Millie Marotta's Tropical Wonderland: a colouring book adventure: 2

Tropical Wonderland is every bit as wonderful as Millie Marotta's previous book Animal Kingdom. This book is the same size, shape and thickness as her first book and others like Secret Garden, Enchanted Forest and Animorphia. The books pages are all a very crisp white colour and are a good thickness, although those of us now spoilt by Enchanted Forest or the new reprint of Secret Garden will notice that the pages of Millie's books are a little thinner. The pages are all printed on both sides and I can't comment on felt pens as I don't use them, but I can say that pencils really glide on the page and it's just lovely. This book is very much like Animal Kingdom. It starts with a little message introduction from Millie herself, thanking us for buying her books and she talks a bit about this book and colouring suggestions. Having this little message somehow makes her book feel more personal. I like this touch :) The pictures are all black and white (no pre-coloured parts) and follow the same sort of pattern as before. You get pictures of animals and foliage with intricate patterns on them and other pictures of just animals made out of hundreds of leaves and things. Once again all the pictures are very realistic in their shapes and I can't believe the range of exotic creatures. There are flamingos, lemurs, cranes, peacocks, hornbill birds and armadillo to name just a few. There are also a few pages concentrating more on foliage and I find myself strangely attracted to a page filled with cacti. Some of the pages have writing on them, suggestions of colours or details you can add, but there seems to be far less of this writing than in her previous book. Some pages have blank white spaces around them and once again Millie suggests that we could add our own backgrounds. And for those of us that want to try it there are again a few pages at the back to attempt drawing your own tropical wonderland. I personally love the chance to add my own details, it really makes the book my own creation, and for those who might be afraid of adding your own drawings, don't worry! Nobody else has to see your work if you don't want them to and there's something relaxing about just doodling away. And you don't have to just use black pens or a sharpened black pencil, you can draw using regular pencils, they rub out a lot easier! Some people still don't like images that go right into the spine, and although this book does have some double page spreads that go to the spine it wasn't as big an issue for me as some books. For example in the book 'Animorphia' there is a peacock whose body is lost in the centre spine, but Millie's drawn a beautiful peacock over two pages but it's body fits on the right hand side and it's standing at an angle so only feathers go into the spine. Only bits of foliage usually are in the spine and apart from a big whale the animals are usually fully visible on the pages. This book is really lovely, I'm already colouring in the peacock - I'm always attracted to peacock pictures :). And my pencils really work well on the page. I'd recommend this book to anyone of any age. Kids and adults will all enjoy the stunning designs and even though I've only started I already am looking forward to a hopeful third book by Millie. If you like this book I'd recommend her first book 'Animal Kingdom' for those that don't have it already :)

This is the first adult colouring book that I have bought and I wasn't sure what to expect but I am so glad that I opted for this tropical wonderland colouring book. There are a vast range of intricate designs throughout the book, I really like the variety of images - there are botanical and floral images, a range of tropical birds and animals, butterflies and insects, sea creatures and a couple of mandala style images to colour. Although the majority of the images have already been completed and are ready for you to colour there are a few which have spaces for you to add in your own patterns and designs to the image before colouring which I think is a nice idea, as it offers another way of interacting with the book and another way to be creative with it. The book is also printed on high quality paper which is lovely to colour on and produces great results. An excellent product! The only thing that I have found is that having double sided pages means that when colouring a design where I have already coloured on the previous page (i.e. directly underneath where I am colouring) the pressure from the pencils can cause colours to transfer/imprint on the other designs (although this could of course be partially due to my choice of colouring pencils) - however this is easily remedied by using a piece of plan paper or parchment paper inserted between the designs on the previous pages.

Brought this with some good quality pens. Absolutely beautiful pictures to colour in. Lovely quality pages.

I bought this on the basis that I have the previous book 'Animal Kingdom' which I have - more or less - completed. I do like this book equally as well as I think the drawings fill the pages a bit more than the previous offering. Some drawings come right out at you, almost like a 3D effect, making them more interesting to colour in. Some drawings are more difficult to colour in than others (I have used pens with no problems with 'bleeding' although darker colours such as black or purple seem thicker, somehow, so I have to be more careful with them). However, I do have some Stabilo Fineliners alongside the thicker ones and none of those are problematic. I just don't have as many! Any pencils you choose will be great to use on the paper as it's very good quality, even better than 'Animal Kingdom' in my opinion. My only gripe is that some of the drawings have very fine lines. So fine, in fact, that some appear 'unfinished' if that makes sense. This aspect of the book is disappointing as 'Animal Kingdom' does not have this problem. This is why I have dropped one star. I get the impression that Millie may have been rushed to finish this book, that's what comes across when I colour in some of the drawings. That's not to say they are not as detailed as in 'Animal Kingdom' but some drawings are a bit - dare I say - crude in their composition? That said, I am hopeless at drawing so what do I know? This book will provide me with hours - no - days of fun although I am currently getting into the Creative Colouring for Grown-Ups range, Vintage Patterns being an absolute joy to colour in as the drawings fill the pages so there is hardly any of the white background to look at. 'Tropical Wonderland' is coming closer to achieving this aim but I reckon a portrait format might be better next time as - personally - I find it easier to work around rather than the more popular square shapes.

Great

I really love this book and have bought some other Millie Marotta books as well. They are lovely designs, lovely drawings and the paper is great quality. I generally use different pencils but have also started using fine line colour pens and usually use one or the other or combine them for different colour effects. I have just bought some water pencils and some water pens too. Not sure if the paper is thick enough for water pens but I don't see why not as it is good grade quality paper. The colours of pens and pencils come up really well. Good book at a good price.

I have to say I love this book the pictures inside are beautiful to colour. There are lots of pages to this book so this is going to keep me busy for quite some time. I really like that the paper in this book is a proper white as I do also love the johanna basford books but the paper in those although slightly thicker than these is a more creamy/beige colour so your pencils may not look the exact same colour as they should where as in this book with the bright white paper your colours give the exact colour that they should do. I haven't tried using markers in this book as I think there is probably a good chance they would bleed through the pages and with the designs been on either side of the page I wouldn't want to risk it and ruin any but that doesn't bother me as I prefer to colour these books with pencils anyway as I find them easier to blend with. I really do recommend this book to anyone starting up adult colouring, you won't be disappointed and I have also purchased Millie Marottas Animal Kingdom as I like her designs so much.

This is an absolutely beautiful colouring book. Full of intricate and imaginative designs. I have another one of Millie Marrotta's colouring books called animal Kingdom which I love and that drew me on to this one and I wasn't disappointed. I understand intricate images aren't for everyone when they're colouring but that's exactly why I picked it. I find myself totally switched off when working o these sorts of images. I find it incredibly therapeutic. The paper in this book is lovely quality, smooth and glossy allowing pens and pencils to glide across the page so I can get an even covering of colour. The lines are clean and strong so even in the tiniest details it's clear what sections to colour. It doesn't matter if you go for realistic or abstract colours each image turns out beautifully. There's not just colouring there's room to add to the drawings if you wish. Hours and hours can be spent lost in the many images in this book. Certainly one of the best colouring books I've had.