’d be grumpy, too, if butterflies and snails were crawling all over you and you were sprouting berries and acorns and leaves and … feathers?? i guess this is what they mean by “whimsical.”
July 21
oops – maybe next time i will remember to remove the little pink post-it note i stuck on all the pages i chose to color before taking the final photo. how embarrassing! it’s amateur hour up in here!
July 22
“hey, baby! wanna come up to my tree branch and take a nap? by which i mean “look at my etchings?”
July 23
there are a lot of foxen in this book, and i am going to try to do them all so greg can go “AWWWW!” i am a good friend. so, here, greg – another flippin’ fox!
and here are some nice pictures of maggie helping me color a fox:
oh, so you’re just gonna lie…
oh, wow, it’s like that now?
all right, whatever – i can work around this…
July 24
there’s no sneaking up on this little turtle…
July 25
i like how this wolf/fox thing looks like the transformers logo:
but i don’t like how, after coloring in this little fella, my grey pen is all dried out. RIP, little grey! fortunately, i found another package of markers in my place that i forgot i even had with a new little grey. so many more colors i have now! why couldn’t i have remembered these at the beginning on the month? oh, well.
and even though it’s almost over, i did want to share the july page of my allie brosh calendar, because it’s exactly how i feel right now:
July 26
here is another killer bird with which to terrify you!! beware that wingspan! and bloody little feets!
July 27
and yet another fox for greg! there are so many foxen in this coloring book, i fear i will not be able to get to them all by month’s end! cuz i don’t want it to be all foxen. gotta represent all neighborhoods of this whimsical woodland!
July 28
day 28 of the project and i still haven’t mastered the fine art of cropping. oh, well. it’s too hot to do shit right.
July 29
this is another one that almost didn’t get colored. why, you ask? oh, just this again.
you can see the poor bear’s little face trying to poke out.
and then it got worse. but also cuter.
poking did nothing
eventually she got hungry and wandered away. she’s a little rascal!
July 30
another fox! this forest is full of foxen! so full that i will not be able to color them all for july project. oh, well, i suppose i am still allowed to color things even if it’s not project-time. i am wholly unsupervised over here! no oversight committee! no standards!!! wheeee!
July 31
you know that old saying: july goes in like a crazy-eyed bear and out like a crazy-eyed wolf…
and so it does….
so, i have learned that coloring is more fun when the pictures aren’t uggo, and markers are more fun that colored pencils.
oh, and that teenagers have no idea what’s appropriate to wear to a cop’s funeral. seriously, hanna?
AND THAT WAS JULY!
and again – seriously???
this is not a very realistic show.
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