| Currency: $ / £ / €

Price: $ 2.50£ 2.00€ 2.25

Description: Note: that price is for an 'eBook' - you will receive a link where you can download the book in .pdf format (a 2.7Mb file). You will not receive a physical copy of the book.

Here is the text of the introduction to this pamphlet:

Hello ... I am woodblock printmaker David Bull, a Canadian who has been living in Tokyo for just over 20 years. I earn my living making hand-made reproductions of Japanese woodblock prints, using the same techniques common in the old days. I cut the designs on planks of cherry wood, then print them on handmade paper one colour at a time until each image comes to life.

Unlike modern process printing, traditional Japanese woodblock printing requires a separate block to be created for each colour in the final print. Actually that is a slight simplification, as colour overlapping is also done, but the main point is that for each print I carve a ‘key block’ which contains the outlines of the design, and a group of colour blocks for adding the tones.

Nothing special about that ... this has been going on for hundreds of years. But recently here in Japan, we are in the middle of a huge boom in Otona no Nuri-e, which translates literally as ‘Colouring Pictures for Adults’. (Adult in this context doesn’t mean x-rated, it simply distinguishes this material from the common children’s colouring books.)

So ... put the two ideas together ... and it seems like an interesting idea - pull some prints from my key blocks, and offer them for colouring! And that’s what this little ebook is about ... a selection of five designs from my Surimono Albums print series, scanned from my key block images for you to print out and colour.

Each of the five images is included here on a letter size page, scanned at 150dpi. Print them onto a fairly heavy paper, and get your colour pencils out! We’ve also tried printing them on an ink-jet printer onto heavy watercolour stock, and this works well too.

Terms of use: the images used in this little pamphlet were created hundreds of years ago, and I claim no copyright in them. But I have spent a lot of effort (carving and printing) into getting them into a form useful for you to use, and that is why I reserve some publication rights. A single purchase of this ebook download is considered to be for family or classroom use. Take multiple printouts of the images as you wish for use in those environments. If the classroom down the hall wishes to do some colouring, please ask them to purchase and download their own copy. I think that’s fair, isn’t it?

Note: More information on the Mokuhankan eBooks - their format, how to use them, how to download them, and other relevant details, along with a free download sample you can inspect - can be found on this page.