Steve McDonald’s Fantastic Cities: A Colouring Book of Amazing Places Real and Imagined features stunningly detailed cityscapes that will take you on a globe-trotting coloring adventure.
Fantastic Cities has almost 60 “immersive aerial views” of cities from New York and London to Istanbul, Tokyo, Rio, and more, alongside intricate “Inception-like architectural mandalas.”
These “mind-bending labyrinthine architectural illustrations” are meant to produce a meditative coloring effect. Adult coloring books have exploded in popularity as of late, with marketing claims that they can reduce anxiety and stress. Whether or not they’re a therapeutic quick fix, coloring can be a fun and immersive activity. McDonald’s book doubles down by providing awesomely detailed city scenes both familiar and foreign:
Lunenberg Nova Scotia and “Lunenberg Mandala”
London
Paris
Over at the Guardian’s Cities site, you can grab several of McDonald’s illustrations in high res to print out or indulge in some desktop digital coloring. My current favorite is the distinctive rooftops of Paris view—and the attention to detail on San Francisco alone will keep you happily coloring for days.
San Francisco. Can you spot the startups?