Querkles: A Puzzling Colour-by-Numbers Book Paperback – 18 May 2015

This book is great fun! When you first open it and see the patterns you need to complete it looks a little daunting but sit for a while with coloured pencils or pens and all will become clear...I personally found it easier, though more time-consuming, to use colour; you need five colours, or shades of colours, graded from dark to light. I only had two types/thicknesses of marker pen to try with the cross-hatching technique recommended in the book so the image I did that way wasn't as neat or clear as the coloured pencil images I've done. That's just me, though, don't let it put you off!Showing my first image to people caused a nearly unanimous response: everybody bought this, or the other Querkles book based on famous paintings, either for themselves or family members. Some people said, 'Isn't it just painting-by-numbers?' which in a way it is and nothing wrong with that but the unique presentation of the patterns and style of the finished images puts it on another level entirely and makes it very satisfying to do.Recommended for those who enjoy any of the many varieties of colouring pastimes around at the moment (perhaps not very young children as there's an amount of detail and a lot of paper to cover); it's something different with an end result to be proud of.

I bought this after thoroughly enjoying the Cat Querkles review copy I was sent. I've had lots of colouring books for grown ups, but this one is much more sophisticated. I attach photos of the masterpieces I have completed so far. I produced 2 this evening. If you zoom in, you can see that they're quite rough but give a clever realistic illusion when you step back.The paper is thick and great quality for using pen or pencil. I chose felt-tipped pens. The images work in tones, 1 is the darkest and 5 the lightest (the 5s are printed faintly so that they don't show through the colour). I used my Stabilo Pen 68 set of 40 colours (currently around £30 on Amazon, although I bought them as a deal). My pens are great for this because they are quite broad, but with a pointed tip, so they can fill areas quickly and smoothly and provide a range of tones.The introduction to the book suggests using tonal shading or crosshatching as an alternative to colouring.Looking at the unshaded sheet it is hard to tell the image. The "answers" are at the back of the book. There are 20 pictures in total. I enjoyed watching the famous people develop and reveal themselves.Be warned! They're addictive!

Bought for myself and love it. Each picture is made up of circles of all different sizes, each circle has a different number Starting with 1 being the lightest and 5 being the darkest. There are plenty of different iconic people to choose from, my favourite being Marilyn Monroe and James dean. But there's a choice of Elvis, elton John, Audrey Hepburn to name a few. I use sharpie pens (thin tipped) which looked really good, I used pencil but I kept smudging it so wasn't as neat. The start of the book has an example of cross hatching as a guide to filling out the pictures. It's much bigger than your average book and each picture takes a couple of hours to complete so you get a lot for your money. I would definitely buy this again and probably choose a different way to create different pictures.If you type querkles into google it comes up with lots of great examples to give you different ideas, would recommend to anyone looking for a unique adult colouring book

Querkles are a great idea. I have bought other adult targeted colouring books before and found this to be far more satisfying. If you follow the concept strictly there is less scope for creativity than with other colouring books as areas are number-coded to indicate colours/shading ranging from dark to light. This is important to ensure that once you have finished, the image is revealed. If you prefer for your colouring in to be less regimented I would not recommend this book. However, I consider the guidance provided by the "colour-by-numbers" format to be very meditative,and therefore relaxing. By progressing from solid colour blocking to hatching, shading and patterns etc you can increase your creative input.With regards to images created, the book is actually quite large, so I found that the image did not always become clear unless I squinted. Viewed from a distance of over two metres however, the images are extremely clear.

For my first attempt - Jim Morrison - I had only water colour pencils. It turned out ok, but having used gel pens on subsequent pictures, I wish I could do it over. They can be very intensive (at least they were for me) as I try to follow the circles as accurately as possible. I found myself looking up and finding that hours had passed!I tend to use the same basic colours but change one or two depending on the subject. For example, I used red for Che Guevara (red for communism) instead of the purple I used for Audrey Hepburn. I'm considering using fluorescent colours for Jimi Hendrix (because of his connection to the psychodelia era).

Great book, good quality and so addictive! Not much home schooling going to be done with this about.

Saw this book and thought to myself that looks interesting, and I wasn't disappointed,The book itself is larger than the normal adult colouring book that I normally like, the pages are one sides and perforated which makes them easy to remove.The pages look very daunting but it's very simple.. honest, you just pick five colours from light to dark, I did one number at once and my first one took me around 3 hours to do and Jim Morrison slowly appeared on my pageLoved the book so much I have just ordered the other book

My wife loved this book and spent many hours colouring