Author Archives: Iiiireader

This is a pretty coloring book with filled with designs of items that can be associated with vacations. A number of the designs are riffs on a similar theme, such as shells, sunglasses, etc. The designs range from open and easy to color to more elaborate with some intricate details.

The book itself is really pretty, too. It has a dust jacket which can be colored, inside and out. The outside has a beautiful touch of copper foil. In addition to the designs I mentioned above, there are flowers, birds, shell creatures, sailing boats, lizards, trees, leaves, frogs, canoes, paddles and much more.

(more…)

This is a very beautiful adult coloring book with many pages of hand-drawn Holiday designs. Rather than using glitzy style elements, the artist has brought in a focus on Nature into the designs. Many of the designs include a branch, holly berries, birds, deer, or other natural themes.

The book itself is lovely, too. It has a dust jacket which can be colored, inside and out. The outside has a beautiful touch of silver foil. The designs are so many and have a wide variety of subjects, including: birds, wreaths, ornaments, snowflakes, trees (Christmas and outside birch), candles, garlands, deer, holly, and even a kissing ball among many more designs.

(more…)

This hand-drawn Christmas designs coloring book may be the best designs of the genre that I have ever purchased. The artist is Mary Tanana and, in the first few pages, she explains her methodology for drawing these lovely designs. While I wish that the book had been printed on a single side, I am still extremely pleased with it. The designs cover so many facets of the Christmas holiday, including: trees, stockings, ornaments, gift cards, wreathes, reindeer, snowflakes, and much, much more.

The book is printed on a good heavyweight white paper. All of my markers bleed-through on this paper; however, none of my gel pens do. As the book is printed doubled sided on non-perforated paper, I will probably be using my gel pens and colored pencils or will purchase a second book if I feel compelled to use my markers. The binding is glued rather than sewn, so patience or an exacto knife is needed to remove pages from the book.

(more…)

Attached to this review will be a silent flip-through of the entire coloring book so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not it will work for you.

Rather than discuss how this is like or different from the books and/or TV series, I will discuss only how I feel about it as an adult coloring book.

I really like this book. What is different about this one from others that I have is that six different artist have contributed to the designs. It makes for a variety of coloring opportunities. Some designs are simple almost child-like. I can color those as-is or put some of my doodling/art skills to work and add some unique elements to the designs. Others are moderately challenging and will be good ones to work on when I simply want to color. Finally, there are designs with a lot of intricate and small detail. They can be colored, but it will be a challenge and one that I will enjoy because these designs are so beautiful.

Physically, the book is very well made. The designs are printed on one side with details from the books written on the back of the page. The pages are thick and white; however, they are not perforated. The binding is glued rather than sewn, so removing pages from the book will be a little more difficult. Most of the designs merge into the binding, but the portions that might be lost if I cut the pages out are not the central theme of the design.

(more…)

Attached to this review will be a silent flip-through of the entire coloring book so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not it will work for you.

Rather than discuss how this is like or different from the books and/or TV series, I will discuss only how I feel about it as an adult coloring book.

First of all, the illustrations are beautiful. I say illustrations rather than designs because a number of them appear to be finished ink and pen studies rather than designs that a colorist can finish and interpret in their own unique way. For those designs, I can’t envision how I would color them (possibly with watercolors) but I certainly will try as I’m up for a challenge. Because of this, I detracted a star from my rating.

There are still many designs which I feel that I can, as a moderately experienced colorist and artist, be able to color and enjoy. For those, there are intricate details and I may need to use my magnifying lamp to work on those areas.

(more…)

Johanna Basford is the designer who started my hobby of adult coloring books with her genre defining book, Secret Garden and her equally fantastic follow-up Enchanted Forest. With her newest book, Lost Ocean, she builds upon the stunningly beautiful and extremely intricate designs that I have come to expect from her.

The subject of the coloring book is the ocean. There are so many designs, including: sailing ships, mermaids, fish, sea mammals, jellyfish, and shipwrecks and more flora of the deep than I can count, each page is a wonderful experience in coloring. There seems to be about 80 designs to color which is less than in both of her earlier books. The book is also a hunt for hidden items and there is a key for what you are looking for as well as where they can be found. There is a picture of an octopus that reminds me way too much of Homer Simpson. I may have to color its head yellow with white and blue tentacles.

The one disappointing thing about this book is the paper. It seemed that the artist and publisher had finally understood the need for thicker and/or better paper. Recent versions of Secret Garden had improved paper so much so, that this note is now included at the top of the page in all italics and with caps Good news for all SECRET GARDEN fans! All editions of SECRET GARDEN now feature thicker and heavier paper stock, fighting bleed-through from ink pens. From my point of view, one would think Lost Ocean would have the upgraded paper. It does not. In fact, it does not even have the same publisher. The paper is thinner and is worse and not as good as the last book. Maybe that is because of the change in publisher, but the artist and her staff should have verified what grade of paper was being used. The artwork makes up for this but I really wish an artist of this caliber’s work was presented in the best possible way.

(more…)

This fun coloring book by Molly Harrison includes 21 designs of angels both young and adult as well as polar bears and fairies. There is even a design of a collage of snowflakes. While the angels and fairies evoke a holiday theme, the polar bears and snowflake are more of a winter vibe. That’s great with me as I like winter designs, too. It gives me a chance to do some work with blues, whites, and silver as those colors really bring winter to my mind.

The designs range from pretty adults to child-like angels. I especially like a wreath design that has a mixture of young girls and young angels on it. The line drawings range from simple to complex to color. I love Ms. Harrison’s elegant drawings and should have as much fun with this book as I am having with her Halloween and other books.

(more…)

This my first coloring book by artist Danny Dimm. There are 30 hand-drawn designs in the book which have a wide range of appeal, including animals, landscapes, and flowers. The artist has put a border around the designs. I really appreciate that extra touch as it allows me to finish elements that are only partially in the picture. That is important with this book as there are many lines throughout that end up stopping at the border. Without a border, these are a bit of a nightmare but with the border, they become fun to color and even more fun to experiment with wild colors.

While many of the designs are intricate, they do not contain really small elements. It is easy to get pen, pencil and marker into all parts of the designs. There are a number of bird designs that I especially like, including flamingos and a rooster.

(more…)

This is my first coloring book by this talented artist, Samarra Khaja. I hope there will be more books in the future as I find the art to be so very different from what is generally available in a quality coloring book. There is a modern and whimsical air to the hand drawn designs. I like so many of them, I am having a little difficulty choosing my first project. I am leaning towards the pigs in what looks like the interior of an airplane (maybe that is a play on “if pigs could fly”).

The pages are a good medium weight white paper. All of my markers (both alcohol and water based) bleed through the page. My gel pens do not but I do see a shadow on the back side of the page. Not a problem, though, as the designs are printed on only one side with the back side left blank. If you are using regular markers or watercolors, you can put an extra page in between just in case some color leaches through.

The pages are perforated and are extremely easy to remove. Some of the designs run over the perforated edge, so you may lose a small part of those designs if you remove the page from the book (as I do.) Additionally, the binding easily lies flat and gives you access to make coloring in this book and easy and fun thing to do.

(more…)