30 Flower Landscapes of Japan

The author works as a physician, and spends his days off walking Japan's flower destinations with a camera. All 30 drawings in this book were made from photographs he took at those places himself.

So the way the blossoms sit on the branch, the shape of the trees, the curve of the stone steps — all of it is how it actually looks on the ground. Every page is somewhere you can go.

Each spread puts the original photograph, in full color, on the left-hand page, and its line drawing on the right. You can check what the real colors were at any point while you work.

Plenty of adult coloring books state plainly that no color reference is included. This one does the opposite. You are of course free to ignore the photograph entirely — but you get to decide that knowing what was really there.

The artwork is rotated 90 degrees on the page. Turn the book on its side and the photograph sits above, the drawing below.

The book is 8.5 × 11 inches, taller than it is wide, while almost every landscape photograph is wider than it is tall. Printed upright, the images would have come out small. Paperbacks are not offered in a landscape format, so rotating the artwork was the only way to give these wide views the size they deserve. Lay the book sideways on the table and color from there.

The stars on each page are not a difficulty rating. They are an estimate of how long the drawing takes to finish. The nemophila hillside, the hydrangea steps — each of those countless flowers has its own outline. This book was not designed to be quick. It is for people who want something to disappear into.

The drawings are ordered so that the seasons come round once from front to back. Every page carries its location and the month it was photographed, in both Japanese and English — so you can see at a glance when and where each of these flowers can be found.

Colored pencils and pastels work straight onto the page. If you prefer pens or markers, slip a sheet of thick card underneath to stop them bleeding through. For watercolor, we recommend photocopying the page and painting the copy.

The line drawings were produced from the author's own photographs and finished by the author. The production process is disclosed in the colophon of the book.