Prehistoric Skulls Coloring Book

Last September I published a coloring book through Amazon's self-publishing site, CreateSpace, Clever Animals. The experience proved so enjoyable that I decided to continue riding the coloring book wave and publish another volume, which is now available online.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Prehistoric Skulls:

Natural history meets psychedelia

This book features 24 different pages for users to color. Whereas my previous coloring effort paired illustrations with pithy quips, with the exception of the scientific names for the skulls, this book is solely image-driven.

I'd started playing around with the idea of a new coloring book based on skulls a few weeks ago after a friend of mine had suggested it. I initially sketched modern examples, as I did in this preliminary drawing:

I thought there was potential, and the reception I got when I shared the image on my various social media accounts was positive, so I started perusing my sketchbooks to see how many skulls I had available. I soon realized that I had a lot more prehistoric skulls on hand than modern ones, so I decided to do a prehistoric book first, with the intention of doing a modern one later one when I have more examples. What works for ceramics works for coloring books, I say.

I started out by drawing the basic outline for each skull. From there, I more or less employed zentangle techniques to fill in the empty spaces.

The exception is the Plesiosaur skull, which I ended up filling with little plesiosaurs. I used to do this sort of thing in college occasionally with various animals such as lobsters and cats, and it adds a light-hearted meta touch.

Compared to Clever Animals, the drawings here are much more detailed, but I don't see that as necessarily superior. Rather, my aim is variety. If you want a picture you can complete in a couple of hours, Clever Animals is the ticket. If you want something requiring more time and nuance, Prehistoric Skulls is the way to go.

I have a few more coloring book ideas I wants to complete, including the modern counterpart to Prehistoric Skulls, so stay tuned. In the meantime, tell all your friends about this new coloring book, and be sure to pick up your copy today! I appreciate it.

You've seen how I colored this, now it's your turn!