The 100 Colouring Book, by Dominika Lipniewska, seems to sit in between – half colouring book, half activity book. With 100 drawings on each double page spread, the illustrations are more of a tesselation, than a pattern. The aim is to colour and add detail; it could be stripes on a persons t-shirt, veins onto plant leaves, windows onto buildings or scales onto fish.
This piece is a follow on from article Adult Colouring Books – Evolution of an unexpected phenomenon
Vicky Stylianides talks with Dominika Lipniewska.
Your work is very graphic and colourful, was it strange to see you illustrations in black and white as finished pieces?
Not at all! Most of my work starts as black drawings and is then coloured or screen printed. I guess the biggest challenge for me was to leave is slightly unfinished without adding lines extra lines or patterns. I wanted to make sure that my drawings are just a starting point for my readers.
Do you use the same approach to image making for a colouring book as you would do with freelance/commissions?
I do. Like with all my work I start with pen and paper and if needed, correct it, put together or add colour digitally. For me it’s the most enjoyable way of working and gives me the time to work away from the screen. I drew my colouring book by hand and quite spontaneously, page at the time with only small changes but a lot of counting to 100.
On your website you say you enjoy getting involved in interesting projects and collaborating with people. In a sense, the colouring book is one big collaboration, how do you respond to seeing your illustrations coloured in by the public?
It is always a great pleasure and surprise to see the pages of my book in colour. My readers, regardless of their age are very creative and I’m not sure I would do a better job myself. It’s amazing how many different approaches people take to colour and decorate my characters and objects. I had some amazing artwork being sent to me from all over the world and it’s such an honour to see that someone took all this time to make those pages complete.
The 100 colouring book encourages interaction, with suggestions and things to look out for. Did you want to create something with more creative freedom, and do you think the colouring book phenomenon is evolving?
Absolutely! I wanted my drawings to be the starting point to encourage colouring, decorating and adding. It’s not one for staying inside the lines. The colouring book phenomenon is very surprising to me and I hope it will encourage people to get even more creative. I’m currently working on an activity book with much more doodling and creative freedom for a reader but still with some directions. So don’t put those pencils away just yet!
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