Escape to Shakespeare’s World: A Colouring Book Adventure
By: William Shakespeare
Rating: 5 of 5
This is another great book in the Escape series by Good Wives and Warriors. It is the same size as the first two (at approximately 7.5 x 7.25 inches) and is loaded with designs which art both detailed and intricate. The designs are based primarily on William Shakespeare’s plays though there is a nod to one of his sonnets as well as his portrait, birthplace and the Globe Theatre.
The designs are a wide range including dragons, sailing ships tossed on the waves, Ophelia in her watery grave, fairies, mermaids, witches cauldrons, maps of constellations and much more.
The plays and sonnet which are included in the book are as follows:
As You Like It
Romeo and Juliet
The Tempest (which is one of my favorite of his plays)
Hamlet
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Comedy of Errors
Macbeth
Anthony and Cleopatra
Sonnet 18 (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?)
Richard III
King Lear
Julius Caesar
Twelfth Night
Cymbeline
All’s Well That Ends Well
The main focus are on the plays from Romeo and Juliet through Macbeth while the others have few designs, in some cases only one. The designs are appropriate for the time without modern anachronisms. Because of the size of the book, many of the design elements will take a well sharpened pencil or a small nib pen in order to stay within the lines.
I studied Shakespeare quite extensively in school and I am very pleased to have this coloring book based on his works. I think it is a nice presentation. There are plays I might have liked to have seen represented but I believe that the ones included are those which most people most readily associate with the Bard.
The attached cover of the book is well made and has gold foil, as well as black and purple. You can color the remainder of the cover (front and back) if you wish. The inside of the cover has fold-outs (front and back) and a white on purple line print which you can also color. The rest of the pages (including title and intro) are designs, so you can literally color this book on every page, if you choose to do so.
The binding is sewn rather than glued, so removing pages will require a few snips of threads every few pages. I prefer to leave my together as it tells a whole story as it is but coloring into the binding takes some manipulation of the book.
96 pages of Imaginative Designs based on works by William Shakespeare and his world.
Designs are printed on both sides of the cream colored paper
Paper is heavyweight, cream colored, slightly rough and non-perforated
26 Designs are printed across two pages
Sewn Binding
Some design merge into the binding area
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers left indistinct shadows on the back of the page but did not bleed through.
Gel pens and India ink pens did not bleed through.
Colored pencils work well with this paper both oil based and water based. I was able to layer and blend well and get a nice deep color with both types of pencils. Hard lead pencils did not dent through the paper.