Outlander coloring pages: The Outlander Un-Official coloring book 2015 Holiday Edition

Dear Outlander fellow fans, 

Regarding the Outlander Coloring book you probably are in some of these categories:

a) The  Outlander official coloring book prominently features in your letter to Santa
b) You started coloring it (did you have problems with Frank's car?, mine looks terrible)
c) You finished coloring it (for real? I am not nearly there)
d) What is The  Outlander official coloring book?
e) Other (In case I forgot an obvious or totally improbable option)

There is no correct answer because I have a present for all of you. I learned some new tricks and converted the beautiful images that "Starz" has shared with us (as a Canadian anchor put it: Outlander is on something called Starz). It is a shame the coloring book has no right to use the  TV series material. Not that I have any, but I hope I am being fair by giving Starz its credit and stating this is just fan art.

I fully disclose here that I am not a professional and that someone else might do a much better job. At least I can say that the idea was entirely mine and the results are good enough to make me want to share them. Note: click once on the color image to enlarge. For the coloring pages, you will find a download link at the end of the post.



What do you think? This is Diana Gabaldon. Author of the Outlander series as the character she plays in Starz Outlander TV series episode "The Gathering" as Iona MacTavish, a wealthy merchant's wife.


Bonus: 
If you have KIDS you might have noticed that your coloring book sparks the little ones enthusiasm to annoying degrees and you end up producing some form of coloring book for them. Well, these pages can be printed (and reprinted, no need for tantrums after a mistake) and you are free to color. Maybe you still will have to get them some crayons if you don't want to share the "good" coloring pencils.


1. Bouton: Claire's Dog in Paris (Outlander season 2) let's start with something easy to sharpen your pencils.





2. The wedding: Jamie and Claire entering the Kirk.  (Outlander season 1)




3. The wedding night: Jamie and Claire  (Outlander season 1)




4. Claire and Jenny at Lallybroch: I love this domestic scene! (Outlander season 1)

5. Claire and Murtagh: looking for Jamie (Who doesn't like to color horses?) (Outlander season 1)



6. Frank Randall and Black Jack Randall: For his fans, I know there is a cave full of them according to one insider.  They are a fun loving bunch not easily shocked. Who else would be a fan of Black Jack. (Outlander season 1).

6.  Jamie and Claire at a party in France (Outlander Season 2): This and the next are my first attempt at converting the images: The lines are harder. 





7.  Claire awaiting in a room. (Outlander Season 2). I like the composition, although Claire looks about to start crying.




8. Jamie&Murtagh: The Parisian can-can (Outlander Season 2)



9. Claire's princess dress. Again the shadows make my task difficult.






Instructions: 
If you want to color these images follow the link to download the PDFs. 
1. If you are not asked where to download it will probably be in your "download" folder. 
2. Make sure to adjust the image to the size of your page before printing: 

Folder PDFs coloring pages click on this link


I hope you enjoy your coloring experience, and I hope I will have material for a new edition or volume II. I accept all kind of suggestions!

Miranda


note: I thank a fellow blogger for her tutorial on how to add PDFs to my blog How to attach PDFs

The dawn of the adult coloring book: The new therapy

Dear ladies (and gentlemen?),

When I was a child my mother would read bedtime stories to my brother and me. It was a time of the day I would cherish.  She chose among her own childhood books and as we grew older she would read increasingly complex stories. One of the books I remember was the epic story The Winter Queen. It had wonderful drawings of Eastern European snowy landscapes. The characters were depicted wearing traditional costumes with rich embroidery. Most were black and white but my own mother had carefully coloured them when she was a teenager. My mother was born in 1940, she must have been coloring the book in 1953-55. 

This illustration is from the book "The Hat" by Jan Brett. When I next visit my home country I will update this pictured with one from my late mother's book if I can find it. But the clothes of the girls are in the stile of the book I was describing.

And here I am in 2015, sixty years later, longing to start my first historical fiction "adult" coloring book. I pre-ordered it about a month ago and I just received an email that reads: “We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on September 07, 2015  Gabaldon, Diana -The Official Outlander Coloring Book-…”. Mrs Gabaldon, being the great story teller she is gives her own description:  

"Well… adult coloring books. Evidently this is now a "thing," with so-called adult coloring books being touted widely as aids to meditation, as well as entertainment. I can kind of see that, and certainly I’ve seen several very beautiful books that look like they’d be interesting to color, if one was so inclined. (NB: The "adult" designation apparently merely means they’re marketed to adults, not that they contain R-rated illustrations. (Frankly, I think they’d be more interesting if they did, but probably not a good marketing strategy for a wide audience)” You can continue reading here Diana's page

And it seems we are in the midst of a literary (if it might be so described) boom. In Montreal, were I live, I have already found two stores, one a hardware store that also has nice presents and decoration and one home décor store Zone were adult coloring books were in prominent display, in the later including a tempting array of crayons and pencils. I took some pics to share:  

These are the pics from the store Zone in Montreal. the "Secret Garden"  is by Johanna Basford who is the author of marvellously detailed coloring books. See the detail of her book "Secret Ocean"

You can see pins of her book in my board pins including the Game of Thrones coloring book (yes there is one!) and an adult take on the classics "Grimm Fairy Tales Adult Coloring Book by  Jamie Tyndallet et al.









To my delight I found this big maps of two of my favourite cities: The New York City and the Paris  giant coloring roll. Also available from amazon Amazon_NEW-YORK. I picture myself taking over the dinner table for a me -time project while it snows outside. My beautiful box of color (or colour) pencils and maybe a cup of tea (cartful not to spill a drop!)

It certainly makes a very nice present for all budgets (starting at just a few dollars). You can add a nice box of pencils and voilà, guaranteed to glitter. In fact, last Christmas, unaware of the "it" factor in-the-making I gave a mandala coloring book to my Yoga-enthusiast aunt and she was delighted. She does therapy for teens and she thought it would be a nice addition to her desk's "toolbox" . In addition, it was easy to send across continents. What's not to like?.

Wishing you a relaxing coloring experience!
Miranda