Join me to check out my thoughts on the brand new Johanna Basford Magical Jungle colouring book, watch a flip through video of Magical Jungle and see me colour a page with Copic Markers! Post also includes a Copic Colour Map or colour palette showing all the colours used in colouring the page.
Colouring Book Therapy:
Follow me on Instagram for regular work in progress pics! I tend to share whatever I’m colouring over there, including stamped images and colouring book pages. I’d love to connect with you so follow me and say hi!
If you missed the first posts in this new series click through to check them out:
- Colouring Book Therapy – Colouring Imagimorphia with Staedtler Ergosoft Part 1
- Colouring Book Therapy – Colouring Imagimorphia with Staedtler Ergosoft Part 2
- Colouring Book Therapy – Colouring Imagimorphia with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
- Colouring Book Therapy – Rainforest Escape by Jade Gedeon Review and Colouring Video
- Colouring Book Therapy – Hannah Lynn Colouring Book Review and Colouring Video
Johanna Basford Magical Jungle Book:
I must admit that while I have been a fan of Johanna’s work ever since I first saw Enchanted Forest, I haven’t coloured many of the pages in her books as yet! Until recently I just didn’t have the time or energy. As you might guess, I’m making up for it now. 😉 I have a few pages in Enchanted Forest and Secret Garden “in progress” and I’m contemplating making a start on Lost Ocean soon.
You would be forgiven for thinking I should have left Magical Jungle on the shelf until I complete more of the previous books. But have you seen it? My willpower is not that strong.
Johanna Basford Magical Jungle Colouring Book Flip-through Video:
I put together a quick flip-through of the book so you can check it out and get a good feel for the style and variety of images included.
Watch the video below or in HD over on YouTube.
My Thoughts:
As you can see in the flip-through video there are some differences between this book and Johanna’s previously released books.
The paper is the same great quality ivory coloured heavyweight paper as that found in Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest, and the binding is a sewn binding as also found in those books.
There is a nice variety of images in the book, with lots of double page spreads to get stuck into, as well as the single page designs, ribbons and repeat patterns. There are some truly lovely designs with large open spaces for really practicing laying down colour and blending. There is also plenty of opportunity for getting creative with backgrounds and adding elements to the pages if that’s your thing.
Johanna and her publishers have definitely been listening to the feedback from fans and colourists, and this shows in Magical Jungle. One of the most noticeable tweaks is that in Magical Jungle Johanna has left a margin on the edges of the double page spreads so that they are spaced to avoid the centrefold. This small design change should make it much less challenging to tackle this area of the double spreads. Definitely a design change that I’m happy about!
Another small change is that Johanna has reduced the amount of tiny and complex details in the designs for this book. I know that Lost Ocean in particular received some comments regarding the very tiny details on some of the pages (although I still think it is a wonderful book).
There is also now a Colour Palette Test page in the back of the book, providing a useful space for testing mediums and colours. This is a really useful feature, since testing your mediums on the paper you are using is always a good idea, both to see how they behave and to get an accurate idea of how your chosen colours will look on the paper.
Perhaps my favourite change in Magical Jungle is that Johanna has included a set of four unique page designs at the back of the book. I say unique because these are not repeats of other pages in the book. They are also single sided and perforated for easy removal!
Overall I am very happy with this book, and am definitely looking forward to spending lots of colourful quality time with it. Look out for more colouring here on the blog and also on my Instagram feed! Now keep reading to see my colouring video featuring one of the pages!
Other Info and Links:
UK based readers can find Johanna Basford Magical Jungle
US based readers can find Johanna Basford Magical Jungle
Colouring a Johanna Basford Magical Jungle Page with Copic Markers:
To help promote the new book launch Johanna has provided a free download of one of the pages, and is running a colouring competition! You can find out all about it and download the free colouring page in Johanna’s blog post: Johanna Basford Magical Jungle Colouring Competition.
I’m entering my version of the page in the Johanna Basford Colouring Gallery now!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Apart from the final four pages in the book which are single sided and removable, this book isn’t really suited to colouring with Copic Markers. This is because the pages are double sided (i.e. they have a design on both sides of the paper) and alcohol based markers WILL bleed through to the other side. I haven’t fully tested Copic Markers on the paper in the book to see how well they behave in terms of blending, feathering over lines etc., but plan on trying them out on one of the single-sided pages very soon and will give you my thoughts then!
If like me you have been itching to colour one of Johanna’s illustrations with Copics, this free downloadable page is the perfect way to go, as you can print on whatever paper you prefer.
I printed the colouring page on HP copy paper before colouring with Copic Markers. I use a CANON Pixma iP7250 printer * to print my colouring pages and digital stamp images, as it takes the 250gsm Make it Colour card and thicker cardstocks nicely and the PIXMA ink plays nicely with Copics in my experience. I chose not to use my Make it Colour Blending Card for this one. If I had, some aspects of colouring may have been somewhat easier, I just fancied a challenge!
Copic Colouring Video:
Watch the video below or in HD over on YouTube.
Colouring a Copic Night Sky or Galaxy Background:
To create the background, I used a technique I have talked about before to give a night sky or galaxy effect. It is really easy to do and quite effective. You can find the step by step guide in my post here: Copic Galaxy Background.
Watch the video below or in HD over on YouTube.
Copic Marker Colour Map or Colour Palette:
Please feel free to save this image or pin it on Pinterest for your reference. Please do not republish or send directly to your friends, instead please point them to this page to obtain it for themselves!
More Adult Colouring Book Videos:
You can find a number of videos showing how I colour over on my Marker Geek Youtube Channel. All of my Colouring Book Therapy videos are being collected into my Colouring Book Therapy Playlist.
Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you have enjoyed today’s post as much as I enjoyed creating it for you.
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