This New Colouring Book Is Full Of Woodland Scenes To Melt The Heart And Inspire Our Inner Artist Colouring books are still at the forefront of DIY artistry – no longer are they reserved for children on a rainy day, adults are pulling them out on train commutes, retreating to a quiet corner on their lunch break and spending lazy Sunday mornings in bed, sipping coffee and surrounded by colouring pencils. Illustrator, Nina Štajner’s, new colouring book contains 36 images of woodland scenes – including rabbits, squirrels, birds and hedgehogs all playing in their natural environment. Using ink and microns, the illustrations were then scanned and organized into a colouring book which is delightfully innocent, optimistic and upbeat. Woodland creatures are a theme running through much of Nina’s work. Her series Love Birds, for example depict pre-coloured red-breasted robins, perched on foliage hearts, while the Tea Party sequence features endearing creatures sipping tea and nibbling on cupcakes. Now Nina is giving others a chance to put their mark on her designs, from scenes of squirrels knitting winter scarfs to birds chirping beside their wooden-box houses. Love Birds: Tea Party: Page-after-page of heart-warming woodland scenes are waiting to inspire the inner artist in us all. The Plus: Tell us a little bit more about yourself. Nina Štajner: I am a freelance illustrator that likes to draw furry woodland animals and delicate floral elements around them. In general I like drawing all the animals and I am always up for a new challenge. I usually work for baby brands and do projects that are meant for younger audience because my style is so tender and sweet. But I haven’t studied illustration. I’ve studied Visual Communications – I wanted to be a graphic designer. But I have always liked drawing, but I just didn’t think I can make a living being an illustrator. While studying I kept on drawing and did most of my assignments using my illustration skills. So I was in a way already developing into an illustrator, I just didn’t know it I suppose. And I wasn’t studying to become one. It happened somehow. =) And I am glad. Besides drawing and painting I like to eat ice-cream, do yoga, go for a walk, observe the nature, pin animal pictures on Pinterest, stalk cute animals on Instagram, bake muffins, make friendship bracelets and dream caters etc.. TP: It seems you like to draw animals, why? NŠ: I’ve always been more intrigued by animals for some reason. I like drawing them because they have such a lovely personality, they are not as “mean” as we, humans are 😛 But I guess I feel connected to them and I can express my feelings through animals more. I occasionally draw some female figures but lately it has been all about animals. I also feel like my animal illustration were way better accepted than other work I did. And I think is because I enjoy painting them more than anything else and this sort of thing comes across. In the last year or so I’ve decided to improve my floral painting skills so I can create some natural environment around my animals. And this is what I enjoy most, drawing woodland animals in their natural surroundings. I feel connected with these animals because where I come from (Slovenia, Central Europe) we have a lot of forests and these kind of critters. TP: How’s the process creating the colouring book? NŠ: My coloring book was created last October while I did the Inktober challenge (Every October, artists all over the world take on the InkTober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month. InkTober was created in 2009 as a challenge to improve inking skills and develop positive drawing habits. It has since grown into a worldwide endeavor with thousands of artists taking on the challenge every year.) My first Coloring Book was made as a part of Inktober initiative. (31 drawings, 1 each day for the whole month of October). I later added 6 new drawings when I did the second edition with a colorful cover and with a more spring vibe. It has many of my favorite animals inside and there is many delightful details you can enjoy coloring – like patterns, flowers, leaves,… Everything was drawn by me, using ink and microns. Afterwards the illustrations were scanned and designed into a small booklet without any digital corrections – so it is basically the same as my original drawings. I did the design, illustrations, cover, put everything together in InDesign and send it to print. TP: Did you take the photographs by yourself? NŠ: I usually take the photographs by myself, almost all the time. With the first batch of my coloring books my boyfriend helped me (on pictures where you can see my hands etc.). But these last few photographs and everything you see on my website, Instagram is shot by me. Usually with my iPhone 🙂 TP: What do you do if you want to get new ideas or inspirations? NŠ: If I want new ideas I usually need to get a little bored and things start popping. Or I take a break, long walk or a weekend off. You have to live your life to get ideas, not to stay inside behind a computer. Or see old books, go to the zoo, travel, experience life in general. TP: Favourite animal? NŠ: Favorite animal would be a fawn 🙂 Than a hedgehog, bunny and fox. TP: What do you like about colouring book? NŠ: What I like about Coloring book are the situations and environments my animals are into. I like to put them in funny situations or being curios about the world that surrounds them. I also like how my adult coloring book doesn’t have so many details (like other adult coloring books on the market) – so it is a pleasant, joyful challenge and can be done in a shorter period of time. The drawings are a bit less detailed and the coloring is more rewarding in a way. It is not too much work to get something nice out of each page. TP: When’s your next colouring book? NŠ: I don’t know when is the next one coming, maybe this October. But we will see 🙂
