#acotar coloring book

[goforth-ladymidnight]

My Thoughts on the Official ACOTAR Coloring Book

The official ACOTAR coloring book was my official introduction the world of ACOTAR back in 2017 (I kept the barcode sticker with the date on it and everything). However, I didn’t officially join the fandom until 2021, around the time ACOSF came out. However however, it wasn’t until recently that I realized that the coloring book was all about Feyre and Rhys. I know it seems obvious, but hear me out.

Book 1 of ACOTAR is, at its core, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and the Ballad of Tam Lin. It is Feyre and Tamlin’s story, despite what the rest of the series became. However, you wouldn’t know that if you only read the snippets included in the coloring book.

This realization came to me when someone on Reddit requested a spoiler-free color-along guide, complete with chapter numbers. This was so they could read the books, then color along when they came across the matching chapter. Since I was procrastinating had some free time, and I have the trilogy on Kindle (it makes research for fanfiction so much easier), I typed something up for her. But in doing so, I noticed at long last that the ACOTAR portion doesn’t tell Feyre’s and Tamlin’s story.

There is exactly one image that is even romantically coded for Feylin, and it’s this one: (art by Yvonne Gilbert, coloring by me)

It’s a beautiful illustration, but... They’re not even looking at each other.

I’ve never worked as an illustrator (even though I’ve taken my fair share of art classes), but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only image where Feyre and Tamlin have eye contact is the scene UTM right before she stabs him.

If SJM had any say in which scenes were included in this book, then that excerpt doesn’t surprise me at all. (You can see some more examples of the included pictures on the wiki page here.)

I looked through my copy of the book, and there are eight images of Feyre and Rhys together. Eight. ACOTAR’s portion ends with Rhys and Feyre talking, instead of Feyre and Tamlin walking off into the sunset, which is how the book actually ends.

At this point, you may be wondering why I’m so passionate about this, so I’ll tell you. Once upon a time, I wanted to be an illustrator. Back in 2017, I was studying real-life examples of coloring books and trying to learn from the experts. I’ve since made art more of a hobby to focus on writing, but the interesting thing about studying art and writing is this: The official coloring book doesn’t tell a comprehensive story.

Book 1 is my favorite book in the series, and I would love to see it get more love as time goes on, instead of being dismissed as a “boring prequel”. It set up what the rest of the series became [insert rant about the tonal shift between books, the discarded sequel that was eventually written into ACOMAF, and my feelings about the portrayal of Tamlin’s character in general].

It is a good book on its own... but I couldn’t tell you that if I had to sum it up from the coloring book excerpts alone. Important characters like Lucien are never given an introduction page, unlike the ACOMAF section, where each member of the Inner Circle was highlighted in addition to getting a group shot. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to take that away from them, since they are important to the series, but I would prefer to give more characters like Lucien or Tarquin a chance to shine instead of adding in a picture of the Attor or the Middengard Worm Wyrm. For those who don’t have the coloring book, if you look through the images on the wiki, yes, pictures of those ugly creatures are really in there. Mmm. Just what you want to color in a romance book about sexy hot faeries.

If I had my way, here are the scenes from ACOTAR that I would choose to tell the story properly. To make it more of a challenge, I kept it to 18 scenes, to match the number of illustrations that were chosen for ACOMAF:

Feyre aims for the deer and sees the wolf [technically it’s already in there, so it can stay, but I would change the excerpt and the illustration. I’m just not crazy about that particular artist’s comic book style here, since it doesn’t suit the fairy tale nature of the book]

Feyre speaks to the mercenary [not only does it highlight a criminally underrepresented badass character, it defines the danger of Prythian, and the overall conflict in the book]

Tamlin’s beast form in the cabin as he bargains with Feyre [which is different from the one where they’re walking away from the cabin; the excerpt that was chosen doesn’t have the same impact, imo]

The Spring Court manor [it’s in there, so it can stay, and besides, John Howe’s work is beautiful]

Tamlin’s High Fae reveal [Yvonne Gilbert’s illustration of Tamlin and Lucien is gorgeous, but it’s a shame that Lucien isn’t mentioned by name in the excerpt] 

Lucien and Feyre on horseback as they discuss the Suriel [as interesting as it was to see the Suriel depicted by itself, we need context to know why it’s there]

The Suriel and its advice to Feyre: “Stay with the High Lord” [*cough cough* it was always about Tamlin *cough cough*]

Tamlin takes Feyre to the glen, as shown above [although this could also be traded out for the art gallery or the willow scene]

Rhysand taunting Tamlin, and Lucien protecting Feyre [this ties in better to the theme of the book, instead of his description on Fire Night as “the most beautiful man” she’d ever seen. Let’s stay on track, people, and keep it to one love interest per book, mm’kay?]

Tamlin sends Feyre home in the carriage [as much as I would love to highlight Solstice, it doesn’t have the same impact on the plot. Besides, I do love Yvonne Gilbert’s illustration of the scene; even if Feyre isn’t looking at Tamlin, it is thematically appropriate]

An illustration of Feyre’s family, not just of Elain gardening [thus showing what Feyre is giving up by choosing to return to Prythian]

Alis takes Feyre to the cave [this illustration is one that piqued my interest when I first flipped through the book, so it stays]

Amarantha’s intro [it’s perfect as-is; gotta love Charlie Bowater’s work, though I would have loved for the image to be bigger]

Feyre runs from the Worm Wyrm [much more interesting instead of just showing it by itself, because pink and brown does not make for a compelling color palette, thank you very much]

The tattoo and the bargain [it can stay, only because it does affect the plot and future books *grumble, grumble*]

Amarantha taunts Feyre about killing Tamlin [the current version was a big spoiler to me when I first saw it, but the scene needs to be included in some form]

Feyre’s transformation to High Fae, perhaps surrounded by a couple of the other High Lords [the current scene with her and Rhys talking about her human heart works, but it’s very Feysand-centric in a book that should be about Feylin. Plus, more character reveals!]

Feyre and Tamlin’s return to the Spring Court as they walk off into the sunset [ft. Tamlin without his mask!!]

Done.

Now, I know this doesn’t cover all of the scenes I would have loved to see illustrated, but it does make up for the severe lack of Feylin compared to all of the Feysand illustrations. If I feel like it later on, I might do the same excerpt review for ACOMAF and ACOWAR, because I had no idea what was happening in those books from the illustrations and excerpts alone. (And I still haven’t read ACOWAR all the way through. Way to hook me on the plot, promotional material.) We don’t even see what the villain in those two books even looks like! That’s a royal shame (pun intended).

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! You don’t have to agree with my takes, but this is something that’s been on my mind for a while now, and with Tamlin Week 2023 coming up, I felt inspired to finally put my thoughts together. Maybe this will also inspire someone to make something for the event? Maybe this is a sign I should pull out my markers and paints more often... Hmm. If nothing else, this was a good exercise. And I don’t want to be the sort of person who criticizes something without offering suggestions for how it could be better.

I am glad that ACOTAR exists, because it has inspired so much creativity in myself and my fellow fanfiction authors and artists. It has also inspired a lot of people to pick up reading again, and if that leads to people reading more and making new stuff, so much the better. :)

#acotar coloring book #acotar critical #sjm critical #acotar is a better standalone novel #tamlin x feyre #feylin #lady midnight makes something #kind of #my coloring #not my art

[ladymidnight-goesforth]

What a difference 6 years makes.

2017 me: Used printer paper

2023 me: Used smooth bristol paper

2017: Made no attempt to shrink original 10"x10" image to a workable size (hence the size difference)

2023: Made several copies until the image fit on 8.5" x 11" with borders (seriously, whose brilliant idea was it to push the official line drawings right to the very edge???)

2017: Used colored pencils only

2023: Used Copic marker base + colored pencils + white acrylic paint

2017: Gave up because it took 2-3 hours to get this far

2023: Finished in 2-3 hours

2017: Read the source material once before coloring

2023: In too deep

Welp.

Original illustration by Yvonne Gilbert, Coloring by me

#in case you were wondering #this is why tamlin has an emerald mask in my first coloring attempt #instead of a golden mask with emeralds #even though i do like the idea of a mask carved from emeralds #future story idea? #also i initially forgot that feyre has freckles #and that she has golden brown hair in canon #despite being portrayed as dark blonde most of the time #not my art #my coloring #copic markers #prismacolor pencils #coloring practice #acotar coloring book #tamlin x feyre #personal #ramblings #first official artsy post #cue internal screaming #this is fine this is fine this is fine #working on that anxiety #you're doing great sweetie

[whatevertabi]

Ahhh, I’m pleased that I got this finished before another entire year passed. 😂 I don’t love how Mor turned out, facially, but everything else is okay! Decoratively, the line art felt Moroccan, and it ended up somewhere between French chateau and Moroccan villa, but I don’t hate it!

#art #sarah j maas #colored pencil #coloring #acotar coloring book #coloring book #a court of thorns and roses #acotar #feyre archeron #the morrigan #mor

[the-type-a]

I’ve never been so excited to color lmao

#acotar #ACOTAR coloring book

[mossytrashcan]

after doing some thinking, I realized that one other way I can offer art advice is making art exercises for yall. so here’s one of my feyre sketches that yall can color (if you want)! go crazy!! make her green or something!!

#transparent so yall can plop it in your program and just kinda treat it like it’s a coloring book #idk!!! just wanted to throw that out there because I’ve always wanted to do coloring swaps lol #sage’s art tag #feyre archeron #acotar #art advice #?????

[scooobies]

The ACOTAR fanbase is insanely vocal until you bring up whitewashing and the defense of racist behavior and suddenly it gets real quiet. Bet you it's the same people who turn a blind eye to the tswift kind of feminism who are still buying Starbucks but y'all ain't ready for that conversation are you.

#ACOTAR #acowar #sjmaas #sjm universe #sjm books #sjm fanart #sjm fandom #acotar fan art #acotar fanfiction #acotar fandom #whitewashing in fan art #whitewashing #rhysand #Azriel #cassian #rhysand fanart #azriel fanart #cassian fanart #if this stirs something up inside you or you become wildly offended then put the shoe on Cinderella because it fits #i'm tired of being nice and I'm tired of holding all of your mayonnaise colored hands

[thrumugnyr]

I am here to fairy-fy your fairies!

#tamlin #lucien vanserra #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #acotar fanart #so yeah i read a book and i just had to get this out of my system #i gave lucien a tail because no one can stop me (and I think it's cute) #i might not be able to give you handsome straight dudes #but i can give u furries and gremlins #edit: had to reupload Lucien cause my color balance fucked with his skin color woops #other fanart

[arson-09]

Its not finished just yet but heres my version of Tamlins Manor from acotar >:)

#acotar #tamlin #pro tamlin #a court of thorns and roses #I know theres a coloring book that shows it but idc #i can do what i want #especially when the author mistreats this character so much

[eepybogboy]

i got the Court of Thorns and Roses coloring book bc it was on sale and i like to color and i like it for the most part but it's painfully obvious that the artists only draw white people. the one drawing of Helion absolutely kills me they whitewashed my boy!! he's supposed to be black!!!

who the fuck is this man??? i don't know him

not to mention poor Tarquin doesnt get a picture at all. hes mentioned in the book excerpts on the opposite page but he is not present

the author finally deigned to put poc in her series and they don't even get accurate illustrations. sad!

#a court of thorns and roses #acotar #a court of thorns and roses coloring book #a court of mist and fury #acomaf #a court of wings and ruin #acowar

[velaris-terrasen]

done by @danitattoonyc at @atelier.eva

feels fitting that this is my first post here. so happy with how this turned out. inspired by ACOTAR certainly, but a tribute to every book that has taken me on a grand adventure and turned black and white words into worlds of color and magic.

#bookish #book tattoos #book tattoo #fineline tattoo #floral tattoo #tattoos #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #sjm #sjm books #velaris #fine line tattoo #black and white tattoo #color tattoo #flowers tattoo #mountain tattoo

[thesistersarcheron]

She really does have a song for everything.

#feysand #feyre archeron #rhysand #a court of thorns and roses #taylor swift #acotar #the acotar coloring book is the gift that keeps on giving #acotar memes #because i guess i make enough of those that i should have a tag now oof

[thecw-unicorn]

SJM Coloring Books

I got both the Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses Coloring Books, and so here are some of my favorite pages from the ACOTAR one!

The Spring Court

Elain in her garden

Feyre’s tattoo

The Inner Circle

Starfall

Kallias, Helion, Thesan

High Lady of Night

Truth-Teller

The Nesta, the Elain, the Feyre

#acotar #elain archeron #elriel #elain #feyre #feyre archeron #nesta archeron #acomaf #acowar #high lord rhysand #high lady feyre #the night court #velaris #rhysand #acotar sjm #acotar art #coloring book #bookish #coloring

[mood2you]

My big opinion is I love the "new" ACOTAR covers but only because they are very unique compare to a portrait of a woman, and I am a late adopter.

OLD

NEW

It is funny I was going to compare the new covers to tattoos. And you look at the old one and her arm is like a focal point. Okay I just really like the hi dogy and honestly the shade of green on mist and fury and I haven't read ACOWAR

#acotar #the all one color ones with the intricate stylish line drawing #poll #books

[fortunatefires]

ACOTAR has gotten way too much hype. And when I say I didn't like it ppl are like no but the later books- tf you think this is? I didn't ask for anime reccomendations

#I made a tiktok about it and they're like #No I swear it's good #Like...motherfucker her hair changes color halfway through the book and she hardly sneezes on the plot #I even considered it #But why tf would I force myself to read the series when I clearly don't like it #Text #Text post #Bookblr #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #Anime

[buckttommy]

What do you think, besties? Maroon or Black?

#I'm putting together my Christmas wishes #Now see. Me personally? I'm really easy to shop for. #Hoodies. Books. Fuzzy socks. Candles. ACOTAR/SJM. That's it. #Easy peasy lemon squeezy #BUT. I like both of these #Black is my signature color #BUT. Maroon looks really good on me. #THOUGHTS???? #jack.txt

[moviestowriteabout]

Surprise! I sketched my man🍁

#still have to read book 4!! #on the lil festive novella rn #lucien vanserra #Lucien #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #I may put lil autumn leaves behind him #we’ll see #or maybe do another but a water color this time #fanart #art