Daily Archives: March 15, 2016

31 Imaginative

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Iiiireader

Creative Haven Magical Landscapes Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Miryam Adatto

Rating: 5 of 5

I own a number of coloring books by Miryam Adatto and each one has been a source of great fun to color. Magical Landscapes is the newest in her great line-up of books. In this book, Ms. Adatto takes us on a scenic tour of her fantasy land by way of wild and bold landscapes. There are touring scenes, streams, deserts, trees, huge suns with streams of light pouring from them, and flowers abound everywhere.

For me, coloring in one of Ms. Adatto’s coloring books is an adventure in imagination. I spend time studying the lines and swirls, looking for what the design says to me. Some of the elements are fairly clear cut but others are left to my imagination. I find that unique, very fun and challenging.

For my first four projects, I’ve started with a variety of alcohol-based markers. I’ve recently started adding layers of coloring pencils on top of my designs (which I did with the tree project in this book.) I had such fun trying to decide what colors to use. For instance, seeing the sun and rain in one design made me think of rainbows so that is how I colored it with lots of rainbow colors streaming down from the sun.

I will provide detail about the physical attributes of the coloring book below but here is a quick overview of what I found:

31 Imaginative Magical landscape designs
Designs are printed on one side of perforated paper
Glue Binding
Designs stop before the binding
Book is easy to lay flat
Alcohol and water based markers bleed through the paper
Gel pens and India ink pens either bleed through or leave shadows of color on the back of the page
Coloring Pencils work very well with this paper

The book is well made. I appreciate that this is the case with all current Creative Haven books (some of their earlier runs had weird color paper but that is, thankfully, a thing of the past.) The designs are printed on one side of their medium-heavyweight paper. The designs all stop well before the binding. The pages are perforated for easy removal from the book. The binding is glued but I suggest you remove pages at the perforations rather than cut them out. I was able to get the book to lay flat by pressing hard and slightly breaking the spine.

I test all of my coloring books with a variety of coloring medium (which I will list at the end of this review.) Here are the results of my tests on this book:

All of my markers (alcohol and water-based) bleed through this paper. My gel pens and my India Ink artist pens either bled through the paper or, at best, left shadows of distinct color on the backside of the page. My coloring pencils worked on and as expected for their lead type and for the standard Creative Haven paper that is used in this book.

I used a blotter page under each of the pages I have colored so far to keep ink from seeping through to the next design. You can use heavyweight paper or card stock or you can simply remove the page from the book which will keep the rest of the book safe from damage.

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, and Staedler triplus fineliners

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

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

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D’Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos

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Beautifully illustrated Architectural Coloring book of 54 designs printed on both sides of the heavyweight page

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Iiiireader

Fantastic Structures: A Coloring Book of Amazing Buildings Real and Imagined

By: Steve McDonald

Rating: 5 of 5

I purchased Steve McDonald’s first coloring book, Fantastic Cities last year and that hooked me on coloring architectural designs. I’ve look for coloring books of the same quality but have not found one until Mr. McDonald’s Fantastic Structures appeared. The coloring book is filled with 54 intricate and detailed architectural illustrations that will be great fun to color.

The designs range from real to imagined. In some cases, Mr. McDonald has an illustration of a real building and then he does a riff on it with a mandala style illustration pinpointing some of the architectural details that make the building instantly recognizable. He has even included a run-way at LAX.

As with Fantastic Cities, Mr. McDonald takes us on a trip around the world to see some outstanding examples of unusual and/or iconic buildings. I will include a photo that has the long list of the buildings, etc. which are including in the book.

For my first projects in this book, I decided to use Tombow water-based markers (as they did not bleed through the paper see coloring mediums below.) I loved making the terminal at LAX into a color wheel. I’ve spent too much of life waiting for planes at LAX and I could only wish to be able to look out of the drab surroundings and see a beautiful rainbow of airplanes waiting to take me on an adventure.

I will provide details of the physical attributes of the book below but here is a quick overview of what I found:

54 Detailed and Intricate Architectural Designs
Printed on both sides of heavyweight, non-perforated pages
Sewn Binding
Designs do not merge into binding area
Book can be opened to a flat position
Alcohol-based markers bleed through page
Water-based markers, gel pens, and India ink artist pens do not bleed through or leave color shadows on back on page
Coloring pencils work fantastic with this paper

The coloring book is very well made. The designs are printed on both sides of the heavyweight, non-perforated white paper. The designs do not merge into the binding area and, in fact, there is a small print listing identifying the building on the bound edge of the page. The binding is sewn with a bright color thread. You can snip those threads and remove a few page at a time in whole if you wish to remove pages from the book. That the thread is bright colored makes it easier than ever to snip them. I could press hard on the spine area and get the book to lay flat for coloring.

I test all of my coloring books with a wide range of coloring medium. I will list, at the end of this review, those that I used for testing this book. Here is what my tests showed:

Alcohol-based markers easily bleed through the page. Water-based markers of all types and tips and India ink pens did not bleed through or leave shadows at the back of the page. Gels pens did not bleed through but too more drying time that usual. Coloring pencils worked fantastic with the paper. The soft lead went on thick and full and blended well. The hard lead pencils make precise lines and good color and did not dent through the back of the page.

If you decide to use alcohol-based markers or another medium that might bleed through, you will lose the design on the back of the page. I plan to use my water-based markers, India ink pens, gel pens, and especially, my colored pencils with this book. That will provide a wide range of medium for me and I will be able to color on both sides of the page.

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:

Alcohol-based markers Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine)

Waater-based markers Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, and Staedler triplus fineliners

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

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

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D’Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos

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33 Nautical Steampunk Designs printed on one side of thin white paper

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Iiiireader

Steampunk Ocean: A Nautical Adult Coloring Book Device

By: Blue Star Coloring

Rating: 5 of 5

Steampunk Ocean is as close to a graphic novel as I have seen in a coloring book. It tells (without words) the story of an engineer whose ship sinks and he seems to find a house under the ocean filled with mechanical parts and information. He uses this information to create many fantastical creations and is able to eventually create a dive suit so he can explore the ocean floor. He finds an injured mermaid and octopus and is able to create mechanical parts to replace their injured limbs/tail. The story ends with a happy note.

In addition to the cute visual story, the designs are quite different and fun to color. They have a graceful sway to them that I don’t usually find in steampunk. I think it makes a nice change-up from the rigid pipes and mechanics that I usually find and enjoy in this genre of coloring books.

For my first project in this coloring book, I went out of order in the story to color the mechanical mermaid. I loved the fluid grace of the ocean and her upper torso compared to the rigid look of her tail and the other mechanical elements of the design. I did the design using Copic alcohol-based markers with soft lead colored pencils for shading as a top layer.

I will provide more detail on the book below, but here is a quick overview of what I found:

33 Nautical Steampunk designs
Printed on one side of thin white non-perforated paper
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the paper
Gel pens and India ink Pitt artist pens leave distinct color shadows on back of page
Coloring pencils work well with the paper

The designs are printed on one side of thin, white, non-perforated paper. It is thin enough that you can see shadows of the design on the next page through the page you are working on. I try to be pragmatic about this type of paper when I get to see a new artists work. If it were done on better grade paper that was perforated, it would be a huge improvement.

I’ve recently noticed that this publisher (Blue Star) is coming out with some of their existing coloring books on a better grade of paper. I hope they will make that their default for future publications even though the price of the book is about 50% higher.

The binding is glued rather than sewn so you will have to cut pages out to remove them from the book. None of the designs merge into the binding area, so if you cut the pages out, you will not lose any portion of the design. I was able to open and press down hard to get the book to lay flat for coloring.

I test my coloring books with various coloring medium and I will note those used in tests on this book in the comments section below. Here is what I found in my tests:

All markers whether alcohol-based or water-based, brush, fine, or ultra-fine points bled through this paper. My gel pens and India ink artist pens all left easily discernible color shadows on the back of the page. Coloring pencils worked well and I was able to blend the soft lead pencils fairly easily. The hard lead pencils left distinct dents on the back of the page.

Because of the grade of paper, I will always use a heavyweight blotter page beneath the page I am working on. It will keep the rest of the book in good condition by keeping stray ink and dents from marring the ensuing pages.

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