503 - Papyrus Brief - Idea Development

My research led me to find how within this new popular trend of adult colouring books, the repetitive mandala and mehndi patterns, with an underlying hidden forest or fantasy theme was most enticing for the audience. There are all-sorts of other different themes partnered with the patterning to be experimented with. 
Hephzibah Kaplan, director at the London Art Therapy Centre, strongly supports the notion of finding relief in colouring carefully in between the lines and says - “Meditation, whether secular or otherwise, has known benefits to mind, body and spirit. When focusing deeply on a simple yet safe task, other anxieties become less present, less pervasive.”
Here is a pick of some of the top-sellers I was able to easily find online. The books were chosen for their creativity, the quality of the illustrations and paper and how effectively they met with with any promise to keep us in a calm, focused, stress-free zone.

1. Enchanted Forest: An Inky Adventure & Colouring Book: £5, amazon

Contains drawings of woodland creatures and greenery which are super-detailed and the top-quality paper means pens won't bleed through. The really beautiful, imaginative illustrations are the stars of the show here, but some colourers will like the quest part; readers must find nine symbols hidden throughout the book in order to "unlock" the castle gate at the end.

2. The Mindfulness Colouring Book by Emma Farrarons: £4, amazon

This French illustrator behind this book has a background in textile design. You can see the influence of fabric pattern repeat on some of her drawings, which range from simple tessellating geometric designs to more intricate waves and floral-inspired shapes. Her latest book, features more nature themed patterns.

3. Tropical Wonderland: A Colouring Book Adventure: £4, amazon

Animal Kingdom has sold over 500,000 copies and been translated into 19 languages. The appeal of her work is the intricate drawings that really immerse you in the world she's created. In the case of this new book, that's pages full of exotic creatures from parrots to plant life. The artwork's exceptional and the paper's top quality. There's space to add your own details if you're feeling particularly creative, too.

Overall this really inspired my focus for my submission onto the combination of a mandala or repeat pattern with a main vector outline / image in the centre. I felt particularly interested in starting my visual research by looking at an artists work I was familiar with at LCA. 

Tomi Olopade - https://www.behance.net/gallery/34330857/To-Pimp-a-Butterfly-(Oil-paint-on-canvas)

I felt really inspired by his artworks use of these intricate patterns around the edges, combining it with the main foreground of the piece. 

This moved me onto the mandalas popularly appearing on wall hangings, and I started to think about how I can keep them as black and white outlines for the colouring book.

With concepts for the patterning building in my head, I began to look into how I wanted to communicate the main subjects of the piece - in what style / illustration / central shape with the patterns around the edge / etc.
I gathered some of my favourite works of current illustrators and other accounts I admire on Instagram, helping me focus my approach with my illustration for the colouring book, and build some justifications. I looked at -
Matt Carlson - @plaidmtn
Borja Bonaque - @borjabonaque
GDC - @graphicdesigncentral
Christopher Reath - @chrisreath

I looked at examples which do try to reflect feelings of relaxation, with vectorised styled illustration..

Long afternoon shadows, objects which are personal to me and relaxation?

Again the shadows allow depth to the simple everyday objects.















Definitely want to think about using something summer/sunshine related. A pool? beach? boat? 
So relaxation is reinforced throughout

Maybe experiment with what personally relaxes me?? - vinyls and mixing my favourite music. 
Or do I focus more on what is appealing to the main target audiences?

More of a detailed approach to a relaxed woodland/forest scene. Could adapt this into outlines and then the patterning within it?

Fitting the illustration within the circle adds this geometric touch which would fit perfectly within a pattern across a large page spread. The curvature invokes and draws a line between the pattern and inner image. 

The soft pastel-y colours really add to this feeling of calm-ness and relaxation but this is something which I do not need to consider as it is down to the consumers to justify their colour choices.

A summer dream of mine has always been to spend endless days in the sun with cold drinks and plenty of sun cream on a little private hut out in the ocean. Bora Bora or Bali perhaps. I decided this would be a perfect real life object to bring into my illustration and start building the scene around.

I will set out for it to feel modernised like these examples do, I want to enhance shadows allowing the colourers to experiment with dimensions to their drawings - making it that bit more advanced for some. 
It will depict that perfect summer paradise, (with a beach/island view in the background?) that everyone can relate to.