He made a what??? Yes, I made a Houdini Coloring Book. But it's more than that. Let me explain. First, there is a huge influx of Houdini books this year. Naturally, for the centennial, many people are taking full advantage of it and so they should. There are some very comprehensive biographies coming out, many already have come out. I didn't want to just do another biography, so I thought, what could I do that might reach a bigger audience? I had just heard about 'Adult Coloring Books', which I didnt even realize were a thing. These are coloring books for adults, NOT x-rated or anything like that. (get your mind out of the gutter!)
But it wasn't enough to make a coloring book. I wanted to add history to the mix, so I wrote short descriptions of the various images, most of which were Houdini photos or posters. But there are several that I created myself and one that is actually ME. Anyway, the short descriptions gave way to another thought which was to add QR links on the pages to articles or podcast episodes related to those images. NOW, I was onto something!!!
I did use ai to create the line drawings. I could have done that part myself and the book wouldn't have been done till next year. The other side of it, the book would have been enormously expensive had I hired someone to do it. So keeping costs low, I went this route. Trust me, I am an artist, I know the value of hiring living human beings and will continue to do so many times in the future. I used photoshop to fix some of the pictures so it wasn't just a process of telling ai to do something and 30 seconds later it was done. It was a lot of work to get things the way I wanted. I rejected a lot of images.
Sadly, there were a couple images that didn't make the mix. One in particular was in the book, then out, then in and then finally out. It just didnt work. Then when I hit 52 pages, I knew it was time to stop. 52 pages was going to be the perfect amount. The buyer would get a good mix of images, some easy to color, some more advanced, but all would have QR codes with links to this blog or my podcast. Only one, page went without a QR code and that was the one on Vintage Houdini Era Cuffs, which by the way, came from my own collection.
The end result blew me away. I wasn't quite sure how it would all turn out, but graphically, it really looked awesome. To prevent 'bleed throughs' if the buyer uses markers, every image is on it's own page. The final image in the book is a favorite that I created, Harry & Bess reunited.
I did learn after finishing the project, that there were two previous Houdini coloring books, however, the illustrations in one of them were pretty weak. The other appeared to be a 'magic coloring book', so not actually, a true coloring book but rather a magic prop. Neither is available anymore. Well, one is, but the price is $84, lol.
My hope is that I will find a good mix of non-Houdini people buying the book and in the process they get to learn about him, through coloring, my audio podcast and reading my blog articles. Naturally, magicians are welcome to buy it. It's way less expensive than all the other Houdini books this year. And, it's interactive! I will also offer it for sale in my Houdini lectures and back of the room sales at shows. Hey, for magicians who have kids and grandkids, it's perfect for them too!!!!
To get your copy of the book, just to to Amazon. https://a.co/d/05AOd8Rl
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