Monthly Archives: May 2016

Spellbinding Images: A Grayscale Fantasy Coloring Book: Beginner’s Edition (Volume 1)

By: Nikki Burnette

Rating: 5 of 5

When I recently experienced some difficulties in coloring grayscale in a coloring book that was printed quite dark, I was advised by many individuals to check out this book, Spellbinding Images Volume 1 for beginners to learn how to color with dark prints. While I still have issues with the other book, I am absolutely blown away by the designs in this book as well as the how-to tips provided by Artist Nikki Burnette.

Before getting this book, I was only using colored pencils in my grayscale. With Ms. Burnette’s suggestions, I have now been able to successfully use both alcohol and water-based markers in my grayscale projects. I’ve yet to try gel pens but that will be next. I not only used these hints with this book but also with several other grayscale coloring books I have purchased and I have been extremely pleased with my results. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning grayscale as the tutorial is so well-written.

Then there is the book itself. What a great set of designs and how well thought out this book was put together. In addition to the 20 designs being printed on one side of the page, Ms. Burnette has included thumbnail color samples of each design along with two additional thumbnails in which you can test your own colors and mediums. I used these thumbnails to become comfortable with markers and then with pencils over markers as well.

The artist also has a tutorial on her website which has proved invaluable as well. If all of this wasn’t enough, she has graciously provided permission to copy her designs onto other forms of paper if your coloring medium doesn’t work well on the paper in this book. The paper is a medium weight that has what she calls a satin sheen and to me, a glossy feel to it.

As I mentioned, the designs are printed on one side of the page. The page is non-perforated but can open flat very easily for coloring. The designs all stop well before the binding, so you won’t have to twist and tweak the page and book to color in it.
I’m so impressed by this book, I will certainly be purchasing the advanced version of this book (lighter scale coloring with more opportunities for blending, etc.) and will be looking forward to more grayscale books by this artist in the future.

The Majestic Flight of the Owl

By: Shawn Mayo

Rating: 4 of 5

The Magnificent Flight of the Owl is a cute coloring book of 24 owl designs. At the time I am writing this review, for some reason, the title is under The Majestic Flight of the Owl so that is the only way to search and find this book.

The designs are all licensed from Shutterstock and the Mayo family has done a good job of curated these images as most are not familiar to me. The printing is well done, the editors put a framing line around each of the designs for a natural stopping point, and the designs are generally well fit to the page. If you like to color owls and want a good inexpensive with a variety of artists work, this could be a good coloring book for you.

Keep in mind that it has the typical CreateSpace thin, non-perforated paper. While I am not a great fan of the paper and wish that Amazon (who owns CreateSpace) would offer a better grade, I accept it as a way to get inexpensive artwork as well as coloring books from artists from around the world. Because of these two factors, I accept the less than stellar paper when I purchase a coloring book published by CreateSpace.

For my first project in this coloring book, I chose to do a grouping of snow owls. I left these cute little cartoon owls white for the most part and played with color (Sharpies and Bic Mark-its) on their accessories and distinguishing features.

This is what I found in this coloring book:

24 Owl designs (licensed from Shutterstock)
Page for checking colors, etc.
Designs printed on one side of the page
Paper is thin, white, slightly rough, non-perforated.
Glue Bound
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page (I suggest you use a blotter page under your work.)
Gel pens and India ink leave colorful shadows on the back of the page.
Coloring pencils work well good color, layer and blend well. Hard pencils dent the back of the page.

Landmarks of the World: Color Your Way from Barcelona to Beijing

By: Abi Daker

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book of various iconic buildings from around the world. The buildings range from religious to museums, government, castles, and more. The buildings are from a variety of continents, including: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe. The cover of the book (front and back) fold out with coloring opportunities in red line drawings on off-white paper.

I will list the buildings at the end of this review (in the comments section) for anyone interested. The designs are quite intricately drawn and include many small areas to color.

When I first pre-ordered this book, I didn’t realize that it would be architecture in nature. When I think of landmarks, I think of things other than simply buildings. While I am pleased with the book, I was surprised to see only buildings in it. The designs are printed on one side of the page and on the page opposite (the back of the preceding page) is a short blurb about the design what it is, when it was constructed, etc.)

My first project in this book was of of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. My husband recently spent weeks in Beijing for business and brought back beautiful pictures, including one that was very close to the design in the book. I used a variety of colored pencils to finish my project. I took my inspiration for color from his photo, which I will upload as well as my colored design. I will probably stray from realistic colors in my next projects and just have fun re-making these famous buildings in a wide range of colors.

This is what I found in coloring in this book and testing it with various coloring mediums:

35 Landmark Buildings hand-drawn, detailed, intricate
Designs printed on one side of page (though information about designs are printed on the back side.)
Paper is white, slick, heavyweight and non-perforated
Sewn Binding
Designs merge into the binding area (can remove pages without loss of design by snipping binding threads
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper. I suggest using a blotter page below your working page with these. They will bleed through on the writing on the back of the page but the blotter will keep the design below from being ruined.
Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens do not bleed through this paper. Gel pens require additional drying time.
Coloring pencils were mixed. I found that both wax and oil based pencils had good color and layered well but blending was a problem on this smooth paper. The color seems to adhere to the original spot and only light blending happens as the very edges. Hard lead pencils did not dent the back of the page.

Portrait of the MERMAID Coloring Book

By: Sara Burrier

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my second coloring book by Sara Burrier. The first was a book dedicated to fairies while this new book is all about mermaid. Portrait of the Mermaid is a smaller format, pocket sized book. I really appreciate having designs that are sized properly to this size of book. Quite often, pocket coloring books are simplistic designs or full format designs which have been sized down to the point that coloring becomes difficult. Not so with this lovely book of 20 hand-drawn designs.

Each of the mermaids have their own personality. For my first three projects, I chose to use lighter almost pastel tones in a variety of alcohol-based Copic markers with Prismacolor pencils providing slight shading. I like that the mermaids range in age from children to adults. Their hair is drawn so beautifully and their bodies have a relaxed and natural look to them. As with Ms. Burrier’s previous book, I’m having lots of fun coloring her imaginative ladies.

This is what I found while coloring and testing this book:

20 Hand-drawn Mermaid designs in a smaller pocket size format
Designs are printed on one side of the page.
Paper is thin, white, slightly rough non-perforated paper typical of all CreateSpace publications
Glue Bound
Designs merge into the binding area
Book easily opens to a flat position for coloring
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper (I cut down a piece of card stock to use as a blotter page below my working project keeps the design below clean of seeping ink and marring dents
Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. The soft lead pencils blend and layer well; however, the hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

Adult Coloring Book with COLOR BY NUMBER or NOT

By: C R Gilbert

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book that is also a book which can help teach you how to color as well. The concept of the book is quite different. There are two versions of each of the 20 designs. The first is a regular line drawing and the second has color numbers placed in each of the segments of the design. These two pages are followed by an additional page which provides the key to the color by number page as well as two additional spots where you can use your own colors to replace the colors for each number. On this page, you are provided two segments of the design in which you can test out your color choices.

I generally don’t do color by number because I can see the numbers through (as I don’t press really hard with my coloring pencils.) I really like the way this book is put together, though. I can follow the key for colors but do it on the version of the design that doesn’t have the numbers printed. For those who can cover those numbers or for those who simply don’t mind, you can use the pre-printed, numbered design.

There are 20 designs in the book and they range from mandalas to repeating patterns to animals. For my first two projects, I chose a fish design. I used the same brand of coloring pencils for each. I did my version of the design first so I would not be influenced by the color by number design and used a wide variety of colors. I then colored the same designs using the pre-printed number page and following the color key which essentially used two colors (red/blue) and left the white as blank. I had fun doing both styles and happy with both results.

This is what I found in coloring, testing and looking through this coloring book:

20 Designs printed in two formats along with 20 test pages as well for a total of 40 coloring opportunities
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is thin, white, slightly rough, non-perforated paper typical of CreateSpace published books
Book is Glue Bound
Designs do not merge into the binding area and either framed with a line or have all elements finished at the edges
Coloring book can open fairly flat for coloring purposes
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper.
Gel pens and India ink can spot through or leave shadows of color depending on how much I put on the page.
Coloring pencils work well: wax and oil based soft lead lay down color (both with a soft and a firm hand), layer, and blend well; hard lead (like Verithins) dent the back of the page but lay down good color

I received a free sample copy of this coloring book for test and review purposes.

Lost in woods

By: Yu Chen Huang

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my third coloring book by the talented artists at Dream State Studio. This new book is by artist ChO (Yu Chen Huang.) In addition to this coloring book, she was a contributing artist on another of my favorite coloring books Fantastic Animals. The designs in Lost In Woods have a similar look and feel lots of animals with some being very imaginatively drawn while others are most realistically drawn.

The 28 designs in this book are quite detailed and intricately drawn with lots of doodle elements. There are many tiny spots which require either a very sharp pencil or tiny nibs on pens and/or markers.

For my first project that I will upload, I used an undercoat of alcohol-based markers and then finished the design with a variety of soft and hard lead coloring pencils. While my project had some small areas to color, it was not one that I would consider as intricate as many others in the book.

This is what I found out about this book while testing and coloring in it:

28 Imaginative and Intricately drawn Animal designs
Thumbnails of each design are printed at the front of the book
Designs are printed on one side of the thin white non-perforated paper (typical of CreateSpace coloring books)
Some of the designs merge into the binding area and you will lose some portion of the design if you remove it from the book
Glue Bound
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper
Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. The soft lead pencils blend and layer well; however, the hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

As with all Create Space published books, I highly recommend using a piece of card stock or other heavyweight paper under the page you are working on. This will keep dents and seeping ink from ruining the pages below.

Kaleidoco Art 5×7 Adult Coloring Inspirational Affirmation Cards

By: Akacorves

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a set of 10 coloring cards with inspirational messages and beautiful abstract designs. In addition to the messages, there is a suggested thought or goal which correlates to the message. For instance, in the first card I colored, the message is: Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go and the thought/goal is I have the courage to follow my adventurous heart.

The cards are a single sided sheet of 7 x 5 inch cardstock and fit beautifully into a standard frame. I finished my first design, framed it and plan to give it to an individual who is on the brink of a new career. I see these cards as a beautiful gift to color, frame and hang or give away. You can also mount them on pre-made folded cards if you wish. I hope the publisher continues with this size and type of coloring card. I enjoy coloring postcards as well but this larger size is better for gifts and framing.

The designs are quite detailed and do have small areas to color. I choose to use regular fine point and ultra-fine point pens and markers to color the entire card, so for those tiny bits, I used a single color over multiple small areas to give the design a larger splash of color.

I was able to use all forms of coloring medium and they all performed well. The only one to leak through (slightly) were free-flowing alcohol-based markers such as Copics and Prismacolor markers. None of my water-based markers, brush pens, or India ink pens bled through at all. Gel pens did not bleed through and did not require additional drying time. My coloring pencils worked well both soft and hard lead. I was able to achieve deep colors with soft pencils which matched the pigment I achieved with markers. Blending was not as successful as most of the pigment stayed in the original spot and did not blend.

The cards are a heavyweight white card stock with a fairly smooth almost slick finish. I was easily able to color with it on my clipboard with no mars to the surface from the clip. In addition to the sample photos, I will show my first card from the front and back so you can see how little bleed through happened. I will also show it framed as I plan to gift it. The frame is something I purchased separately and is not included in the set.

I received a free sample set of coloring cards for test and review purposes.

Cat-a-Doodles: Adult Coloring Book-Whimsical Cats to Color and Love (Volume 1)

By: Jo Toye

Rating: 5 of 5

Cat-a-Doodles is a very cute coloring book filled with adorable cat designs. The designs are all original by artist Jo Toye. This is her first coloring book but I certainly hope it will be followed by more in the future. I have had cats as pets for many years and now that they have all passed on, I think of them all as I color the cat designs in this book. Certainly, as I went through the book, I could easily relate to a number of the kitties as if they were my own.

What is different and interesting about the way this book is put together is that there are 24 designs and for the first 21, we are given a second copy. That by itself is not that unusual; however, because the artist chose to make the second copy an enlarged and cropped version of the first, it makes it look and feel like a different coloring experience.

The designs are of cute kitties in a variety of situations. They are doing everything from reading books (about training those pesky humans) to cuddling their teddy bears. The designs are detailed and fun but not overly difficult or with tiny spots to color. I didn’t need any form of specialty pens, pencils, or markers to color these designs.

I’ve already completed four of the designs and look forward to finishing the rest of the book. I used a variety of alcohol-based markers with the first four designs I will upload as samples.

This is what I found while coloring and testing my mediums with this book:

24 plus 21 Cute and Original Cat Designs for a total of 45
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is typical CreateSpace paper thin, white, slightly rough, non-perforated paper
Glue Bound
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Plenty of room to cut out pages without losing design
Coloring book can open fairly flat for coloring purposes
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper.
Gel pens and India ink can spot through or leave shadows of color depending on how much I put on the page.
Coloring pencils work well: soft lead lay down color (both with a soft and a firm hand), layer, and blend well; hard lead (like Verithins) dent the back of the page but lay down good color

While I received my original copy of this coloring book as a free sample for test and review purposes, I so enjoyed it, I have already purchased additional copies for my use and for family and friends as well.