Fibonacci sequence shellKickstarter is hosting for a few days more a crowdfunding campaign for a geometrically inclined adult coloring book that has been a massive success. The Golden Ratio Coloring Book by Venezuelan architect and illustrator Rafael Araujo has raised A$408,922 ($319,640), against an original target of just A$27,000 ($20,975), and at the time of writing, still has eight more days to go.

“Rafael was a teenager when he first observed intelligent patterns in the work of nature and learned about Phi, the Golden Ratio. This ratio, represented by the Greek letter ϕ equals 1.618, and is commonplace in nature – from the hypnotic whorls of the chambered nautilus shell to the balanced proportions of butterfly wings,” the project blurb explains. “Rafael applies the Golden Ratio to his geometric formulas and leaves the construction lines intact to highlight this natural mathematical framework. Not surprisingly, it can take him up to 100 hours to create a single composition.”

The book itself is due to ship in June, according to the campaign’s original timescale, and will be a “9.8”x9.8″ / 25x25cm perfect bound soft cover” volume “that opens flat with detachable pages so drawings can be cleanly removed.” Delays might be expected due to what looks like massive unanticipated demand. However, only one lucky backer who shelled out A$8,000 ($6,100) will be receiving “the original hand drawn illustration of Rafael Araujo’s Chambered Nautilus Shell featured in this Kickstarter” (see below), as well as “a collectable first edition copy” of the book and a PDF of the designs in the volume. But if you pledge the far more affordable amount of A$26 ($19) you can still get the book itself, shipped to you anywhere in the world.

I’m not sure whether that PDF inclusion makes this an outstanding case of hybrid publishing. In any case, though, this is a huge success and proof that there is still life (and money) in the adult coloring craze.

Chambered nautilus

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