{"id":471106,"date":"2025-12-25T16:55:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/471106\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T16:55:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:55:29","slug":"phoenix-artist-hopes-new-coloring-book-is-a-stress-reliever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/471106\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix artist hopes new coloring book is a stress reliever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoenix artist Daniel Shepherd has a new book.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Daniel Shepherd<\/p>\n

Phoenix artist Daniel Shepherd<\/a> is using his skills and a desire to provide an opportunity for sweetness and relief in a chaotic world: He has created a character-driven coloring book, \u201cMinimal: The World\u2019s Nicest Bug.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bug\u2019s name, Minimal, is fitting for its style \u2014 a simple, thick black body outline housing its cute antennae, big eyes and upbeat smile. The book features Minimal engaging in various activities that your crayons or markers can bring color and ink to, as your imagination sees fit.<\/p>\n

Shepherd <\/a>says he started working on some animations, and it went from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really enjoying it, and then I started thinking about how I could put something out there that was just fun and simple. I combined things I enjoy \u2014 music and drawing \u2014 and you can see that in the music-centric works in the book. When I looked at \u2018\u2018\u2019em, they just made me laugh and happy. He\u2019s simple but expressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The book finds Minimal in an array of scenarios, from DJing, something Shepherd himself is known to do, to hanging out with friends, presenting a bouquet of flowers and chilling and eating pizza. \u201cHe\u2019s just a nice bug doing things that nice bugs do,\u201d Shepherd says. \u201cOne of his pals is Billy the Claw, who might be the subject of the next installment.\u201d This current edition has a special Billy the Claw coloring page.<\/p>\n

The scenes with Minimal\u2019s family adorning the walls behind him in framed photos are a real treat, making us privy to his lineage.<\/p>\n

Keeping everything uncomplicated was part of the artist\u2019s goal, as reflected in this fun book. \u201cHis name matches him, and I\u2019ve always been one to think it\u2019s an accomplishment if you can get your point across with as little as possible. I\u2019ve always felt like I accomplished something when I\u2019ve done things as simply as I possibly could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepherd is known for his vintage collage work, which combines elements of humor, nostalgia and elegance through the reconfiguration of images and the use of repurposed materials. He also does unique abstract paintings that feature interesting color clashes on distressed wood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The artist shows regularly at Scottsdale\u2019s Royse Contemporary<\/a>, and owner and curator Nicole Royse says the work resonates with a diverse range of patrons. \u201cDaniel creates wonderful original art in a variety of mediums and styles that is enjoyed by many,\u201d she tells New Times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Goodness is the entire reason for Minimal\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite honestly,\u201d Shepherd tells us, \u201cif there\u2019s any point to it, it\u2019s just that we need more niceness in the world. We need to be nice to each other. There needs to be more kindness than mean stuff.\u201d <\/p>\n

You can grab a copy of the book online<\/a>, and Shepherd reminds us that it\u2019s a fun one \u2014 for all ages.<\/p>\n

\"\"Phoenix artist Daniel Shepherd\u2019s new coloring book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phoenix artist Daniel Shepherd has a new book. Daniel Shepherd Phoenix artist Daniel Shepherd is using his skills…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":471107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,3321,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-471106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-humor","12":"tag-phoenix","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115781260339781955","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}