Page 30 - Advertising Annual 55

BUSINESS
Steve McDonald translated his love for travel and cities into a coloring book (left) that spans from Italy to India. Johanna Basford also taps into her personal interests for publishing fodder; she was inspired to create Lost Ocean (middle) by her marine biologist parents. On the other hand, Lydia Hess focuses on creating a meditative experience for her readers in books like Sacred Symbols (right) and Sacred Nature.
published in the United States by Lark Crafts—Animal Kingdom: Color Me, Draw Me (2014), Tropical World: A Coloring Book Adventure (2015) and Wild Savannah: A Coloring Book Adventure (2016). A fourth nature-based book is due out later this year.
“I’ve been fascinated by the natural world since as far back as I can remember, and this is what’s at the core of my work,” says Marotta, a freelance illustrator in West Wales with commercial clients in food packaging, book illustration, wallpaper, textiles and branding. She was unaware of the budding trend in adult coloring books before the British publisher Batsford approached her, in 2013, to design one, though her detailed illustration style had always been well suited for the genre.
“I like to offer lots of different shapes, textures and patterns, an interesting composition, and subjects I hope colorists will enjoy. And I try to make sure the pages vary, some with lots of negative space and others filled to the edges,” says Marotta. She starts with an ordinary pencil and finalizes with a Rotring Rapidograph pen. “I have come to learn that people put a huge amount of time and effort into their coloring, and that’s at the forefront of my mind when I’m drawing.”
Metropolis of the mind
Illustrator Steve McDonald, of Creemore, Ontario, Canada, envisions cities around the world in his work. He’s visited or lived in most of the places in his Fantastic Cities: A Coloring Book of Amazing Places Real and Imagined (Chronicle Books, 2015)—from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he grew up, to New York City and Paris, from Florence, Italy, to Mussoorie, India, and beyond.
In 2013, when McDonald and his family moved to Bali for two years, he left his commercial clients behind to focus on the work he’d shown in galleries: wall-sized architectural renderings based on
aerial shots taken by established photographers. But now, each one had less and less color until only highly detailed lines remained.
Thinking “coloring book,” but unaware of the trend, he pitched his illustrations to about 30 publishers. “There are other city-related adult coloring books out there, but the drawings aren’t realistic, unlike Steve’s. That felt special,” says Steve Mockus, executive editor with Chronicle Books.
Along with a Fantastic Cities calendar, 2016 releases from the San Francisco publisher include McDonald’s Fantastic Structures: A Coloring Book of Amazing Buildings Real and Imagined and Fantastic Collections: A Coloring Book of Amazing Things Real and Imagined. “I’m reaching a whole different, and much larger, audience,” says McDonald, who is looking forward to creating two more coloring books, on landscapes and machines, by 2017. “It’s a real thrill.”
Drawing connections
For adult colorists, it’s also thrilling to fill in the miniscule spaces between lines, but for some, “too much detail can be overwhelming,” says Lydia Hess, graphic designer and illustrator in Portland, Oregon.
The bolder, organic lines and ample negative space of her signature pen-and-ink, scraped-clayboard illustrations make them easy to color while still being mindfully immersed, as in her Sacred Nature: Coloring Experiences for the Mystical and Magical and Sacred Symbols: Coloring Experiences for the Mystical and Magical (both HarperElixir, 2015). “There are still challenging areas of detail, but also places where your eye can take a rest,” says Hess of her illustrations. Her coloring-book designs also show up as greeting cards, colorable wooden art boxes, throw pillows and a 2017 calendar.
“Each image in the books is accompanied by a Wisdom Word, useful as a spiritual focusing tool or just for calm, creative exploration. HarperElixir wanted to appeal to the ‘seeker,’” says Hess. She has
30 Illustration Annual 2016