Many moons in the making, Insectimaginary is almost ready for Amazon! It is a 118 page adult coloring book featuring 26 full coloring plates in addition to the signature Ruby Charm Colors art journal pages found in previous RCC coloring books. The journal pages give colorists plenty of room to experiment, swatch and track colors, and just play around. There are multiple smaller illustrations to color as well, including some interesting buggy pattern designs.
Front and back cover of Insectimaginary in final layout form for print
Also, like in the other Ruby Charm Colors books, each one-sided full plate is backed by a black page so your colors don’t show through. Insectimaginary has a few specimen plates as well, so there is a balance between more-complicated and less-complicated designs to color, plus, each specimen plate is reproduced as a white-line illustration on a black background—fun for those who want to make their colors really pop!
Sample pages from Insectimaginary showing a journal page, a full plate, and a black back of the plate
Sample pages from Insectimaginary showing an introduction to a plate, and a specimen bug on white and on black
While the book has been in production, my coloring team tested out the designs with their colored pencils, and, since I have a few of these designs in my Etsy shop, there are a few other colorings as well. Each one is lovely in its own way, and I feel so blessed people enjoy coloring my line art. Below are seven of the nine colorings featured in the gallery on the back cover of Insectimaginary.
This first piece, Orchid Bumbles (Plate 18 in the book), was colored by Ruby Charm Colors (RCC) team member Betty Hung. You can find her on Instagram at @colorartbybettyhung and she has a wonderful website and blog as well.
This next piece, A Few More Streamers (Plate 15), was colored by Lisa Duggan (@duggan.lisatide on Instagram). This illustration is currently available on Etsy as a pre-released design.
RCC coloring team member Lora King (@dukewife on Instgram) colored Cosmic Ziggy Mantis (Plate 5). Any David Bowie fans out there?
RCC team member Paula Stone Leach (@pstonecolors on Instagram) used tan card stock to print out the Noctuid Treasureattica Moths (Plate 6). To learn more about these imaginary moths, you’ll need the book!
Karen Spencer, my favorite paint-maker known as @indigoartgb on Instagram, colored the Pluma Spectabilis Caterpillar (Plate 10) by incorporating some of her fabulous watercolors.
RCC team member Steph Johnston, also known as @Red_Tifa on Instagram (and who has a terrific YouTube coloring channel), used the splatter technique for the background of her Specimen: Suvi Beetle (Plates 20 and 21) and available on Etsy as a downloadable PDF.
Ceri Mason (@cerimason on Instagram) colored the Streamer Dragonflies (Plate 4 in the book and also available on Etsy as a PDF) and used pearlescent paint pens to embellish her insects.
If the above colorings are any indication of the beauty and enjoyment that can come out of this book, I think we are in for a real treat. I am so excited for the book to finally launch on Amazon (bookmark my author page if you’d like) and I can’t wait for Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to start filling up with more lovely bugs. They can be so much fun to color because you can let your imagination run a little wild … and I left creepy bugs out of the book so you don’t have to worry about hornets, centipedes or spiders. Though I do like spiders. As long as they are not in my bedroom or bathroom. 😉
If you wish to join the private RubyCharmColors Facebook group, you can find us off the main RCC FB business page—just click the “visit group” button, answer a few questions so we know you are not a bot, and you are in!
I’ll post an update when the book is officially available (should be May 15!) … and until then, happy coloring!