Colour in illustrations by Alex Gamsu Jenkins, Genie Espinosa, Raman Djafari and more

The creative industry continues to stagger us during this crisis, determinedly turning out in droves for solidarity and community, offering beautiful ways to stay sane and creative. One such project is the Collective Colouring Book, put together by freelance illustrator and art director Imi Read, who around four days ago (yep, just four days) began reaching out to her network of illustrators and artists to contribute line-drawn artworks for a free-to-download colouring book. The result is a 70-page book featuring over 30 artists including the likes of Genie Espinosa, Raman Djafari, Alex Gamsu Jenkins, Ashton Attz, Cristina Daura and Andy Williams.

“I desperately wanted to do something to help the creative community,” Read explains. “Let's face it, nobody expected this current climate, so none of us were ready. So many friends and artists were speaking out about feeling lost, anxious and lonely, and I knew there had to be a project to bring them together.”

Six months ago, Read began building The Collector Club, a digital publishing platform for comics and graphic novels, which is currently in development but on hold for now. In the process, she built a wide community of artists, which she has put to good use for this spontaneous project. “I knew I had a group of people to support [the idea]. I'd seen a few individual artists release free colouring sheets and thought why don't we scale it up? I knew if, as artists, we made a collective effort, we could come together to create something really special. Colouring is such a childlike and freeing thing to do. During this time it's perfect, because whether you're an established artist, haven't touched a felt tip in years or a small child trying it out for the first time, you can find so much joy from it.”

The full list of artists is: Ines J, Hex Aunzo, Genie Espinosa, Elizabeth Haidle, Kirsty O'Rourke, Matt Emmons, Wooden Cyclops, Freddie Crocheron, Dan Morison, Ana Palmira Perez, Peter Striffolino, Ashton Attz, Jake Morrison, Joe Baker, Yeye Weller, Daniele Turturici, Dalton Stark, Sebastian Schwamm, Dimitris Pantazis, Yuk Fun, Eat More Spiders, Mr Misang, Holly St Clair, Imi Read, Jordi Villaverde, Andy Williams, Bobbi Rae, Sungmin Choi, Alex Gamsu Jenkins, Raman Djafari, José Lorenzo Pacheco, James Yeo, Cristina Daura and Fichtre.

Download a printable and/or digital version of the book here, and share your artwork using the hashtag #collectivecolouring.