Review: Spiroglyphics: Rock Heroes - Thomas Pavitte

Spiroglyphics are a totally original idea from the twisted mind of genius puzzle-designer Thomas Pavitte!

Spiroglyphics are even more incredible than anything he has done before. At first glance, spiroglyphics appear to be nothing but simple spirals. But if you look a little closer you'll see that the spiroglyphics are in fact two spirals, joined at the middle, and varying subtly in width as they wind to the centre. It's only when you pick up a pen and start to colour them that they come alive.

As you fill in the lines you'll find yourself creating surprising, eye-popping portraits of musical icons such as:
· David Bowie
· Michael Jackson
· Amy Winehouse
· Beyoncé
· Elton John

Fun to create and amazing to look at, the Spiroglyphics will blow your mind, and make amazing artworks for your wall!

Spiroglyphics Colouring Books:
Rock Heroes
Around the World (May 2018)

Visit Thomas Pavitte's website for more information

Review:
I love Thomas Pavitte's Querkles colouring books so when I was offered a review copy of Spiroglyphics: Rock Heroes of course I took it. This is a very different style compared to the Querkles books but it's just as clever and creative and just as much fun waiting to see the image appear as you start colouring it in.

The book contains 20 images of musical icons, the images are created out of two interlocking spirals so when you look at the blank pages you have no idea who you're about to unveil (there is a page containing image thumbnails at the back of the book if you want to ruin the surprise though). I used fine point sharpies to colour in my images and I'd say you couldn't use pens any thicker as they were quite hard to use on the really narrow parts of the image, these are a bit fiddly to colour but luckily they're quite forgiving if you go over the lines in places so it won't matter too much.

One warning I will make is that if you're using sharpies you need to place a piece of card between the pages because you will get a bleed through otherwise. I nearly ruined one page by making that mistake. I was also disappointed that this book didn't have the easy tear out pages like the Querkles ones do because the way you have to colour round in circles it is much easier if you are able to constantly twist the paper around as you go. I tried doing that with the image still in the book but it got really awkward because so I ended up tearing the pages out myself and making a right mess of the edges (yes I could have used scissors but the perforated pages would make life MUCH easier and that's the main reason I knocked a star off my rating).

This is what the images look like before colouring

Spiral one complete and the picture is starting to appear

Image fully coloured in and Jimi Hendrix appears

I found the designs work best if you use dark pens, lighter colours just don't show the finished image very well, and I generally preferred them in one colour

John Lennon

You might want to try two colours though:

Mick Jagger

Or you could get even more creative:

Madonna

The possibilities really are endless!

Source: Received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
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Paperback:

Review: Cat Querkles - Thomas Pavitte

From the creator of the 1000 Dot-to-Dot series comes Cat Querkles, putting an exciting new twist on the classic colour-by-number images that we loved as children. At first, you see nothing but a baffling tangle of circles, but hidden within each puzzle is a whiskery face waiting to be revealed!

Featuring a menagerie of adorable felines from roaring lions to loopy long-hairs, Cat Querkles provides hours of creative colouring fun for artistic minds of all ages. Choose a dramatic colour scheme to make your Querkle truly unique, discover what's hidden in each puzzle, and create a striking kitty portrait that you can easily remove and display.

Querkles Colouring Books:
Animal Querkles
Cat Querkles

Visit Thomas Pavitte's website for more information

Review:
This is my second Querkles colouring book and I love it just as much as the first, they're colour by numbers books unlike anything else you've come across before! The images are made up of hundreds of interlocking circles of various sizes which makes it practically impossible to tell what the image is going to be before you start colouring it in. You can cheat and look at the black and grey thumbnail images at the back of the book if you want to but I find it more fun to watch the image gradually appear as I colour.

This book contains 20 different images and as you can probably tell by the title of this book they're all of cats. The pages are large, A3 in size, and the paper used is good quality and fairly thick card. Each image is on a separate piece of paper and I've been using my sharpie pens to colour them in without any problem with bleed through so that should give you an idea of the quality. If you like to display your pictures after you've finished them then you'll find they have a perforated edge which makes it really easy to remove them from the book too.

Each image is designed to be filled in using 5 different colours. You can use different shades of the same colour or 5 contrasting colours but you'll need to work from dark to light with #1 being the darkest and #5 being the lightest. I find it easiest to fill in one colour at a time until the picture is complete.

These pictures show progress from start to finish as you add each layer of colour:

and here are a few more completed designs in various colour combinations:

I really do love these books and hope the artist brings out more animal versions in the future (he does have a couple of books with iconic people but I'm not really interested in those ones).

Updated 16th May:

Note to self, cheap felt tip pens are not as good as Sharpies *duh* LOL

Source: Received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review

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Paperback:

Review: Animal Querkles: A puzzling colour-by-numbers book - Thomas Pavitte

From the creator of the 1000 Dot-to-Dot series comes Querkles Animals, putting an exciting new twist on the classic colour-by-number images that we loved as children. At first, you see nothing but a baffling tangle of circles, but hidden within each puzzle is a furry face waiting to be revealed!

Featuring a menagerie of adorable creatures from chomping chimps to louche giraffes, Querkles Animals provides hours of creative colouring fun for artistic minds of all ages. Choose a dramatic colour scheme to make your Querkle truly unique, discover what's hidden in each puzzle, and create a striking animal portrait that you can easily remove and display.

Querkles Colouring Books:
Animal Querkles
Cat Querkles

Visit Thomas Pavitte's website for more information

Review:
I had never heard of Querkles before but I love adult colouring books so when I was offered this for review on Amazon Vine I put in my request immediately. I have to admit I was a little sceptical about a colour-by-numbers book, sure I loved paint-by-numbers pictures as a child but I was worried it would be far too boring for an adult to colour in. Rest assured this is in no way boring and I'm absolutely loving this colouring book so far!

This book contains 20 different images to colour, all printed on a single sheet of A3 paper that is thick enough to colour with sharpie pens without damaging the next picture in the book. The pages are also perforated to make it easy to tear out the designs you're finished with in case you want to frame and display them. Each image is made up of hundreds of interconnected circles of all different sizes and they're all designed to be coloured in using five different colours or five shades of a single colour. Because of the way the images are created it's actually very difficult to tell before starting what animal you're actually going to be creating but there is a page showing black & grey thumbnails of each finished design at the back if you want to take a sneaky peak. Personally I prefer to be surprised as I start colouring.

This gives you an idea of what the images look like before you get started

So before you get started you'll need to choose 5 colours for your image. They can be shades of the same colour or contrasting colours but you need to line them up from dark to light, 1 being the darkest and 5 being the lightest. I'd personally recommend using pens to colour the image since the area you'll be colouring is on the large side and pen also has the best chance of hiding the numbers once you're complete. I'm not going to lie you can still see the numbers even through my sharpies but from a slight distance they're not really noticeable and they don't detract from the finished image.

This collage shows how the picture gradually begins to take shape as you add each different colour. I absolutely loved watching the finished design come to life and I'm really pleased with the results.

And here's a larger picture of the finished giraffe just because I love how it turned out:

The second image in the book is a camel and although it's not bad I have to admit I don't love this colour scheme as much as the one I used for first picture:

I think the hardest part of this colouring book is actually selecting the colours you want to use but it's also a lot of fun. I'd recommend having some scrap paper on hand to try out different combinations before you start colouring the actual book, especially if you're planning on using bold or unusual colour combinations, so that you can get a better idea of what works and what doesn't. Half the fun of this book is going to be experimenting though so don't be afraid to take risks or try something new.

I've only completed 2 images from this book so far but I'll come back and update this review as I finish others over the next few months.

September 2016: Updated to add another three completed pictures

Source: Received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
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Paperback: