Back in early 2012 when I began working on Secret Garden, my first adult colouring book, everyone thought I was crazy. ‘A colouring book for adults?!’ But it was one of those projects that kept me awake in the wee small hours. It made no sense commercially, I had no idea if anyone would ever buy the book, but I wanted desperately to make it.

 

Sometimes, you have to listen to your heart over your head.

This is what happened when it came to pitching Book Number 6.

 

Ivy and the Inky Butterfly is a storybook to colour. The tale of a curious little girl with a big imagination and her journey through the magical land of Enchantia. She began as scraps of stories I would tell my daughter, Evie at bedtime, but slowly Ivy grew and grew until I knew I would have to make a book about her.

 

Her quest for the inky butterfly is woven through delicately penned illustrations that embellish each page, inviting you to peer into this charmed realm inhabited by giant bumble bees, ferocious dragons and treasure seeking magpies. There are lots of new ink-scapes for you to explore and colour, from trinket laden tree houses and smouldering castle ruins to secret tunnels and of course a garden of gargantuan proportions (I can’t help it, I just LOVE blossoms!)

 

It’s a story that I hope will charm and delight readers and colourists of all ages and give you the opportunity to create a completely unique book as you bring the pages to life in your colours.

 

The safe option would undoubtedly have been to stick to the usual formula and do another colouring book similar to my previous ones. But creativity isn’t about playing safe, it’s about making the work that makes your soul happy and keeps you awake at 4am because you are just so darn excited! This project is a leap of faith, a passion project. I wanted to give colourists the opportunity to develop their own practise and to collaborate with me in a new and exciting ways.

 

So this book will be a little different. I’m so excited to share it with you and can’t wait to see how the colouring community embraces this new direction in our craft. Each page has been written and drawn with the same sense of love and care that I’ve poured into each of my previous books, but this time we’re making something new. Together we’ll create books that I hope will become treasured possessions, the most wonderful personalised gifts and future family heirlooms!

 

I’ll be sharing lots more details and sneak peeks over the coming months on social media. In the meantime, here’s some quick facts on the new book!

 

Release date: September 2017

Paper: In the UK and US I will be printing on the paper stocks we developed for Magical Jungle. Other countries will likely use the same paper as their editions of Magical Jungle too.

Binding: Exact specifications will vary from country to country but we won’t be spiral binding this book. It has too great an impact on cost and shipping and also, in my humble opinion, ruins the storybook charm of the book. This book will also not have perforated pages.

Printing: Double sided.

Colour Palette Page: Of course!

For now I have a very large baby bump to draw around, so it’s back to the drawing board before the new arrival makes an appearance!

Jx