Kaleidomorphia by Kerby Rosanes

Kaleidomorphia by Kerby Rosanes
Publisher: Plume
Genre: Non-Fiction
Rated: 5 stars
Reviewed by Snapdragon

The astonishing second compilation of striking images taken from the Morphia series, with colored-in examples Kaleidomorphia is a stunning second compilation of Kerby Rosanes’s most remarkable artwork from his beloved mega-bestselling Morphia series. This collection, just like the first, Colormorphia, features a full-color sixteen-page section that showcases some of the most accomplished completed artworks produced by Kerby’s fans. These pages demonstrate the range of approaches colorists can experiment with when coloring.

The artworks displayed in the color section are included in the black-and-white section of the book, too, giving the reader the opportunity to duplicate the approach should they wish. In addition, there are a variety of images to color featuring the very best from Kerby’s Morphia portfolio.

Kaleidomorphia, offered as a ‘coloring challenge’ is a large coloring book that combines some opening text with many different and diverse images.

The author’s innovative approach to coloring offers the reader/artists (called ‘Colorists’ in the text) samples and discusses how colors and techniques allow for different effects. The opening offers us hints and ideas; from the use of different mediums like acrylics, or the careful selection of a limited palette, to create a certain effect.

This informative opening leads into the most amazing line drawings. The subject matter ranges from animal and scenics to fantasy and the fantastic. The level of detail in each page is astonishing.

To sit and page through slowly, even without coloring, allows one to escape into a quiet dream world, where lines become designs then somehow transform back into the initial subject. Many of the pictures come from a realist’s perspective although some do also have a simpler, or more cartoon-like quality.

I found Kerby Rosanes’s Kaleidomorphia a wonderfully enjoyable diversion and recommend it to all fans of coloring books.