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Autumn falls (night edition): printed on black paper

By: Ebony Rainn

Rating: 5 of 5

This is one of a few of my coloring books which have utilized black paper. It makes it really interesting as the paper is black front and back and the designs are printed in white ink. I also purchased the regular line drawn (black on white paper) of this same book and it is really amazing to see how much different the same design can look depending on the ink and paper used.

There are 30 designs in this book. Many of the designs are autumn related and a good number are more specific to Halloween. I like both styles. The designs are graceful and fun to color. With lots of pumpkins, acorns, owls, cats, bats, witches and more, there’s a great choice in designs to color. These are my first books by Ebony Rainn; however, I will certainly be looking for more in the future.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing this innovative paper.
30 Autumn and Halloween Designs (plus presentation page) printed with white ink on black paper
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is black (front and back), thin, slightly rough and non-perforated
Glue Bound
Plenty of room to remove designs from book if you choose to do so
Alcohol and water based markers bleed through this paper. You cannot see the bleed through easily but I used a blotter page and it saturated through to the blotter.
Gel pens and India ink pens left slightly discernible shadows on the back of the page in the sense that the paper looked darker but was still black.
Colored pencils worked well with the paper. I was able to get good color, layer, and blend well with both wax and oil based pencils. You need to be careful not to color outside of the lines as it is very noticeably different look than the color on the white ink image. Hard lead pencils can leave discernible dents on the back of the page.
I highly suggest a heavyweight blotter page be used at all times. I use card stock or two sheets of heavyweight paper. You can have ink leak through without noticing or dent through the page and mar the pages below.

Jasmine Becket-Griffith Halloween Coloring Book: A Spine-Tingling Fantasy Art Adventure

By: Jasmine Becket-Griffith

Rating: 5 of 5

I purchase quite a few fantasy art coloring books but the ones that top my list both in subject and in quality are those by Jasmine Becket-Griffith. Her gorgeous girls have large eyes are so expressive and they simply call to me. The art is beautiful and the publishing of the book is, once again, outstanding.

There are 46 pages of Halloween inspired designs filled with 55 different images. There are 43 full page designs and three pages which include 4 each smaller designs. As with her first book, I find it interesting to get the smaller ones and I appreciate that by doing the publishing this way, I get more to color. In fact, the only problem I have with the book is it is so good, I want more. Hopefully, there will be future coloring books in this fantastic series.
The designs are on the right hand side of the book. On the sheet opposite (which is the backside of the previous design), the artist ha provided the name of the artwork and when it was created and for what purpose. She then gives us some background information as to how and why she created the artwork the way that she did. I appreciated this in the first book and am glad to see it once again.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I used to test this book and with which I usually color my projects.
46 pages and 55 Halloween inspired fantasy designs
Printed on one side of the page
Design information is printed on the back side of the page
Paper is heavy weight, cream color, slightly rough and non-perforated
The book has a detached dustcover (inside and attached cover are both left blank.)
Sewn binding (easily to remove several pages at a time by snipping threads)
Designs have a framing line around the outer edges
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paperweight
Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens did not bleed through. Gel pens required a bit more drying time.
Colored pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors well and easily blend using a pencil style blending stick. This was the case with both oil and wax-based pencils.
I am using my alcohol-based markers with pencils for detail work and shading. Because of this, I use a blotter page of card stock under my working page. It keeps ink from seeping through to the page below.

Doodle Mania: Zifflin’s Coloring Book (Volume 4)

By: Zifflin

Rating: 5 of 5

This is the newest entry in Zifflin’s Doodle series of books. I own several of the prior books and always have a ton of fun coloring the wild and intricate designs in these books. This book is by illustrator Rocky Villaruel. I really appreciate that each of the Doodle books is by an individual artist. While the subject matter of the books are similar (wild, quirky little creatures and strange bits of elements forming a larger design), seeing each artist interpretation makes each book unique.

There are 50 designs in this book with lots of hours of coloring fun to be had. The designs are extremely detailed and many are quite intricate. I am currently using my sharp colored pencils to get to all the tiny spots to color.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
50 Imaginative Doodle Style line drawings
Printed one side of the page
Paper is thin, white, slightly rough, and non-perforated. It is standard for any books published by CreateSpace.
Glue Bound
Some designs do merge into the binding area
Book opens fairly flat for coloring if you break or crease the spine.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper rapidly.
Water-based markers bleed through in spots.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page which show colors easily. India ink pens can seep through in spots if used heavily or in multiple coats.
Colored pencils worked nicely with this thin but slightly rough paper. I tested both oil and wax based pencils and got good color with multiple layers of the same color, good results from layers of different colors and nice blending results using a blending stick. Hard lead pencils easily dent through the page and can damage the page below.
I suggest using a blotter page of card stock or a couple of sheets of heavier weight paper under your working page. It can keep seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below.

Creative Haven Bizarro Land Coloring Book: by Bizarro cartoonist Dan Piraro (Adult Coloring)

By: Dan Piraro

Rating: 5 of 5

Bizarro Land is one of the most interesting and imaginative coloring books that I have come across. The subject matter of the designs is so different that I fully understand the title. The designs are bizzare and thought-provoking with so many nuances, it is hard to grasp the full concept of the drawing just by looking at it.

The designs are by cartoonist Dan Piraro, who brings to paper his concept of another land or planet. It is one where a woman’s head is that of a pug. Where a man can have a animal cage (complete with animal) instead of a torso. The rules of our world are completely displaced and are limited only by Mr. Piraro’s imagination. What is cool is that I get to bring my concept of color to these drawings and give them my own spin.
The designs are very detailed and in many places are intricate with small spots to color. I am using a wide variety of coloring medium as I feel that anything goes with this coloring book.
This is what I saw while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for coloring.
31 Wildly imaginative and more than slightly bizarre designs from cartoonist Dan Piraro
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show colorful shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I apply more than one layer of ink.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.
I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.

Creative Haven Mermaids Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Barbara Lanza

Rating: 5 of 5

I have several coloring books by Barbara Lanza (one of which is by Creative Haven as well.) Those books all focus on fairy designs so I was really pleased to see that her newest book is a departure from what I have seen in the past. This coloring book has 31 different mermaid designs.

The designs have Ms. Lanza’s usual graceful look. There are designs of mermaids singly or in groups. There are ocean scenes above and below. There are plants and sea life as well. The drawings are detailed without being overly intricate and are a pleasure to color.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 Mermaid Designs the majority of which have beautiful backgrounds as well
Printed one side of the page
Paper is white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but you can remove pages at the perforation easily
Most Designs extend past the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through if you apply heavily or with with multiple layers.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. They lay down good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.
I either use a blotter page under my working page or I remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.

My Wondrous World: Enchanted Winter Adult Coloring Book

By: Masja Van Den Berg

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a hand-drawn coloring book which is inspired by winter. There are a number of animal designs as well as mandalas, paisleys, and other abstract swirl designs. Many of the designs have a doodle style of detail. There are also several designs which bring snowflakes to mind.

A number of the designs are printed across two pages and those designs lose a bit of their continuity as the designs disappear into the binding. Even when I break the spine to lay the book flat, a tiny portion is missing. And due to the type of binding the book has, when I forced the book into a flat position, there were a number of little tears at the bound edge as there are multiple stitches as well as glue in the binding. I’ll try to post a picture of the issue.
The rest of the book has designs that stop short of the binding and those are much easier to color. The designs are detailed and some have intricate parts to color. Apart from the binding issue (above) and blending issues with colored pencils (below), I really enjoyed coloring in this book.
33 Winter Inspired designs by Masja van den Berg
Designs printed on both sides of the page
Paper is soft white, fairly smooth, heavyweight (or light weight card stock) and non-perforated
Binding is hybrid of sewn (many stitches) and glued
Designs disappear into the binding area and some part of two page spread designs are missing because of it
My copy was slightly off in lining up on two page designs
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers, India ink and gel pens did not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page. Gel pens took a considerable amount of time to dry.
Colored pencils were mixed. I could put down a pigment well and could layer as well. However, when trying to blend with a blending stick, the colors smeared lightly rather than blend.

Shades of Kawaii: A Cute Colouring Book

By: Miss Wah

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a book of 22 really cute and fun designs. The Kawaii in the title is the Japanese word for cute or adorable and that is certainly what this is. For some who may have some difficulty with spelling, like at least two members of my family, the island in Hawaii is spelled Kauai. When I shared that I had bought this book, they thought it was going to be a book about the island. While they may have been disappointed, I certainly was not. The designs are really cute and remind me of Hello Kitty type of cuteness. There are happy smiling characters all around. It’s the type of coloring book that brings a smile to your face.