One of the upcoming fall books we are most excited about here at HQ is Chronicle Books' entry in the hottest trend of 2015: coloring books! Here's a blog post from the always-illuminating Chronicle blog by illustrator Steve McDonald, creator of FANTASTIC CITIES!

His method involves photographs and sketches, a digital projector, and originals up to six feet square:

“I’ve always loved drawing buildings. When I was young, I even had aspirations of becoming an architect, but ended up as an illustrator instead. When creating a piece of art, the most appealing part for me has always been the line work. Even when I’m working on a painting, the part I enjoy most is always the initial drawing. I really love lines, and I think that shows in the finished work.

I have my daughters to thank for how Fantastic Cities came together as a coloring book. After creating artwork focusing on individual and small groups of buildings, I started to veer toward larger groups and then aerial views of cities. My daughters saw this work and told me that they thought it would be fun to color in the lines themselves (whereas I might normally keep going past the line-work stage to color it myself).”

Fantastic Cities: A Coloring Book Of Amazing Places Real And Imagined
Steve McDonald
9781452149578 | $14.95 | Paper
Chronicle Books