Daily Archives: November 9, 2015

This is a well made and illustrated adult coloring book filled with 31 designs of dragons of all types: mountain dragons, leafy dragons, fire-breathing dragons, Celtic dragons, crystal dragons, forest dragons, and even a “dragon” fly, too. There is a mermaid, a knight, a castle and more in these designs by Jane Sullivan.

Some of the earlier Peter Pauper coloring books were by a variety of artists but this book focuses on only Ms. Sullivan’s work a change in focus that I am really enjoying. My husband and I had a bit of a tug-of-war over this book when it arrived (I won) but he has ordered a copy for himself as he doesn’t want to share. I think is it an excellent gender-neutral book that will appeal to men and women alike.

A few of the designs have intricate components but they don’t look that difficult to color provided you have ultra-fine point pens/markers/pencils and a steady hand. I don’t know that crayons would work that well on those particular designs. Other designs are more open and free-flowing and a colorist should be able to use a variety of coloring tools and points with those designs.

The pages are a heavyweight of bright white paper that is micro perforated. The designs are printed on one side of the page only and stop well before or at the perforated point. The designs do not merge into the binding area. The paper is also acid-free which means that it will not turn colors with age and all the work you put into coloring the designs should be safe. Additionally, the binding can be pushed into lying flat to give you access to make coloring in this book if you prefer that over taking pages out.

The only markers that bleeds through on this paper are my Sharpies and Copics so it is probably safe to assume that all alcohol-based markers will have the same problem. None of my gel pens or water-based ultra fine markers bleed through. If you are using alcohol based markers or just for general safety, you can put an extra page of heavyweight paper under the page you are working on just in case some color leaches through. Be sure to check your particular markers/pens to see if there is any leaking for that brand.

Peter Pauper Press coloring books are very well made for me as a colorist. The paper is a good quality, the designs are great, and the publisher has printed the book one-sided and perforated. These hit all my points and I am really pleased with their books.