Adult colouring books are having a real moment right now. Proving to be more than illustrations of birds, flowers and trees, big-kid colouring in has emerged as nostalgic, creative and completely relaxing.
Now the trend has gained further momentum with the arrival of Querkles.
The book Querkles: A Puzzling Colour-By-Numbers Book by colouring aficionado Thomas Pavitte takes the concept of colouring in to a very sophisticated new level. Its illustrations are like good old colour-by-numbers – if they were designed by Andy Warhol.
Untouched, Querkles look like a jumble of completely chaotic and overlapping circles. Colour them in, however, and the mess reveals iconic portraits of famous faces including Mona Lisa, Marilyn Monroe and Che Guevara.
The illustrations are made from hundreds of circles numbered from one to five. Colour choice is left entirely up to the colourer - , as long as they follow a tonal pattern of dark to light.
“You can keep it simple, and use one pen or pencil, or you can go colourful, with felt tips or paints: the principle is no more complicated than the colour-by-numbers books that kids love,” Pavitte said.
That said, if you play by the rules, the colourings are totally removable masterpieces good enough to be framed and displayed.