Book Review: Sherlock: The Mind Palace – A Colouring Book Adventure by Mike Collins
Sherlock: The Mind Palace – A Colouring Book Adventure
By Mike Collins
The current trend of adult colouring books has taken Great Britain, and by now also the rest of the world by storm. They have been around for a few decades, but in our rushed times it is entirely understandable that these colouring books were rediscovered and loved by many who use them to force themselves to slow down and focus on one thing for a longer period of time. After the initial mandala craze and the gorgeous Secret Garden et al. series, television shows are now features in adult colouring books as well.
When I saw that Mike Collins had drawn one for BBC Sherlock, I immediately knew that it was something that I had to hold in my hands. Very kindly, Mike had one copy sent to me to review for you guys (though, to be fair, I would have bought it anyway once it comes out on November 5 – even more so now that I have the physical copy in my hands. I will need one copy to look at and one to actually colour in).
The cover of the book features Sherlock on the front, and John on the back. The beloved Navarre wallpaper takes up the background and is partly coloured in – with gold and purple (aka the colour of the purple shirt of sex) and the amount of details is already staggering.
The book features roughly 50 scenes mostly in the order in which they occur in the Sherlock episodes – a few images for each episode from A Study in Pink to His Last Vow. A neat little special feature are the hidden objects which are listed in front of the book and which invite you to find them when you colour the pages. Obviously you can go ahead and try to find them before colouring in the drawings – and for those who are impatient, the solutions are listed at the end of the book (but it’s so much more fun looking at each drawing, trying to find the objects and we all love Sherlock for his attention to detail, don’t we?).
The line drawings are very detailed and depict some of the most iconic scenes, shots and images from the series – the first visit to the crime scene of Jennifer Wilson in Pink, the Pool scene, the H.O.U.N.D. logo and the moment before Sherlock jumps off the roof at St. Bart’s. For those of us (read: all of us), who like to revel in the pain of John Watson’s loss, there is a double paged drawing of Sherlock’s tomb stone as well as a detailed double page drawing of John and Mary’s wedding – sans Sherlock.
Featuring all of the important characters, from Molly to Lestrade, Moriarty to Mrs Hudson, even including a lovely image of the Holmes brothers and mummy, it’s an invitation to recreate the scenes in colour (in whichever way you want – from trying to catch the colours from the show to creating your own colour schemes and palettes) and relive the episodes through the images. It’s also immensely relaxing to colour in images of such detail (which is the general idea behind the colouring books for adults).
Lovers of the different wallpapers used in the series will be full of joy to discover that they are also featured throughout the book, as well as several of the iconic London settings.
I, for one, am looking forward particularly to colouring in Moriarty on the throne, wearing the crown jewels.
The book is in stores on November 5 (occasionally listed as November 3 with an international edition coming out on December 22) and we would love to see what you do with the book. Send us your coloured in pages or tag us in your twitter and tumblr posts so we can see how amazingly creative the fandom is with colours!
The book is published by BBC Books (Random House) and will be available in any good book store or online at amazon.co.uk and amazon.com (both currently with reduced pre-order prices) as well as amazon.de. The international version can be preordered here.
Mike Collins has illustrated two Doctor Who Graphic Novels and works as the storyboard artist for Doctor Who. He has previously worked for Marvel, DC, 2000AD and many others.
Maria teaches English Literature at Leipzig University, Germany, published a German introduction to Sherlock Holmes and is a fan of all things Holmes – but especially of the Canon stories and Sherlock BBC. Contact her at @stuffasdreams & maria@bakerstreetbabes.com
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Thanks
Cheers,
Joab