Small Victories: A Coloring Book of Little Wins and Miniature Masterpieces

Intricate doodles for the everyday color enthusiast
I recently re-discovered Johanna Basford and her coloring books. The only other coloring book I have is the artist’s edition of the Secret Garden. (I wish she made more editions like that)Overall, I’m very pleased with her signature intricate doodles that feel playful yet mature at the same time.However, I think “serious” colorists expect too much from her books. Yes, the paper is on the thinner side. But as I watched some of her YouTube videos, I came away with a better understanding of her intent and process. She uses rather light pressure and her approach is rather unproblematic and unfussy. Her books are meant to be enjoyed by all, but I think especially by the everyman.Using too much pressure on the paper will leave indents on the next page. Using light-medium pencil pressure and gradual layering seems to be the way to go with her coloring pages. (I tend to gravitate towards heavier pressure naturally, but this may not be an issue for others. I’m also not an expert colorist.)Bottom line:I definitely like saturation and I don’t want to feel restricted with coloring, so my solution to the thin paper was ordering tracing paper and good quality drawing paper, so I could transfer her drawings and color to my heart’s content without fear of using too much pressure, and hence ruining the next page.I think this is a reasonable solution, if you’d like to level up your coloring game (like me).

Fans of Johanna Basford, rejoice!
Another book by Johanna Basford for lovers of her drawings. Excellent paper, well bound which opens flat once the spine is broken in. Typical drawings, but isn’t that why we love her? The drawings are small because the book is smaller (please note size) and require a steady hand for coloring (I prefer Polychromos colored pencils for fine coloring and true, rich colors which will not fade). Might not be for those who just beginning to do adult coloring or have trouble with small detail work, but for experienced colorists it is a great book for coloring in short spurts of time without committing to a larger scale work. Her other books are a great intro to the Basford style, but this is for those who want to color a complete picture in half an hour or take it along a handy size in their bags.

Cute and fun
I’ve really been looking forward to this book, because I love small books; and I like the small vignette images that Johanna has popularized, and coined “small victories.” The book is a pretty nice mash-up of everything we’ve seen from her, so far. This time, the American edition was printed in the UK, and accordingly, was printed on the same paper. These designs were specifically created at the size we see them, in a sort of pocket-sized book, instead of having to be scaled down and/or cropped, so they look very natural and proportionate to the page. There are some images I simply adore, for instance: the vehicles, the houses, the islands, the boats, pencils, the treehouses, the shelves, bottles and the jars, the full-page under water scene, the teapot ensemble, the mushroom scenes, the full-page island castle (or manor?), the little sort of fairy houses and things (facing the dachshunds page), the full-page lighthouse and houseboat pages, the space page and facing page with the castle and things, the page with the triplicate house scene, the dragons and their facing page, and the narwhal page. I even like the dinosaurs and most of the animals, even though I usually really don’t like heavily patterned things. The whole let’s cover everything in floral Zentangle-inspired, gaudy eye sore designs stresses me out, when I color them. I know it’s one of the signature concepts to Johanna’s work, and everyone else has just jumped on the bandwagon, but I don’t enjoy it. While I think Dover Publications debuted their first Creative Haven books (aimed largely at adults and “experienced colorists”) in 2012, Johanna’s Secret Garden followed up in 2013, and became the stylistic standard of the adult coloring fad. It makes sense that people would largely try to capitalize on her success. However, some of the other adult coloring stale cliches, I could do without: insects, food obsessiveness, and lots of fish (although, I do really like some of the fish scenes). I didn’t see any peacocks or peahens, unless I overlooked them. I’m also getting weary of all the tiny leaves and flowers. Unfortunately, I don’t have good dexterity, so I have a really hard time doing much shading, or anything else creative, with them. I know most of Johanna’s fans probably love all of that, but… Well, I’m going to just come out and say it: I would really love to see Johanna stretch herself a bit more, and use less flowers and leaves (and other botanicals). World of Wonders, 30 Days of Creativity, Rooms of Wonder, and this book have shown us there’s a lot more depth to her imagination and artistic talent. Overall, however, I’m glad I purchased this. It’s really lovely to see Johanna Basford further embrace “small victories,” and smaller book sizes. I don’t have much physical space, so it’s really hard to find storage–that will fit in a small area–for the big coloring books. I’m just about to the point that I’m going to need to just stop buying the big 10″ by 10″ (and larger) coloring books, because I can’t store more. And, I can’t re-design my physical space, or come up with different storage options. It’s terrible to have to skip future releases, but I can’t alter reality.

Minha vó ama os livros de colorir da Johanna e comprei esse. Apesar de ser bem menor (quase do tamanho de uma caixa de lápis de 24 cores), é um livro como os outros da autora: ilustrações bonitas e folha grossa.

I have been colouring a long time and was so delighted when Johanna Basford started producing her beautiful books. I collected them all over the years and have really enjoyed the quality and whimsical content of each book. This little one is no exception.It’s small enough to take with me easily ( I colour everywhere ) The images are small so it’s satisfying , as I don’t always have a lot of time and can complete one or two ( or more) easily . .I love it and might purchase another copy! Beautiful images and top notch paper.

Mooie kleurprenten.