Daily Archives: December 20, 2015

This book has 31 lovely hand-drawn flower and plant designs that are quite abstract in look an feel. I have a particular affinity for hand-drawn designs as I feel a bit more connected to the artist when I am coloring them. There is an organic and flowing feel to these designs which make it fun for me to imagine them in wild colors. If they were drawn true-to-life, I would have to fight my instinct to color them as such, too. As they are imaginatively drawn, it unleashes my imagination, too. While the designs are fairly intricate, the elements are not so small as to limit the coloring medium used or make it difficult to color otherwise.

Some of the earlier Peter Pauper coloring books were by a variety of artists but this book focuses on only Sarajo Frieden’s work a change in focus that I am really enjoying. I have now purchased three books from this publisher that focus on a single artist and have seen that there will be a few more in the coming year.

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 right at the perforations. The designs do not merge into the binding area; however, a number of design elements are cut off on the edges of the designs which leaves open-ended parts to the design. I much prefer either finished elements or a frame around the design which gives a natural end point for the colorist to stop. It is never much fun trying to color of the edge of the page. 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 glued 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 bleed through on this paper are my alcohol-based markers (Sharpie – fine and ultrafine, Copic, Prismacolor.) None of my gel pens or water-based brush, fine, or ultra-fine markers bleed through. Coloring pencils work well and according to their type (hard or soft lead.) 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 (my preference is chipboard as it can be reused over and over again.) Be sure to check your particular markers/pens to see if there is any leaking for that brand.