Time of Memory: A Coloring Book – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
Time of Memory: A Coloring Book is published and kindly sent to me to review by St Martin’s Griffin. It was originally published in Korea and has been translated into English, this is one of a series of three books, the other two can be found reviewed by me here: The Story of Pandora, The Land of Dreams. All of them are written by Kim Sun Huyn and Time of Memory is also illustrated by her, whereas the other two are illustrated by Song Geum Jin so their illustration style and content is very different. Just bear this in mind and check out reviews of all three to ensure you like them all.

This book is 25cm square, paperback, with soft feel flexible card covers with beautiful coloured imagery from inside the book and half page French flaps which are left blank on the insides. The spine is glue-bound which makes it fairly durable but does mean that you’ll lose a little of each image into it unless you crack the spine which will give you better access to the centre but could eventually lead to pages falling out so do be careful. The images are printed double-sided and are a mixture of single and double page spreads, a large number of them do enter the spine. The paper is bright white, medium thickness and lightly textured, water-based pens ever so slightly shadowed when using dark colours but didn’t bleed at all, alcohol markers will bleed through, pencils layer and blend well as there’s a little bit of tooth. The images themselves are a very different style from the other two books in this series on account of them being drawn by a different illustrator, the cover image is included inside but is not indicative of the majority of the images which are more basic and open-spaced. The book is split into the four seasons with the pages each including scenes, objects, and imagery indicative of that season in a Northern hemisphere country. The images include: Spring flowers, butterflies, berries, goslings, fans, umbrellas, a beach, acorns, pine cones, Winter clothing, snow scenes, and a Christmas tree. Each season is titled and a short paragraph is written about what that season means to Kim and some of her memories from childhood. At the back of the book is advice written by Kim, an Art Therapist, where she describes ways in which art therapy can be used, and the effects of different colours and what they can be used to elicit. Following this are thumbnails of each image along with the title of the spread, and a double-page spread where you can create your own illustrations.

In terms of mental health, this book is good for a whole range of conditions or symptoms, the content is wide-ranging and very natural so it’s calming and soothing to colour. The line thickness varies from thin to medium thickness and the intricacy and detail levels vary hugely from large open spaces in quite blocky designs to much more detailed pictures on a level with the cover image and everything in between. This book would suit colourists with most levels of vision and fine motor control, neither will need to be perfect for you to enjoy this book. The season theme gives this book a great level of continuity and the written childhood memories as well as pictured scenes offer a good level of nostalgia for childhood holidays at the beach, rainy summer holidays and snowy Christmasses. Many of the pages have great natural stopping points so it’s well suited to good and bad days where you want to colour just one item or section, or a whole page. You won’t need high levels of concentration to enjoy this book and while it is distracting and absorbing, it’s not hugely mentally taxing so it’s good for a range of abilities. I personally found the art a little basic, particularly when compared to the other two books in the series and it feels like a slightly adult version of a children’s book, however, that might just be me, having reviewed over 200 books you do get picky and this isn’t one of my favourites though I’m sure it would be some people’s.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who don’t have perfect vision or fine motor control who want to colour natural images. The content is well-suited to pen or pencil colourists and is nostalgic both for childhood memories and for its similarities with children’s colouring book art.

If you’d like to purchase a copy it’s available here:
Amazon UK – Time of Memory: A Coloring Book
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/Time-of-Memory/9781250112477/?a_aid=colouringitmom

The image below was coloured using Stabilo 68 Fibre-tip Pens and Staedtler Triplus Fineliners.

The Land of Dreams: An Animal Fantasy Coloring Book – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
The Land of Dreams: An Animal Fantasy Coloring Book is published and kindly sent to me to review by St Martin’s Griffin. It was originally published in Korea and has been translated into English, this is one of a series of three books, the other two can be found reviewed by me here: The Story of Pandora, Time of Memory. All of them are written by Kim Sun Huyn and Time of Memory is also illustrated by her, whereas the other two are illustrated by Song Geum Jin so their illustration style and content is very different. Just bear this in mind and check out reviews of all three to ensure you like them all.

This book is 25cm square, paperback, with soft feel flexible card covers with beautiful coloured imagery from inside the book and half page French flaps which are left blank on the insides. The spine is glue-bound which makes it fairly durable but does mean that you’ll lose a little of each image into it unless you crack the spine which will give you better access to the centre but could eventually lead to pages falling out so do be careful. The images are printed double-sided and are a mixture of single and double page spreads, a large number of them do enter the spine. The paper is bright white, medium thickness and lightly textured, water-based pens ever so slightly shadowed when using dark colours but didn’t bleed at all, alcohol markers will bleed through, pencils layer and blend well as there’s a little bit of tooth. The images themselves are of a land of dreams so they show the weird, wonderful and surreal and are a great mixture of reality and oddity combined, from flowers to deer with floral antlers, bears floating with balloons to a whale with a castle on his back, a Merry-Go-Round to a tree-growing elephant, a floral peacock to a regal leopard and so much more. This book is jam-packed with incredible, nature-themed imagery and all of the illustrations are delicate, floral and fantastical. There are two pages with text written in paragraphs centrally which loosely explain the Land of Dreams in broken English, and a handful of pages with a thought-provoking statement written on them, I’m guessing the text hasn’t translated very well and has been done literally rather than being edited to make complete sense as some of the sentences seem unrelated to each other and a bit random. The image placement is quite varied from double-page scenes to centralised images, illustrations placed across the centre of the spread with lots of space around them and full pages with a bit of image trailing into the opposite page, there are plenty of places where you could add your own backgrounds or illustrations if you wish. At the back of the book is advice written by an Art Therapist where she describes anti-stress art therapy and colour therapy. Following this are thumbnails of each image along with the title of the spread and a double-page spread left for you to add your own drawings.

In terms of mental health, this book offers a lot of escapism and transports you to a far off land of dreams where nothing is quite as it seems and everything is a bit magical. The images portray realistic enough subjects that you could use realistic colour schemes if you wish, but they’re also surreal enough that you could really spice things up with purple elephants, green deer and red trees, the sky really is the limit with this imagery. A few of the designs don’t completely fill the double-page spread and a couple have very large open spaces where you could easily add your own illustrations or backgrounds if you wish, there are no written hints so you don’t have to add anything unless you want to, the page will look finished regardless. The line thickness is consistent throughout and is spindly thin. The intricacy and detail levels are consistent throughout and are very high, this is one of the most intricate books I’ve seen and it’s quite difficult to colour some of the most intricate parts so you’ll need exceedingly good vision and fine motor control, as well as a good level of concentration to identify each part and keep within the lines. This definitely isn’t a book for bad days, while flicking through it will surely absorb you and cheer you up, you’ll need to leave colouring it to your good days when you can concentrate properly and give it the time it deserves. This book doesn’t tell a story but it does create a sense of place and therefore is very absorbing and distracting, ideal for when your symptoms or thoughts are starting to take over too much. The illustration style and image layout is quite different from English and American books and it can take a little getting used to but it is really beautiful and looks even nicer coloured.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to those who love the surreal and who love to colour natural and nature-themed images, this book is jam-packed with beautiful, intricate content and it really does look incredible coloured even though it does take a lot of concentration.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of this book it’s available here:
Amazon UK – The Land of Dreams: An Animal Fantasy Coloring Book
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Land-of-Dreams-Kim-Sun-Hyun-Song-Geum-Jin/9781250112453/?a_aid=colouringitmom

The image below was coloured using Sudee Stile Coloured Pencils.

The Story of Pandora: A Fantasy Coloring Book – A Review

Disclaimer – Please read this disclosure about my use of affiliate links which are contained within this post.
The Story of Pandora: A Fantasy Coloring Book is published and kindly sent to me to review by St Martin’s Griffin. It was originally published in Korea and has been translated into English, this is one of a series of three books, the other two can be found reviewed by me here: The Land of Dreams, Time of Memory. All of them are written by Kim Sun Huyn and Time of Memory is also illustrated by her, whereas the other two are illustrated by Song Geum Jin so their illustration style and content is very different. Just bear this in mind and check out reviews of all three to ensure you like them all.

This book is 25cm square, paperback, with soft feel flexible card covers with beautiful coloured imagery from inside the book and half page French flaps which are left blank on the insides. The spine is glue-bound which makes it fairly durable but does mean that you’ll lose a little of each image into it unless you crack the spine which will give you better access to the centre but could eventually lead to pages falling out so do be careful. The images are printed double-sided and are all double-page spreads, a large number of them do enter the spine. The paper is bright white, medium thickness and lightly textured, water-based pens ever so slightly shadowed when using dark colours but didn’t bleed at all, alcohol markers will bleed through, pencils layer and blend well as there’s a little bit of tooth. The images themselves tell the story of Pandora, a land where time stands still and fantasy animals come alive. There are a few pages with text written in paragraphs centrally which explain the story in broken English, I’m guessing the text hasn’t translated very well and has been done literally rather than being edited to make complete sense as some of the sentences seem very unrelated to each other and a bit random. The illustrations depict a girl travelling through Pandora, there are a number of features which are clearly from Alice in Wonderland including mushrooms, a White Rabbit, Drink Me labels on bottles, flamingos, playing cards and even the main character growing and shrinking so Alice fans will love this. The pages are all spreads with some containing randomly placed objects, some showing full-page scenes and others having a smaller image with lots of space around it where you could add your own drawings or backgrounds if you wish. At the back of the book is advice written by an Art Therapist where she describes ways in which art can help to relieve stress, and colour schemes that can be used for a peaceful state of mind. Following this are thumbnails of each image along with the title of the spread and a double-page spread left for you to add your own drawings.

In terms of mental health, this book offers a lot of escapism and transports you to a far off land where nothing is quite as it seems. The Story of Pandora has a lot of similarities with the familiar story of Alice in Wonderland and this brings with it feelings of nostalgia and fondness, especially to those of us who are huge Alice fans. The illustrations are very whimsical and fantastical and not overly realistic in composition so you can really go wild with your colour choices and have multi-coloured mushrooms, pastel coloured sheep and green flamingos if you wish. A few of the designs don’t completely fill the double-page spread and a couple have very large open spaces where you could easily add your own imagery or backgrounds if you wish, there are no written hints so you don’t have to add anything unless you want to, the page will look finished regardless. The line thickness is consistent throughout and is spindly thin. The intricacy and detail levels are consistent throughout and are very high, this is one of the most intricate books I’ve seen and it’s quite difficult to colour some of the most intricate parts so you’ll need exceedingly good vision and fine motor control, as well as a good level of concentration to identify each part and keep within the lines. This definitely isn’t a book for bad days, while flicking through it will surely absorb you and cheer you up, you’ll need to leave colouring it to your good days when you can concentrate properly and give it the time it deserves. Because this book tells a story it’s got great continuity and would make a wonderful keepsake when finished, you could add more of your own story if you wish. The illustration style and image layout is quite different from English and American books and it can take a little getting used to but it is really beautiful and looks even nicer coloured.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who have very good vision and fine motor control, those who like Alice in Wonderland, and those who love to colour intricate, detailed storybook-style colouring books. It’s ideal for pencil colourists and will make a wonderful project to colour from beginning to end to turn into a keepsake.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of this book it’s available here:
Amazon UK – The Story of Pandora: A Fantasy Coloring Book
Book Depository Worldwide – https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Story-of-Pandor-Kim-Sun-Hyun-Song-Geum-Jin/9781250112460/?a_aid=colouringitmom

The image below was coloured using Sudee Stile Colouring Pencils.