There are a number of urban landscapes (i.e. “cityscapes” ) coloring books available. I got several of them and have decided to compare.
Splendid Cities: Color Your Way to Calm – June 9, 2015 by Rosie Goodwin (Artist), Alice Chadwick (Artist) was the first one. I really like this book as it has a variety of perspectives, from overhead, to in the street ones. Scenes ranges from cities to specific houses, beaches, decorations on houses, and other architecture. All of the drawings are large and easy to color, but can still be intricate. There are some hidden animals in the pictures, with a finding guide in the back. The pages are double sided, with thick paper. A very enjoyable book.
CityScapes: A Coloring Book with a Hidden Picture Twist by Alexandra Cowell (in the Creative Haven series) has single sided pages with a collage of 28 city scenes from each city. The drawings have the name of the city in them, and range from San Diego to Paris, including Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai and many more. The pictures are intricate but easy to see and color. Gel pens do well in this book and do not bleed through. Again, a very nice book that lets your mind wander.
The Magical City by Lizzie Mary Cullen takes the drawings and gives them a twist. The illustrations are swirled and make buildings look much different. It is a lot of fun coloring them, and, while some of the illustrations are complex, they are easy on the eyes. I recommend this one, but not from Amazon (even though it is listed, it is not yet available from Amazon US). Go here instead.
Unfortunately, Fantastic Cities: A Coloring Book of Amazing Places Real and Imagined – August 11, 2015 by Steve McDonald let me down completely. As an older adult, I cannot see as well as I did as a 20 year old, and this book did not help me at all. I get the feeling that the artist is used to doing his drawings as large murals on the side of a building, and as a result the illustrations do not transfer well to the coloring book medium. The book itself is much larger than standard-sized books, and all of the pages are double-sided. The paper is quite thick, which is nice. In order to color many of the drawings, I will need to use a magnifying glass, which takes away from the experience. McDonald has created a number of fun mandalas from buildings, but the spaces are hard to see. I would recommend this book for architecture students.
