Daily Archives: December 12, 2015

This review is for the US version of this book.

Animal Kingdom: Color Me Draw Me is the stunning US hardbound deluxe version of the Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom that has been a favorite of mine for some time. So much so, I purchased a second copy of the paperback version so I could color on both sides of the page. With this newly released deluxe version that is no longer an issue it is printed on one side only of a much nicer grade paper. Almost all of the two-page spread designs have been turned into two page fold-out designs, so the back of the page is still blank. There are also five separate designs that are printed on loose pages and are in an insert at the back of the book. One of the images is new and is a compilation of other designs in the book.

Before I get into the review, I want to talk about the differences between the US and the UK version of this book. Usually, there is a noticeable difference between publishing houses but, thankfully, in this situation, that is not the case at all. I weighed both books and they both weigh exactly the same 3.05 pounds. I went through the books, page by page, same images, same binding, same fold-outs, etc. My videos will show only the images of the US book on the US review and only the UK book on the UK review. The only differences I found were cosmetic, i.e., wording regarding publishing and the subtitles were slightly different. It turns out to be just as well for our house because my husband wanted a copy, too, and had agreed to take the lesser quality and happily, we both get a great coloring book.

All of the designs from the original book are contained in this book but there are three differences (I will have images of those below): 1) a bird image has been reversed (probably because it was on the backside of a page and when switched to the front side it looked better in reverse), 2) a two-page spread of grasshoppers has been changed to only one page, and 3) a two-page spread of birds changed to a only one page. For items 2 and 3, they did not make the images smaller they eliminated one page of the design. Also of note, all of the words that were originally inserted into the designs have been removed. I really like that change as the words sometimes interfered with how I wanted to color the design.

The book is very well made. It is weighty at approximately three pounds. The book has a really nice blue linen-style hardbound cover with gold foil print on the title. The designs are all printed on one side of non-perforated heavyweight paper. The binding is sewn and, should you wish, you can remove the pages from the book by cutting the threads of the binding. Note that you will remove more than one page at a time should you cut those threads. I could have wished the pages would have been perforated but removing threads works, too. The book has a sewn-in gold ribbon bookmark as well as gold ribbon tie-strings to keep it closed. You will notice that the single page designs have a slight bend on the outer edge of the paper. That is due to the fold-out pages being slightly narrower and thus causing the other pages to slightly bend. It is well out of the area of the design, so it doesn’t bother me too much.

All of my markers had issues: Sharpies, Prismacolor, and Copics bled through immediately. My water-based markers (Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, Pentel, and Tombows) all left a shadow of color on the backside of the page. I could see a slight shadow with gel pens and with my darker coloring pencils. My gel pens did not need a longer drying period. If I had a slight quibble about this book, it would be that I wish the paper was a slightly better grade for the price. This isn’t a huge issue for me as the backside of the page is blank and I can use a piece of card stock or chipboard under the page I am working on to keep ink from leaking further into the book.

This is the way that a deluxe version of a book should be published. At more than twice the price of the paperback version, I truly feel I more than got my money’s worth. I sincerely hope that there will be a deluxe version of Tropical World coming out soon, too, and I will definitely purchase that one, too. Other publishers and artists should take note of how well this book was done and learn from it.