Category Archives: Adult Color Books

You can view my review with sample photos of this kit on Amazon by clicking here.

I was happy to find this Harry Potter kit recently. I was a bit surprised to find out how small these were (given the size listed in the description.) I think that the larger dimensions must refer to the cardboard box when it is fully open, as the cards are much smaller. I’ll provide details on the components below. The designs are very small with detailed coloring elements. I suggest only small nib coloring medium with this kit.

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I love the illustrations in this story/coloring book. They are beautifully done. The only issue is that there are simply too few of them. The book turns out to be as much a story book as it is a coloring book. While it is true that there are coloring opportunities on the story book pages, they are mostly filigree style illustrations. I enjoy having a few of those in a coloring book but in this case, there are quite a few. Of the 70 pages in the book, 29 are this type of story book page. Other illustrations also carry text of the story and that is how I would have preferred the majority of the book to have been done. I think that they did an excellent job with those pages but it is not what I was expecting.

The designs are, as I said, beautifully illustrated. It is a very pretty interpretation of Anne of Green Gables. The story jumps around quite a bit, so it will not replace your story book but it can be used in conjunction with reading the book.

The illustrations are open and easy to color but the story book page illustrations are somewhat detailed and have some small areas to color. In a few of the illustrations, the characters faces are not quite finished. I’m not sure if this was done intentionally or if we are expected to finish the facial features. I won’t be doing that, so I will have some blank faces in a few of the designs I color.

I’m a bit disappointed with the number of pages of full designs but not at all with the actual illustrations. If they had put the story book pages on the reverse side of every design page, I would have been a much happier colorist. Those pages could have become my waste page allowing me to use all forms of medium on the designs.

I wish publishing companies would print on one side of the page or at the very least, stop printing into the binding area. I’m always frustrated trying to bend my pages inside out and get my medium nibs into the binding. It takes a bit of the fun out of the coloring experience. Because of the variety of issues, I detracted a star from my rating though I think the illustrations themselves are fantastic. I will happily buy more coloring books by this talented designer.

I will provide a detailed description of the physical book below, but here is what I found in a brief overview:

70 pages of Designs and Story Book Illustrations
Printed on both sides of page-by-age
Pages are heavyweight and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Some Designs merge into the binding
Some Designs spread across two pages
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page-by-age
Water-based markers do not bleed through
India ink pens do not bleed throughout
Gel pens do not bleed through but require extra drying time
Coloring pencils work extremely well with this paper

The designs in this book are printed on both sides of heavyweight, non-perforated white paper. The binding is glued rather than sewn. Some designs merge into the binding, some do not, and some spread across two pages. If you remove pages from the book, you will probably lose some portion of the design. Depending on the specific page, you may lose important parts of the overall design. I could get the book to lay fairly flat by pressing really hard to break the spine.

I test my coloring books with a wide variety of coloring medium. I will include this list in the comments section below for anyone interested. These are the results of my tests:

Alcohol-based markers bleed through easily. However, that is the only wet medium I tested that did bleed through. Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens did not bleed through and did not leave shadows on the back of the page. Larger nib gel pens (such as Fiskars, Sakura, etc.) did require additional drying time. Coloring pencils worked extremely well with this paper. The soft lead pencils went on very easily and very thick. They layered and blended well. The hard lead pencils make decisive marks of good color and did not dent the back of the page.

When I first was able to pre-order Wonders of Creation there was no explanation of what the coloring book would contain. As the publisher was Zondervan, I assumed that it would be Christian or religious-based artwork. As it turns out, except for a reference to God on the introduction page and a cite for non-existent Bible verses on the copyright page, the book has no religious connotations at all.

At the time I am writing this review, the product description refers to full text NIV language and 50 pages of designs. I am left wondering if somehow the extra 41 pages of designs replaced the Bible verses. Whatever the situation, there are no Bible verses in my copy of the book (as you can see once my silent page-by-page flip-through video posts.) The back of the actual book refers to over 90 pages of designs (I count 91), so I think that the error is in the product description itself.

There are 91 full pages of hand-drawn designs by two very talented ladies: Cindy Wilde and Pimlada Phuapradit. There are additional coloring opportunities on the introductory and title pages. The designs are beautiful and are printed very well. While the book did not meet my expectations it is definitely one that I will enjoy coloring in for other reasons. I don’t know which artist is responsible for which design; however, I can say that I like all of the designs and that they mesh well together in the book.

There are a wide range of designs, including: animals in landscape scenes, doodle animals of many types, trees and flowers, birds, fish and other sea creatures, and some lovely interpretative mandalas. Some of the animals et al include squirrels, deer, reptiles, jellyfish, crab, dragonflies, butterflies, hares, hedgehogs, elephans and much more.

I will provide detail below on the physical book but here is an overview of what I found in it:

91 pages of Hand-drawn Designs mostly animals
Printed on both sides of the page
Pages are not perforated
Designs do merge into the binding area
Designs do spread across two pages
Glue Binding
Alcohol-based markers seep through the page
Water-based markers were a mixed lot most showed color shadows on back of the page
India ink pens left a shadow on back of the page
Gel pens did not leave a shadow but required extra drying time
Coloring pencils work very well with this paper

The designs in this book are printed on both sides of heavyweight white non-perforated paper. The cover of the book is quite lovely with very colorful flowers and has matte deep fuchsia pink foil on accenting touches.

The binding of the book is glued. A number of designs do merge into the binding. There are fifteen design that spread across two pages. The alignment of my two-page spreads is mixed. Some are well done and others are off considerably. Because of the way the designs are printed in this book, I cannot recommend removing pages from the book. You will lose parts of the designs and in some cases, the loss would be important. I was able to get the book to lay open in a fairly flat manner for coloring.

I test my coloring book with various coloring mediums and a variety of tests. I will provide the list of mediums I tested in the comments section below. Here are the results of my tests:

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page easily. Water-based markers were a mixed results. My Tombows water-based markers did well with the brush end with no bleed-through or shadows; however, using the fine point marker tip caused deep color shadows. If you use the brush end sparingly, it might not bleed through you should check your markers and how you use them before trying them on a design to see if you get the same result.

All other water-based markers and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. Gel pens did not leave shadows but did need extra drying time. Coloring pencils worked very well with this paper. The soft lead pencils went on thick and layered, blended, and burnished excellently. The hard lead pencils had deep color and did not leave dents on the back of the page.

I will provide a comparison between this book (the US version) and the UK coloring book at the end of this review. The pictures and video in this review are only of the US version unless otherwise noted for comparison purposes. I’ve included one photo with both books to show the different colors of the page. The UK book is at the bottom and the US book is at the top of the photo.

This is a beautiful coloring book which presents Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in a wonderful way embracing both the oldest illustrations (apart from this Lewis Carol did himself for a very limited audience) and new and modern images which are all married together to create a new way of looking at an old favorite. The original illustrations from the MacMillan version of the book by Sir John Tenniel are used, along with quotes from the book. While most of the designs involve the characters, there are a number of wallpaper type designs. In this book, I actually enjoy those as much as they have chosen to use characters in a fresh and fun way to create these repetitive designs.

The coloring book is well made with flaps on the front and back of the attached cover with coloring opportunities on all sides. The paper of the cover is slick, so you might have to choose medium carefully for those areas. The cover has a partially colorized version of Alice but the rest of the cover is done in black and red on slightly off-white with touches of beautiful gold foil.

The designs are printed on both sides of the heavyweight off-white non-perforated paper with many designs spanning across two pages. The binding is sewn rather than glued which means you can remove multiple pages by snipping through a few threads. Designs do merge into the binding area and there are two-page spreads in the book. In my book, the pages line extremely well, so I will not be removing pages from the book. I find that lining the two page designs up after removing them becomes very difficult. I can easily get the book to lay fairly flat for coloring purposes.

I test my coloring books with a wide variety of mediums which I will list in the comments section of this review. I went back and performed the exact same tests on both the US and UK versions to be able to give a proper comparison.

All of my alcohol-based markers bled through this paper. My water-based markers were mixed with fine tips leaving color shadows but ultra-fine not bleeding through. India ink pens did not bleed through either. Gel pens did not bleed through but bigger nib pens did require extra drying time. My coloring pencils worked excellently with this paper. The soft core went on thick with great coverage. They blended, layered, and burnished well. The hard lead pencils made good precise lines and did not dent through to the back of the page.

Much as I enjoy using alcohol-based markers, I won’t be using them in this book. I will use a mix of water-based markers, gel pens and coloring pencils so that I can color every page of the book. If you want to use alcohol-based markers, they look great on the page but you will be sacrificing the backside of page you are working on.

Comparison between US and UK version of this coloring book:

The books weight essentially the same, with the UK version weighing 1.11 pounds and the US version weighing 1.10 pounds. They are the same size at 11 x 8 15/16 x 3.8 inches. The images are all the same, though there are minimal cropping differences between the two but nothing that makes a huge difference.

The one real item of note that is different between the two is that the paper the UK copy is printed on is a fairly bright white. The US version is printed on an off-white shade. The inside of the cover of the UK version has black line printing on white and the US is white on an almost cream color. Also, the copyright page is different, of course.

Coloring medium worked as well for both versions of the coloring book.

All in all, unless the color of the paper makes a big difference to you, I don’t see any reason to prefer one book over the other. I would be happy with either book. I purchased the UK version long before there was a pre-order of the US version available otherwise, I probably would have waited to see the quality of and been extremely happy with the US version.

Folk art and hand-drawn easily describes two of the things I look for most in coloring books. I love the whimsical and endearing style of folk art and any design which is hand-drawn gives me an assurance that the work is original and that I will (hopefully) see the vision that the artist set out to present. This coloring book has both of these criteria and is a book that I will really enjoy coloring.

The designs are in two sizes. There are 22 which are full page designs and then there are 20 which have been sized down to note/greeting card size. The artist gives permission to allow you to make as many copies of the smaller size as you wish. That way you can put the design on heavier card stock and create actual cards.

I will provide details about what I found in the physical book below. Here is a quick overview:

42 Designs 22 full size and 20 smaller copies
Designs are printed on one side of page
Waste sheet is included behind each design for seeping ink
Glue Bound
Designs do not merge into the binding
Alcohol and water based markers leak through this paper
Gel pens and India ink pens make distinct shadows of color on the back of the page-by-page
Coloring pencils work well with this paper

The designs are printed on one side of typical CreateSpace paper. That is to say, thin, white and non-perforated. It is an okay paper for most coloring but not a quality grade. It’s something that I have come to accept with CreateSpace published books as it is the vehicle by which artists can self-publish their designs.

The binding is glued so you will have to cut pages out if you want to remove them. The designs do not merge into the binding, so you will not lose portions of the designs if you remove them from the book. The artist has included a waste page behind each of the design pages so you won’t have ink seeping through. If you use alcohol-based markers, I still suggest heavier weight paper as I have had these types of marks bleed through two pages of regular weight paper. You can get the book to lay flat by breaking the spine somewhat.

I test my books with various coloring medium and methods of tests. I’ll include the types of medium I used in testing in the comments section below. Here are the results of my tests:

All markers, both alcohol and water based bleed through this paper. India ink and gel pens leave distinct shadows of color on the backside of the page. Coloring pencils work well with the soft lead blending nicely. The hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

I will use and I highly recommend that you use a heavier weight blotter page. I like the idea of the extra page but as it is the same thin CreateSpace paper, it can only go so far. You should test your choice of medium to see if it is sufficient for your needs.

I was provided a free copy of this coloring book for test and review purposes.

This is a wonderful collaborative work by a huge number of artists. I know the work of several of the artists in the coloring book (e.g., Jason Hamilton and Laura Iancu) but there are so many more whose work I have never seen. At the back of the large book is a listing and small biography of each of the contributing artists. Best news of all there are to be more of these Treasury books in the future.

I think this is a fantastic way to get colorists more familiar with the wide variety of artists and artistic styles that are becoming available. I know that I plan to purchase several coloring books based on what I have seen and begun to color. The styles are so varied and unusual, I took my time in filming my silent video, so you can see each page (though it made for a very long video compared to most that I film.)

One of the projects in this book is a beautiful flower child woman from Jason Hamilton’s Beautiful Women coloring book. I’ll include a photo of my finished study of that picture below. As I finish more designs, I will add more photos. I’m just thrilled with the chance to color so many styles and at a wonderful price as well. It’s amazing that these artists and the publisher are making this book available at their cost. Just simply one of the best bargains out there.

I will provide more detail about what I found in the physical book below, but for a quick overview, this is what I discovered:

110 Varied Designs (2 each from 55 different artists)
Designs are printed on one side of page
Paper is thin, white and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding
Alcohol and water based markers bleed through the page
India ink and gel pens leave shadows of color on back of page
Coloring pencils work well with the paper but also leave shadows on the back of the page

The large (and heavy!) book is filled with 110 designs which are printed on one side only of thin, white, non-perforated paper. The paper is at least the quality of that used by CreateSpace. The binding is glued. The designs do not merge into the binding. In fact, there is an artist attribution on the bound side of each page. That lets you know who is responsible for what artwork and additionally, gives you plenty of space to cut out any page you wish to remove from the book.

I can get the book to lay fairly flat by breaking the spine of the book; however, it is so thick that even laying flat may be too high for me to color comfortably. I will most likely be cutting pages out before I color them.

I test all of my coloring books with a variety of tests and coloring medium. I will list that information at the end of this review for anyone interested. Here is the results of my tests:

All markers (brands, nibs, etc.) alcohol or water-based bleed through this paper. India ink pens and gel pens leave distinct shadows of color on the back of the page. Coloring pencils work well but also leave shadows on the back of the page. The soft lead pencils go on really thick and creamy and layer and blend beautifully. The hard lead pencils have good color but do leave dents at the back of the page.

As I mentioned above, my plan is to remove pages from the book before I color. If you decide to keep the pages together, I highly recommend a blotter page of card stock or very heavy weight paper to keep ink and/or marring dents from ruining the pages below the one you are working on.

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