Escape to Oz: A Colouring Book Adventure

This review is taken from my blog where I review adult colouring books from a mental health perspective. More images can be found here - colouringinthemidstofmadness.wordpress.comThis book is from my personal collection. This is a wonderful book, essential for fans of the original story, but also for those who love GWAW’s work and who love imaginative and beautiful illustrations. It is the same size and shape as the others in the series at just over 18cms square, it’s a little smaller than other bestsellers but I think this adds to the charm and it means the images are a manageable size and the book is a perfect size for travelling and colouring on the go. The book has a softback cover which is almost all double thicknesses of cardboard as it folds in on itself and when opened up it reveals a beautiful green background with white line-drawn images of flowers and gems. The cover has silvery-gold foiling accents which really add to the luxury of the book and are a lovely bit of extra detailing. The book contains 96 pages of double-sided, borderless images and is glue and string-bound meaning a little of each image is lost into the spine. I found the spine pretty tight when it arrived but with some work it has now loosened up a lot and lies flatter than it did. The images are a mixture of single and double-page spreads and a few of them have black backgrounds which is a really nice feature. The paper quality is very good and hasn’t bled or shadowed at all when I’ve been using water-based fineliners or fibre-tips. The paper is a creamy off-white which adds to the vintage feel of the book and is very lightly textured which I thought would be ideal for pencils but I did find it a little hard to get many layers as the tooth seemed to disappear quicker than I’d have liked or expected. However, it’s not impossible to layer and I did manage to get some nice blending. Do be sure to test the pens you’re using beforehand to avoid any disasters. Alcohol markers are a definite no because they will bleed terribly and ruin the reverse images.The images themselves are drawn in a thin line that is pretty consistent throughout so the difficulty level doesn’t change, meaning this is not a book that will adapt to differing levels of concentration but this does lead to a really cohesive feel to the book. The images are arranged into chronological order to tell the story and a few pages contain quotes from the book to help guide you through. These quotes are helpful for letting you know where in the story you’re at, as well as hinting at what’s in the picture if you’re not quite sure. The illustrations include everything you’d expect from Dorothy and Toto, to the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, to the Wicked Witch of the West and East, the Wizard of Oz himself, and even the munchkins and flying monkeys. Iconic scenes are pictured including the tornado that transports Dorothy and Toto from Kansas to Oz, the squashing of the Wicked Witch of the East, starting off on the yellow brick road, meeting the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, arriving at the Emerald City, meeting the Wizard of Oz, arriving back in Kansas, and so much more.In terms of mental health, I found this book great because it’s just so beautiful, charming, and instantly transported me back to my childhood and happy memories of watching the film countless times. The illustrations are very pretty and most are of real things, that have colour schemes that you could copy realistically if you wish, or in any colours you choose. Good Wives and Warriors have done a wonderful job of bringing huge amounts of charm to their illustrations of even the darkest scenes and they’re all dispersed with flowers and other pretty things meaning the book doesn’t feel negative or sad at all and just lifts your spirits, even when the witch is trying to kill Dorothy and her friends! I really enjoyed just looking through the book and reliving the story of my childhood and poring over each image, all exquisitely drawn and waiting to be coloured. The images are quite detailed and intricate but they’re not overwhelming so you don’t need perfect vision or fine motor control, though it will need to be fairly good, and the size of the book means you don’t need really good concentration levels either. If you love The Wizard of Oz, or GWAW’s work then this book is sure to be beneficial to your mental health with its positive content and detailed images filled with hundreds of things to look at and colour. I adore the work of these talented illustrators and squealed with excitement when looking through this beautiful new instalment that they’ve created!I would highly recommend this book, especially to those who are fans of The Wizard of Oz story, or Good Wives and Warriors’ work because this book really doesn’t disappoint, not only is this a beautiful colouring book, it’s also a wonderful pictorial retelling of a classic story that so many of us love. The book is really cohesive and I found it great for my own mental health so hopefully it’ll be just as good for yours too as it transports you back to your childhood and off to the land of Oz.

I brought this book at full price for my personal collection. I colour purely as a hobby, one that I put an incredible amount of time and effort in to.This is another beautiful book by Goodwives and Warriors and is the 4th in the "Escape To" series. It follows the same size as the previous books which is 18cm x 18cm. Inside this book there are 31 single page illustrations and 31 double page spreads. These illustrations vary from character portraits, animals and flora to beautiful scenes you'll be able to recognise from the original story. All the illustrations are printed double sided, using alcohol markers stains the next page. However I had no problems with gel pens or fineliners. The paper itself is non perforated, of medium quality with a slightly textured surface. I used a mix of Marco Raffines and Polychromos for most of the illustrations I've completed and found that multiple layers of pencil was difficult, as the tooth runs out quicker then I would of expected.Interspersed throughout the illustrations are pre printed black elements. The thicker of these are used in a few scenes to illustrate a dark night sky. There are also quotes from the original book every few pages allowing you to follow the story and understand how the image relates to Oz.Almost every illustration either goes in to the spine or sits incredibly close to it. I found the spine to be very tight and even after working it, it doesn't sit flat enough to be able to colour extremely close to it precisely.I honestly have nothing bad to say about any of Good Wives and Warriors Escape To series. You get an incredible amount of value for what you pay and the illustrations are so varied you can find almost any type of illustration within the pages. I've personally brought all 4 books from this series and love following a pictured version of classic books.

The pictures are very attractive and detailed, but the paper in the copy I received is quite yellow. Not what I would call 'creamy', or 'off-white' - I would say yellow. Such a shame as it spoils what would otherwise be a lovely book - I was so pleased to find this, and now feel quite disappointed.The book is quite small at 19cm square. Some of the illustrations look as if they have been cropped too close - as if they'd been designed for a larger page and then trimmed, and you have to colour to the edges of the page. The cover is highlighted with gold and green. The pages are quite thick and the paper is good quality - apart from being yellow.I guess there is some variation between print runs, but I don't know why they decided to print on such yellow paper for this one.

Great quality, quirky designs for anyone to colour .

Another of the Escape To series by the Good Wives and Warriors, and I love it.Yes, its small (just over 7 inches square) but perfect for my travels in my caravan. The paper is of medium quality and some illustrations are on single sides of the paper and others are on both sides. It is possible, with work, to get the book to lay reasonably flat, but a little of the picture is lost in the spine. The best results seem to be from gel pens and pencils, and although layering is possible, the paper will not take too many layers.The drawings are lovely and follow the story of Dorothy and the yellow brick road and feature everything I would expect. There are quotes and plenty of little touches to make this a great addition to all the things we love about this classic story.Thoroughly recommended as a great "get away from it all" colouring experience.

Lovely pictures , only problem is when over 2 pages I cant get to centre parts or use to frame as I often do with good pics

The colouring books created by Good Wives and Warriors are delightfully whimsical.

Diese Escape-Reihe von Good Wives and Warriors ist einfach nur schön. Ich hatte erst das Büchlein über Shakespeares Werke und war so begeistert das ich mir die anderen 3 nun auch geholt habe. Dieses hier, Escape to Oz, ist auch wunderbar umgesetzt, man erkennt die Szenen und es stehen auch kleine Texte dazu. Die Motive sind detailliert und sehr schön. Ich war erst verwundert weil die Bücher doch recht klein sind aber nun finde ich das sogar ganz angenehm zu händeln. Das Papier hat eine gute Stärke und ist glatt und weiß. Für normale Buntstifte und Gelstifte auf jeden Fall gut geeignet, bei Filzer bin ich mir nicht sicher. Die Heftung der Seiten ist auch gut, so kommt man beim colorieren auch gut bis in die Mitte.Ich empfehle dieses Büchlein sehr gerne weiter. Vielleicht nich für Anfänger aber es sind ja auch einfachere Motive dabei. Verpackung und Versand waren gut und schnell.

Bellissimo album, ottima carta: ho utilizzato tecniche differenti per le varie pagine, dai pastelli alle penne a punta fine, ma anche pennarelli e acquerelli, senza che il foglio si imbarcasse o che l'inchiostro trapassasse dall'altra parte. I disegni sono molto carini e presentano una certa varietà che permette di scegliere su quale lavorare e con quali strumenti in base all'ispirazione del momento. Molto bello anche come regalo per gli amanti del genere: se io lo avessi ricevuto da qualcuno, avrei estremamente gradito la sorpresa!Consigliato!

I love the smaller size of this book. Plenty of detail in the drawings without being overwhelming. The drawings are imaginative and whimsical. The paper is decent, however I have only used pencil so far. The pages are not single sided which is unfortunate.

The book is great. I love the art style. Also the delivery was fast and perfect.