Author Archives: Iiiireader

This is my first Zendoodle coloring book by Nikolett Corley but it will certainly not be my last one. In this coloring book, there are 62 different cute cat designs that have wonderfully detailed backgrounds. The designs are appealing and have a great variety of breeds of cats. I have other cute cat coloring books but in some of them, the cats all look the same. That is not the case with this book. I love that there are a couple of designs that include a bunny and a dog as well.

I have had and loved many cats over the years and recently lost my last senior kitty. I look in this book and see many of my old friends in the faces of these cats. It is with bittersweet joy that I am coloring in this book with my eyes blurring from time to time and my hand a little less steady than usual.

For my first two projects in this book, I chose designs which reminded me of two of my cats who passed away years ago. The first is dedicated to Jezzy a kitty who lost her home in the Northridge earthquake and when we dedicated to open home and hearts to some of these homeless pets, she then chose me to be her special person. She was a dilute calico of Siamese mix with beautiful blue eyes.

The other design is dedicated to our sweet Francie. She loved to jump off the amoire and land on my husband’s stomach in the middle of the night so having a quilt on the bed was a must. She was a pint-sized ball of fur and fun. She had long gray hair and brilliant green eyes.

I will provide detailed information about the physical coloring book below, but here is a quick overview of what I found:

62 Sweet and adorable cat designs
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is perforated
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Glue Binding
Book can easily open to flat position
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers and India ink artist pens leave color shadows on back of the page
Gel pens do not leak through the page
Coloring pencils work well with this paper

The designs in this coloring book are printed on one side only of perforated, medium weight white paper. The binding is glued but you will want to remove the pages at the perforations rather than cut them out.

The designs do not merged into the binding. All in all, I am really pleased with the way this book is constructed. I will certainly look for more books by this publisher in the future. I could easily get the book to lay flat by creasing the binding hard. For my preference, I would remove pages rather than try to work in the book as it is on the thick side with those 62 great designs.

I test all of my coloring books with a variety of coloring medium. I will include the testing methods and the medium at the end of this review, but here is what my testing discovered:

Alcohol-based markers of all brands and tips bleed through this paper. Water based markers leave color shadows on the back of the page. In addition, I found that using the fine point marker of my Tombows left spots of color and was abrasive on the front of the paper. I generally only use the brush end and those worked great.

My India ink pens left a shadow but went on beautifully with great color. My gel pens did not bleed through and did not require additional drying time but they did leave dents on the back of the page. My coloring pencils worked extremely well with this paper. My soft lead pencils went on thick and creamy, layering and blending well. This was true with both wax and oil based pencils. My hard lead pencils went on with good color but did leave dents at the back of the page.

I plan to remove each page from the book as I color it but if you plan to color within the book, I highly recommend that you use a blotter page behind the page you are working on. That will keep the rest of the book safe from seeping ink and marring dents.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. In my tests, I use the medium in a manner that is perhaps more intense than others. I layer multiple coats of water-based makers for blending purposes, color large elements with gel pens, and with coloring pencils, I use multiple layers, multiple colors, as well as blending and burnishing them to see how the paper reacts and if the color moves properly.

If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

Alcohol-based markers Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine)

Waater-based markers Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, and Staedler triplus fineliners

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D’Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos