Author Archives: Iiiireader

This is my first coloring book by Penny Farthing Graphics. They are published via CreateSpace which is generally used for self-publishing. The designs are drawn by a variety of artists from all over the world and are licensed via Shutterstock.com. What we end up with is a great coloring book (although on thin paper) with a large and varied selection of designs.

There are 60 coloring images in this book. I’m happy with the variety and the way the designs are printed on the page. Every one of them is complete rather than running off the page. If a design is stopped, it is stopped with a frame which gives me a defined end to the item I am coloring even if it is not complete within the picture (e.g., half of a stocking, ornament, wreath, etc.) The editors of the book have done a great job with their selection, including all the symbols I think of for Christmas, such as: Christmas Trees, Santa, ornaments, stocking, nutcrackers, fireplaces, snowman, candles and much more.

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I received a free sample of this coloring book for test and review purposes.

This is coloring book filled with adorable dog designs. Most of them are based on simple line drawings but are filled in (both inside of the dog and in the background) with lighter design elements which are cute and fun. The bonus pages seem to be sketches of dogs (rather than line drawings) and have had other design items added around them.

While the designs are really cute and should be fun to color for the most part, most of the designs simply stop near the edge without a frame which leaves the colorist with open-ended and unfinished elements to their coloring. This is a particular nit of mine as I hate to be left without a definite edge or finished element as it gives a very uneven and unfinished look to my work.

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I received a free sample of this coloring book for test and review purposes.

This is coloring book filled with cute cat designs. There are a variety of styles but most are line drawings with fun elements added both inside and around the cats. Others are stylized portraits of cat faces and the bonus pages have pictures of many different types of cats, including wild and large cats.

While almost all of these cat designs are very cute and fill be lots of fun to color, there are a couple things to note: print quality between designs are quite different, a few designs are sized too large for the page and edges are missing, and some designs simply stop near the edge without a frame which leaves the colorist with open-ended and unfinished elements to their coloring. All three of these issues could be fixed in future books.

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This book is being marketed to children by the publisher but as an adult colorist, I like both the pictures and the complexity they provide. The artist is Emily Golden Twomey who is also an illustrator/artist on other coloring books for kids. I had purchased another book in this line (by another artist) and thought I would take a chance with this one, too. This book has designs which would traditionally be geared towards boys while the other book, Beautiful Copycats is more traditionally for girls. I like them both!

The book is an interesting concept. The design you color is on one side of the page and a colored copy is on the back side of the proceeding page that way you can look at the finished design for inspiration. What it also means is that for me, as an adult colorist, my designs are printed on one side of the page and I don’t have to worry about ruining another design if my inks leak through. Usually, my books have white back pages, so these colorful ones are just pretty filler for me.

There are 25 designs (including the title page with space ships, the bookplate page [parts of both sides], and the end page which is partly colored) that include: haunted house, Egyptians, soccer, airplanes, knights, and a spaceman. The designs have a nice amount of complexity without having tiny intricate details. These are perfect for an adult who doesn’t want to strain their eyes or for a teenager or even an advanced younger child.

None of my gel pens nor my water-based markers leaked through on this paper. I didn’t try Sharpies or alcohol based but if I decide to use those, I am pretty sure they will bleed through as they do through almost all paper types. In those cases, I will sacrifice the colored picture and put a piece of chipboard under the design I am working on to keep the ink from leaking further through the book.

The pages are not perforated; however, the binding is sew in and it is very easy to clip the threads (on three different pages) to remove them from the book and cut the pages should you wish to work with single pages at a time.

The paper is quite thick (rather close to being a card stock weight) and the coloring surface is a soft white as opposed to a bright white. A number of the designs have full or partial black backgrounds. I find that neon colors and pastels really pop on this type background.

I’m really impressed with the quality of this coloring book. I will be buying more in the line as they are released and have pre-ordered the two which are due to be published in early 2016.