Daily Archives: January 21, 2016

24 Owl Designs Mostly simple and easy to color printed on one side of page

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Iiiireader

Mindful Owls: Adult Coloring for Relaxation

By: J. Benson

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a smaller format coloring book of 24 owl designs. Most of these designs have appeared in other books that I own. I surmise from this that the designs are available for licensing via the Internet. I’m not sure if this book has been put together by the artists or if it is another curated book of designs. There are a couple of intricate and more detailed designs in the book but for the most part, the design are more on the simplistic side. They are not designs that appeal to me due to lack of challenge but there are members of my family and friends who will enjoy coloring these. They work really well for individuals who have vision or fine motor skill issues.

The blurb for this book mentions 50 pages to color. The designs make up 24 of those pages, there are an additional couple of pages with more intricate designs on the title page, etc. Finally, the back of each design page has an imprint of flowers and the title which can be colored. I consider those to be waste pages due to the leak through issues I discuss below.

All of the designs stop well before the binding. The designs are printed on one side of thin white non-perforated paper that is typical for books published by CreateSpace. The binding is glued but there is plenty of room for you to cut a page out if you choose to do so.

All of my markers bleed through and my gel pens either bleed through or leave a distinct shadow on the back of the page. My coloring pencils work well with the paper. I will use a piece of chipboard or heavy paper behind the page I am working on so I don’t ruin the following page with leaking ink. I will include, in the comments section of this review, a list of the coloring medium that I used to test this book.

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24 Beautiful Dog Designs in two sizes – printed on one side of paper

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Iiiireader

Lovely Dogs Coloring Book for Adults

By: Happy Coloring

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a lovely set of dog designs by Amanda Neel. I already own her two previous books for specific animal types Lovely Cats and Beautiful Horses and have been enjoying coloring in that book. This book of various dog breeds is just as beautiful and, as with the horse book, has an added advantage of having the designs in the standard size as well as a smaller 5 x 7 inches as well. That way, you can use the smaller design to test colors or simply to have another copy of the design in a smaller format to color or to share. I like the smaller designs for use with cards. I can cut them out, color them, and add them to the front of my home-made card.

The dogs are set in various scenes so you get a real picture of where the dog may be rather than just a head shot or full body of the animal. These are realistic drawings of dogs rather than the more common doodle style artwork. The breed types are printed on the smaller designs but not on the full page version, which is nice so you don’t have to deal with print obscuring part of the design. I’ll list those breeds at the end of this review for anyone interested. I like Ms. Neel’s drawing style. She adds a really nice level of detail.

The designs are printed on thin white non-perforated paper which is typical of CreateSpace publications. The binding of this book is glued rather than sewn or stapled. There is plenty of room to cut the page out if you wish though the space is a little tight on the smaller size designs and you will need to be careful when cutting those out. All designs stop well before the margin. The artist has placed a framing line around each design which helps me tremendously as a colorist. It gives me a natural stopping point which saves me time and ink.

Coloring pencils work well on this paper and behave as expected for their lead type (soft or hard.) The hard lead can leave indents on the back of the page if you are a tad heavy handed as I am. Both alcohol and water based markers bleed through. My gel pens all leave a color shadow on the back of the page. As these designs are printed on only one side of the paper, these issues are not a problem I am now using a piece of chipboard under my work to keep ink from leaking through to ruin the design below. You can use heavyweight paper or card stock but be sure to check to see how many layers you need to keep it from leaking through. The reason I like chipboard is it can be reused over and over again and is available at office supply stores or on-line. I’ll include, in the comments section of this review, a list of the coloring medium I used to test this book.

The breeds listed are as follows: German Shepherd, Afghan Hound, American Cocker Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier, Gordon Setter (puppy), Shetland Sheepdog, Australian Shepherd, Bernese Mountain Dog, Pembroke Corgi, Beagle, Poodle, German Shepherd (second design), Dalmatian, Labrador, West Highland White Terrier, Gordon Setter (adult), Russel Terrier, Doberman, Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute (second design), Papillon, and Chihuahua.

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Pretty and Interesting Coloring Designs from around the world printed on both sides of non-perforated paper

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Iiiireader

Motif Magic: Amazing Designs from Around the World to Color (Color Magic)

By: ArsEdition

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my second book in Barron’s Magic coloring book line, so I was not surprised to see that the designs are printed on both sides of the page. The designs are a mix of cultural based images that can be found throughout the world. The only truly strange one for me was the two page of designs representing England. I think that the publisher could have found designs that were better done and more in line with what we think of when we think of England than what they ended up with.

Apart from those two pages, I really liked the artwork in this book. There are a number of designs that include small and intricate detail that might be a little difficult for anyone with vision or fine motor issues. A number of the designs are white images imposed on black backgrounds.

The designs are printed on one side of a good weight non-perforated paper. The designs stop well before the margin and are not spread across two pages. The binding is sewn rather than glued, so removing a few pages at a time can be done with a few snips of thread. The designs all have frames around them which I appreciate as it gives a finished look to my projects.

For a book with designs on both sides, this paper worked really well with a variety of my coloring mediums. All alcohol-based markers bled through the paper immediately. All ultra-fine and brush end water-based markers worked great and did not bleed through (essentially my Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, and the brush end of my Tom Bows.) The fine tip of my Pentel and Tom Bows bled through in spots. All of my gel pens (all sizes and brands) and coloring pencils worked well with the paper though my gel pens needed extra drying time.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. 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:

Markers: 1) alcohol-based Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine) and 2) water-based Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, and Pentel markers

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes 0.28/0.38/0.5/0.7/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castel Polychromos

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