Daily Archives: March 6, 2016

22 Fairy Tale Designs along with stories designs printed on one side of page

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Iiiireader

Fairy Tales: A Coloring Book for Adults, A We Time Series Level 4

By: Jillian Venters

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a book of 22 coloring designs that pertain to as many Fairy Tales. Each of the designs is focused on what of the main characters and then within that drawing, there is a collage of other characters and action from within the story. It is an interesting concept and has unusual and striking takes on the illustration of the familiar stories. I will list the fairy tales included in this coloring book at the end of this review for anyone who is interested.

I will provide details about the coloring book in depth below, but here is a quick overview:

22 Fairy Tale Designs Printed on one side of perforated page
Bold and striking print with heavier black lines than usual
Glue binding
Designs do not merge past the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens leave shadows of color on back of page
Coloring pencils work well with paper

The coloring book is one that is at the higher end of the range as far as cost. There are 22 pages of designs with the fairy tale printed on the backside of the design. The designs stop well before the perforations, so removing a page should not be a problem even though the binding is glued. I could easily get this book to lay flat for coloring purposes.

I test my coloring books when I first get them. I use a variety of coloring medium and I check each one for use. When I test, I try three applications of markers so I can see what happens in case I want to blend with them so my results may be somewhat different from your experience. In the comments section below, I will list the coloring medium I used on this book. Here are the results of my tests:

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page immediately. Water-based markers, India ink and gel pens leave a shadow of color on the back side of the page. Gel pens take longer than usual to dry. Coloring pencils work well and behave as expected for both brand and type. I was able to blend easily using soft lead pencils.

Here is the list of fairy tales included in the coloring book: Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard, The Boy Who Drew Cats, Buried Moon, Cinderella, Fairer-Than-a-Fairy, The Little Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood, Princess and the Pea, Puss in Boots, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Baba Yaga’s Cat, The Frog Prince, Goose Girl, Hansel and Gretel, Rumplestiltskin, Six Swan Princes, The Snow Queen, Snow-White and Rose-Red, The Sun’s Child, and Thumbelina.

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32 Original and Fantastic Animal Designs printed on one side of page

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Iiiireader

Hello Angel Majestic Animals Coloring Collection

By: Angelea Van Dam

Rating: 5 of 5

When I first saw the three coloring books by New Zealand artist Angelea Van Dam, I had not seen her artwork. I was able to find her website and was amazed by her beautiful illustrations and her artwork. Add to that, these books are published by Design Originals and I know the quality of their books, so it made the decision to purchase them an easy one.

There are 32 animal designs in this coloring book. I’m always look for new animals designs as so many now seem to be licensed on-line with the same-old look. With this book, the designs are all fresh, imaginative and simply great-looking. For my first project, I did the panda with my ultra-fine Sharpies.

I will provide more detail about what I found in the coloring book below if you are interested but here is an overview of the book:

32 pages of original animal designs in a doodle style
Designs are printed on one side of medium weight perforated paper
Designs stop before the perforations
Back of page has a quote and an area for journaling
Glue Binding
alcohol and water-based markers and India ink pens bleed through page
Gel pens do not bleed through
coloring pencils work well

As with other Design Original books, this book includes many examples of colored artwork. It also includes tips from this artist. I found her tips to be of great use. I especially liked her idea of making a color chart to test colors and keep track of them. I also appreciated her suggestion that you continue on with a project that you aren’t happy with. It has encouraged me to go back and pull some out that I had packed away unfinished.

The designs in this book are printed on one side of the perforated medium weight page. On the backside of each page is an encouraging quote along with several lines on which you can journal or simply note information about your project.

The binding is glued but you will want to remove pages at the perforations. The designs stop before the perforations so you will not lose any portion of the design if you remove it from the book. I was easily able to get the book to lay flat for coloring.

I will list the coloring medium I used to test this book in the comments area of the review. Here are what my various tests discovered:

Alcohol and water-based markers as well as India ink pens bleed through the paper. Gel pens do not but need a little extra drying time. Coloring pencils work well and as expected for brand and type. I was able to easily blend my soft lead pencils. My hard lead pencils left dents on the back of the page.

I recommend using a blotter page below the page you are working on to keep ink or dents from marring the design on the next page. You can also simply remove the page from the book before you color your project.

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55 Illustrations by John Tenniel from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass printed one side of page

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Iiiireader

Classic Coloring: Alice in Wonderland (Adult Coloring Book): 55 Removable Coloring Plates

By: Abrams Noterie

Rating: 5 of 5

I am a big fan of Alice in Wonderland designs and was really pleased to purchase this book. It has black and white illustrations by John Tenniel from both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. The size of the book is great, too, as it is easily slipped in my shoulder bag for taking on-the-go.

I will go into more details below if you are interested in knowing more, but as an overview, this is what I found in this coloring book:

55 designs printed on one side of the page
pages are heavyweight card stock
smaller format book
heavyweight cardboard back cover
book is glue bound in a way that allows you to easily remove pages in whole
alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
water-based markers, Pitt India ink pens, and gel pens do not bleed through
coloring pencils work fantastic on the page

The designs in this coloring book are fun and easy to color. Alice is an iconic story book character that is well-loved by many. For my first project, I choose to go with traditional colors but I will venture further into my own color palette as I progress through the book. I found it rather like adding color to old black and white photos and chose to use markers rather than pencils at first.

The designs in the book are printed on one side of the heavyweight card stock. The coloring book is smaller than usual at 8 x 6 x .5 inches. The back of the book is a heavyweight cardboard that gives me a good coloring surface when coloring while out and about. Most, but not all, of the pages give text about the image and refer to the book from which it was taken.

The binding is glued in the fashion of notepads. You can easily remove an entire page by slowly pulling it from the top to the bottom. The page comes off whole so you do not lose any portion of the design.

I test all of my coloring books with my wide variety of coloring mediums. I will list those in the comments section below for anyone who is interested. Here are my test results for this book:

Alcohol-based markers bled through the page but did not make marks on my blotter page below. Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gels pens did not bleed through and worked very well with the paper. Coloring pencils of all brands worked extremely well with the soft lead pencils blending easily and hard lead pencils putting down good color without leaving dents in the page. Since I am inclined to use alcohol-based markers with these designs, I cut down a piece of chip board to keep with this book. I’ll place it below the page I am working on to keep ink from possibly seeping to the design below.

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63 Vintage and Fun Old-Time Designs with Colored Backgrounds/Frames printed on one side of page

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Iiiireader

Beautiful Vintage: Creative Coloring for Grown-Ups

By: Richard Merritt

Rating: 5 of 5

I own a couple of coloring books by Richard Merritt so I was not surprised to see that portions of the backgrounds and/or frames were pre-colored in these 63 designs. The designs have a vintage and/or old-fashioned vibe to them that I really like.

The cover art is not actually in the book but there is a version of a birdcage which I have enjoyed coloring already and which I will post along with my other photos. There is only one designs (the first one of an art-nouveau style woman) which has colors pre-done on the actual design. I generally don’t mind filled in backgrounds but don’t like when the designs are partially worked but as it is just one, I’m okay with it.

I will provide more details about the coloring book below if you are interested but otherwise, here is a brief overview of what I found:

63 designs printed with colorful backgrounds and/or frames
Designs are printed on one side of heavyweight perforated paper
Designs stop before the perforations
Glue Binding with perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through
Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens do not bleed through
Coloring pencils work great with the paper

The main artist attribution is for Richard Merritt. There are additional attributions for the cover (not Mr. Merritt) and what is interesting is that there is an attribution for Additional Illustrations given to Shutterstock.com. This usually means that illustrations are licensed. I don’t know if there are whole designs which are licensed or portions of designs (e.g., frames?) but I wanted to mention it in case that makes a difference for anyone.

I found the designs to be an interesting mix of styles. Some are almost cartoonish in nature (which I found fun to color) while others are detailed botanical studies. There are also a number of pattern style designs which do not necessarily strike me as vintage but which will be fun to color. Most of the designs are open and easy to color but there are a few which are more detailed and have smaller spots which may prove challenging for some.

The designs in the book are printed on one side of perforated heavyweight paper. The background and or framing areas of the designs are already colored. The designs stop well before the perforations. The binding is glued but if you wish to remove a page, I suggest doing so at the perforations rather than cutting a page out. I was easily able to get the book to lay flat while coloring.

I’m really pleased to see this publisher doing single-sided, perforated pages. Most of my other books by Barron’s do not have both of these features and I hope that they will continue this trend in the future.

I test my coloring books with each type of coloring medium I currently use. I will list those I used in testing this book in the comments section of the review if you are interested. Here are the results of my tests:

Alcohol-based markers bleed through immediately. Water-based markers, Pitt India ink artist pens and gel pens do not bleed through or leave shadows. Sakura and Fiskars gel pens took a longer drying time than the other gel pens I tested. Coloring pencils work exceptionally well with this paper. The soft lead go on thick and blend easily. The hard lead worked as expected and did not leave dents on the backside of the page.

For my first two projects, I used two different mediums. For the birdcage, I used brush end of my water-based Tombows and did not need a blotter page below. For the hot air balloon, I used a variety of alcohol-based markers and absolutely needed a blotter page to keep ink from seeping down to the next designs.