Recently my friend Mer asked if I’d be interested in putting together a coloring book using photographs I’ve taken. I was skeptical at first, but after doing some test images I was convinced that it was a good idea. Coloring books for adults are all the rage right now, so it seemed like a perfect time for a project like this. So after about six months of digging through nearly every photo I’ve taken over the past five years, finding images that work as sketches and going about converting them, I’m proud to announce that “A Transforming Lens: Sketches from Photographs” has officially been released! You can order it right now for just $10.70.
The sketchbook features twenty one of my photographs transformed into sketches for you to color in. I also thought it would be cool if I was able to show the original photograph, so each page includes a link and a QR code that will take you directly to a web page with the original photo shown on it. I also included a brief story about each photo. If you’d like to see all of the original photographs that were used in the book, you can do so here.
As I was converting the photos, I was somewhat surprised to learn that some of them worked well on their own as a sketch. Others needed more interesting backgrounds, so several of the images in the book have the original background from the photograph replaced with something more fun to color in. I also had a lot of fun learning how to create fractal images in Photoshop, so seven out of the twenty one images feature fractal designs, which I’m thinking will look really cool once they are all colored in (fractal designs repeating patterns that appear to stretch into infinity).
Here’s the front and back cover of the book. The back cover features thumbnails of the sketches, so you can see what they look like.
“A Transforming Lens: Sketches from Photographs” Front and Back Cover
I’m looking forward to seeing how these sketches end up getting colored in by those who buy the book. If you end up buying one, maybe you can follow me on facebook and upload your finished sketches for me to see? Or better yet, enter our contest!
