Some Pictures from Hannah Lynn's New Book: Whimsy Girls at Work

Hannah Lynn, one of my favorite coloring book artists, has done it again.  This time, she created a fun and whimsical book portraying women in a variety of jobs.  This may be the first of two books, as she said she had so many ideas for this book, it was hard to chose which ones to include.  All I can say is, I hope she has a second book, especially if it's as wonderful and fun as the first one.  So far, I've only colored two pictures from this book, but I've printed out plenty more that I can't wait to color (I opted for the digital edition of this book instead of the physical book).

Before jumping into my picture, a few important details.  First, Hannah Lynn drew two versions of each picture: one that is more detailed and one that is more simplified.  She does the same thing with the monthly exclusive pictures you can get by supporting her on Patreon.  This is the first time she's done this for a book though (at least that I've seen).  Also, I couldn't find my bag of colored pencils.  Luckily, a few months ago Amazon had a 120 count of Crayola colored pencils on sale, so I bought those for when my pencils were on their last leg.  I wanted to wait to open them, but I was also so excited to finally get to use them.  It might only be an extra 20 colors, but it really does make a huge difference.  With all that out of the way, on to my pictures.

The first picture I colored is titled "Veronica's Patients".  As soon as I saw this picture, I knew I wanted to go with my usual softer, pastel-type colors.  I have no idea why, but I just love using pastel color palettes when I color, even though I don't really wear pastel colors or use them in my day to day life on a regular basis.  I did step outside my comfort zone with this picture, however, when I colored her skin and hair.  I tend to color people with lighter skin and dark hair (so they look very similar to me).  This hair, however, reminded me of a former student of mine, who always wore her hair natural in a giant bun on top of her head, very similar to the girl in this picture.  That student had significantly darker skin, but this is my homage to her.

I did struggle a little bit with the animals, as I wanted them to all have different coloring, and I didn't want them to blend in with any of the neutral tones I used, especially with the cabinets behind them.  I'm not entirely thrilled how the darker of the two dogs came out.  I tried to blend two brown tones together, which I know never works out, but I was optimistic that it would work out this time.  It didn't turn out terribly, but it definitely could have come out a little better.

Something I like to do when I color is put all the pencils I use to one side so they're all in one place.  Then, when I'm done coloring, I like to count how many I used.  It's weird, I know, but that doesn't mean I'll stop doing it.  It might not look like it, but I used a whopping 54 colors in this picture, which is more than I usually use.  For some, it's typical to use well over 54 colors because they do so much shading.  I am not nearly that skilled at coloring, so I don't use three or four colors for a simple pair of pants (not including things such as buttons or other details).

The other picture I colored is titled "Seaside Signing".  Once again, I stepped outside my comfort zone in a few ways for this picture.  You'll notice right away that the colors are extremely different.  I went for much bolder colors, with the exception of the seaside scene in the window.  It's not that I don't use these darker, bolder colors, it's just not as often.  To me, however, this book store reminded me of something warmer, with wood paneling on the walls and something more aligned with jewel tones.  I did manage to sneak some softer colors in, such as the seaside scene and in her scarf, but that's about it.

Another way I stepped outside my comfort zone was by making the author have red hair.  Like I said before, I usually color brunettes.  I have no idea why, I just do.  While I love the red hair next to the burgundy for her pantsuit, I'm not entirely thrilled with how the hair came out.  I used three different shades of orange for the hair, I think it's just a little too much.  I should have stuck with the two darker shades and not the lightest of the three.  Oh well, it doesn't look awful, but I just feel like it could look a little bit better.

I'm also not entirely thrilled with the colors I made the awning in the window.  It was pretty much the last thing I colored, I had no idea what colors to use, so I just went with two colors I knew looked fairly good together.  While these colors do look pretty good together, they don't look good here.  I feel like a lot of my attention is drawn to that window, not to the author signing books, which should be your main focus.

Overall, Hannah Lynn knocked it out of the park with this book.  The pictures are incredibly detailed and show a wide range of jobs.  I hope she does a second volume for this book, as it's so much fun to see different careers represented.  You can find the book on Etsy and Amazon.