Book Review | Art of Coloring: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Share the Force:
Max Nocerino 
Anyone who loves coloring to relax and loves Star Wars should purchase the Art of Coloring: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Just in time for the release of the highly anticipated movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu, a gorgeous adult coloring book arrives as the herald of this movie. I’ve never really gotten into the adult coloring craze. I recall that, many years ago, my mother first introduced me to the concept, and back then, I thought it was silly. Yet, after briefly trying it, I have conceded that there is a bit of a calming, relaxing effect on people who engage in it (coloring, I mean). I initially dismissed it as childish, but really, most human beings’ art skills are on the level of a child’s anyway (with notable exceptions, of course), so there really is no reason to think you are too “mature” for coloring.
FORCE COLORING!
The coloring book we have been given for Star Wars is meant for coloring within the white areas of existing images. Yet, the black and light outlines are so beautiful and realistically drawn that you could say they are works of art themselves! Most of them have more shading and depth than an ordinary children’s coloring book, which really distinguishes them from the latter.
The book is fairly large, with over 100 images to color, and they all depict scenes, characters, and events from the first, second, and third seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney+, along with images from the upcoming film. Yet, I sadly do not possess an eidetic memory, so some of the images are a little foreign to me, and I can’t be sure whether they are just adaptations of scenes from the various seasons or actual, verbatim depictions. Maybe someone with a better memory for intricate details could confirm.
FROM MANDALORE TO COLORING BOOKS!
Regardless, the images are creative, thought-provoking, and very much capture the essence of why this show was so spectacular in the first place. I will admit that they were a little skimpy on images from Season 3, and the illustrator’s obsession with Grogu is unmistakable. The little guy has the majority of the single portrait stills of him, doing everything from reaching out with the Force to eating, meditating, and interacting with various characters (especially his adoptive father, Din Djarin).
The images from the film, thankfully, do not spoil anything we might want to see for the first time in theaters and are basically just duplicates of what we saw in the trailers. That’s the way it should be, as I’ll be darned if I get spoilers from a coloring book!
Different “sections” of the book are separated by a two-page spread of dozens and dozens of small images of various Mandalorian characters, arranged in a grid like atoms in a lattice. I find this very cute and pleasing to the eye, as a way to distinguish various sets of coloring pages. One is all tiny Baby Yodas, one is all tiny Azellans, tiny Mandalorian helmets, etc., etc. It’s a clever way of arranging this book, and I very much like it.
FROM DISNEY+ TO THE BIG SCREEN
Most of the images are stills from the show, but a few are abstract, and those are my personal favorites. They have no “continuity” with the story as a whole, as they are just out-of-universe artistic interpretations, and that is what I like most about art. The best example of this is an image of images of Baby Yoda surrounding a large circle, with a much larger proportioned image of some of the cookies that Grogu eats in the center.
But I’m not done. Inside this circle, surrounding the edges of where the cookies are centered, are mesmerizing kaleidoscopic lines of images of Mando’s helmet, with each string of helmets becoming smaller and smaller as they get closer to the center. They are also expertly drawn to give the illusion that they are “moving” as they shrink and move closer to the center, and it honestly makes me unable to look away.
VERDICT
As I said, I would have liked to see a few more coloring images from Season 3, and, as I am obsessed with novelty, I was actually hoping for a few original images to be added to the mix. When I say original, I mean images depicting characters in novel situations that have not appeared in any of the seasons or films. Like maybe Baby Yoda visiting the Old Jedi Temple or the Mandalorian cooking stew with a ladle in a wok or something. Oh well. It’s such a petty and unnecessary request and doesn’t really affect the efficacy of this coloring book. Just my personal desire
Anyone who loves coloring to relax and loves Star Wars should purchase this book. There are, theoretically, enough images to last for several years of drawing, and it is as much a pleasure as an investment to buy.
Art of Coloring: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is available to buy now.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
