Daily Archives: June 13, 2016

Magical Cats (Pads of Color)

By: arsEdition

Rating: 4 of 5

Once again, Barron’s has delivered a coloring book filled with designs that have been licensed through a variety of on-line sites. I have seen and colored a number of these designs before in other books. What makes this book a little more unique is the tear-off pad format, printing on one side of the page, and a slightly better quality of paper than I usually see in books of licensed images.

The format of the book is smaller than the usual coloring book. It is bound at the top of the page which makes it easy to get to all parts of the design. It has a glue-type binding similar to a notepad. The designs are of cats of all makes and sizes from tiny kittens to lions. Some designs are white on black background while most are black lines on white background. A good number of the cats have doodle style designs within their outlines.

I normally try to avoid licensed image coloring books because I own a number of them already and I end up duplicating a lot of what I already have. In this case, there were a number that I didn’t own, so I will enjoy coloring those. The print quality of the book is quite good, so that is a big plus as well. If you don’t own coloring books with licensed images and you like cats, you may very well love this book. I certainly like the way it is published with the tear off binding, top bound, hardboard backing and even the lovely foil touches on the cover.

This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with various coloring medium:

80 Cat Designs printed on one side of the page

Paper is white, medium weight and slightly smooth

Glue bound but pages tear off easily from the notepad style binding

Book is bound at the top of the page

Opens flat and has a hardboard backing to allow easy coloring on the go

Alcohol-based markers bled through the paper

Water-based markers with mixed. The only marker that bled through for me was Staedler triplus fineliners

Gel pens and India ink did not bleed through the page. Gel pens required additional drying time.

Coloring pencils did okay. I was able to get good color with multiple coats from both oil and wax based pencils. Layering did well but blending was not as good as it could have been. I found that the pigment smeared rather than blended.

If you use markers, you should either remove the pages from the book as I do or use a blotter page under your working page to keep ink from bleeding through.

Jim Shore’s Angel Coloring Book: 50+ Glorious Folk Art Angel Designs for Inspirational Coloring

By: Jim Shore

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book of Jim Shore’s Angel designs. In addition to the 50 angels, there are also three pages of thin cardstock which has small 3D cut out designs which you can color. The angels are easily recognizable to anyone familiar with Mr. Shore’s art. I’ve been a long time fan and own a number of his sculptures, including some angels. His signature folk art quilt look to the artwork is a major component in the designs and are part of the angels themselves as well as the backgrounds.

The designs are done in both black and gray tones to give different effects in coloring. I found that using markers on the areas where the black lines are predominant and using coloring pencils on the gray areas gave the finished project more of the dimensional effect that the book suggests.

I am really happy to have this coloring book and hope that it is the beginning in a series. I would love to have coloring books which include his many animal designs (including cats, dogs, and farm animals), lighthouses, holidays, and maybe even some of his Disney designs. My husband also likes Mr. Shore’s artwork and is ordering his own copy as well.

Fairy Fantasy: Adult Coloring Book

By: Jason Hamilton

Rating: 5 of 5

I own all of Jason Hamilton’s coloring books and I was happy to pick this one up as well. It is quite different from the others both in subject matter as well as being full body designs. There are 24 standard size designs and as a bonus, Mr. Hamilton includes 14 4 x 6 inch copies of some of the designs as well as 5 full size designs that are zoomed in to highlight certain elements of the original designs. The smaller size are printed two to a page and the design on both small and the zoomed in pages are also featured in the original 24 pages.

Mr. Hamilton has a distinctive style fairy, with beautiful faces, long pointed ears and lush figures. He places his fairies in scenes which provides me with a fun coloring experience. While I haven’t colored it as yet, I absolutely love the fairy being threatened by the bumblebee. It reminds me of the old movie posters of the fair heroine being threatened by whoever or whatever was the villain of the week.

I have been using a mix of alcohol-based markers, colored pencils, and a touch of gel pens in coloring these designs. The designs are detailed with backgrounds. Some parts are somewhat intricate and include smaller details that I used my Verithins to color.

This has been my experience while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:

24 full size fairy designs, 14 4 x 6 inch designs, and 5 zoomed in designs for a total of 43 coloring designs (note some are duplicates of other sizes, etc.)

Printed on one side of the page

Typical CreateSpace paper thin, white, slightly rough, and non-perforated

Glue Bound

Designs stop well before the binding area leaving room to cut out pages if you chose to do so

Can open fairly flat for coloring if you break the spine to do so.

Alcohol and water based markers all bleed through the page though alcohol bleed through more fully and quickly while water based spot through.

Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows at the back of the page. India ink can bleed through if you use repeated layers or try to blend several colors.

Colored pencils work well with this paper. Both oil and wax based could be used with a light or firm hand. I use a light hand and get good pigment color by repeated layers and use of my blending pencils. Layering and blending work well with this paper. My hard lead pencils like Verithins dent or score through to the back of the page.

I use and recommend the use of a blotter page of either heavy weight paper or several sheets of regular white paper.