Title: Coloring to Calm, Volume 1 – Mandalas
Author: Shelly Fagundes
Publisher: Flying Donkey Press
Format: eBook (includes link to print pdf copy)
Release date: 13 August 2015
Available to buy from: Amazon Kindle Store
Cost: US$2.97

Number of drawings to color in: 25
Type of drawings: Mandala line drawings
Level of difficulty: some basic, mostly intermediate

DISCLAIMER: As a reviewer, I received a free ARC (advance reading copy) of this book. This has not affected my review in any way.

Released this week, Coloring to Calm, Volume 1 – Mandalas is the first offering in a new series from author Shelly Fagundes.

Interestingly, the book is currently only available as an eBook at the Kindle store.

‘But how can you color in an eBook?’ I hear you ask. ‘You can’t even PRINT a Kindle eBook.’

Ah. In this case you can. Fagundes has been smart enough to include a hyperlink at the back of the eBook that will allow you to download a pdf version of the book. This allows you to print out as many copies to color in as you wish (though I suspect that if the book does well, it will also be available in print form fairly soon).

The book contains 25 mandala designs, including the one below, which shows about the average level of detail for images in the book. A few of the drawings are more basic, and some are very intricate, but generally the book will suit intermediate colorers with a bit of experience.

If you tend to use markers instead of pencils, then you will need to ensure that you have a selection with finer tips (I like Staedtler Triplus), because there are very small, detailed areas to color in many of the drawings. Those using colored pencils should be fine, as long as you have a good sharpener.

All mandalas in the book are bound by a square box outline, so there’s the option of coloring to the edges of the box, or treating it as a frame of white space surrounding the mandala. Each mandala is placed in the middle of the printed page, making it easy to fit to a real frame in the future if desired.

The line designs have clear, clean edges and are of good quality. There is plenty of variety in the designs to keep you engaged, and for those who love coloring repetitive stripes and small chains of squares, there are enough to keep you occupied for hours. The most basic designs in the book can probably be colored within an hour, but the most complex are likely to take you several hours each (the fully colored image at the bottom of this post took me around 90 minutes to complete).

At US$2.97 the book provides excellent value at around 12 cents per design, with the bonus that you may print the drawings from the pdf copy of the eBook as many times as you like for personal coloring. This kind of freedom is especially likely to appeal to those of us who prefer to color on specialty papers instead of the cheaper paper stock usually utilised in printed coloring books. Great designs and value for money.