Daily Archives: June 26, 2016

Colouring Fantasy – Colouring Book by Scot Howden

By: Scot Howden

Rating: 5 of 5

Colouring Fantasy is my first coloring book by Scot Howden. I purchased it without being able to see the pictures inside but I did my homework and found Mr. Howden’s artwork on-line. His Facebook page has beautiful renderings of the designs which were colored in the process of creating the book.

I find his work, both original and in the coloring book, to be beautiful and ethereal. His line work is very light which keeps it from showing through too boldly and allowing the colors to speak for themselves.

For the two designs I started with, I found myself heading towards lighter colors. I know that for other designs, I will go bold and bright. It just shows how varied and inspiring his work is. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite fantasy coloring books along with those by Jason Hamilton and Bennett Klein.

The designs are a wide range of subject with some having more emphasis on fantasy than others. All of the designs of women have titles in the lower right hand corner. There are designs that have a Steampunk vibe, some of young women showing their artistic tattoos, a wildly doodled mummy, the cover art with a nod to Art Nouveau and Alphonse Mucha, dragons, a genie, fairies, a beautiful pirate, and more. There are 22 pages of full designs with two pages of enlarged elements to color. You can also color the title page which is a duplicate of another design in the book but on a different scale.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my various coloring mediums on the paper:

22 full page titled Fantasy designs plus two pages of enlarged untitled elements for a total of 24 designs.

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is thin, white, slightly rough (with good tooth), and non-perforated

Glue Bound

Designs do not merge into the binding and there is enough room to easily cut pages out if you choose to do so

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper. Water-based markers spot through enough to mar pages below.

Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page. India ink can leak through if you use multiple coats.

Colored pencils work well with the paper. It has good tooth being slightly rough. I can use both oil and wax based pencils with it and get good results in coloring, layering and blending. Hard lead pencils dent through to the back of the page.

I use and suggest the use of heavyweight paper or card stock as a blotter page under the page you are working on. It keeps seeping ink and dents from ruining the pages below.

Fairies and Mermaids Coloring Book

By: Tiffany Toland-Scott

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a book of fairy and mermaid designs by Tiffany Toland-Scott. It is my first by this artist. When I saw that it was available, I looked for her artwork online and was very impressed with what I found. In this book, she has converted her original artwork to line drawings. I found that her use of the female form was presented in a more natural look than many fantasy coloring books portrayed. It made it a different and unique experience to color.

The book contains 28 designs but you are given two of each design, so there are 56 total designs to color. The designs are evenly divided between fairies and mermaids with 14 of each. In some cases, the artist has left the eyes blank so you can design them as you will. I generally keep a 0.38 black gel pen handy for these types of situations. I also find it handy for completing unfinished lines and/or adding details that I would like to see in my project.

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

28 x 2 Fairy and Mermaid Designs (56 total)

Printed on one side of the page.

Paper is typical for books by CreateSpace. It is thin, white, slightly rough and non-perforated. For books by CreateSpace, I recommend using a blotter page under your work regardless of which medium you use. Ink and/or dents from pencils can easily mar the page(s) below.

Glue Bound

Designs do not merge into the binding area

Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper to some degree.

Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page. Using more than one coat of India ink can result in the ink leaking through.

Colored pencils work well with this paper. While it is thin, it has fairly good tooth for capturing pigment. Both oil and wax based provide good color, layer and blend well. Hard lead pencils dent/score through the page.

Mary Engelbreit’s 2017 Coloring Weekly Planner Calendar

By: Mary Engelbreit

Rating: 3 of 5

This is a smaller format weekly calendar with artwork by Mary Engelbreit. I was hoping for iconic Engelbreit images and I was disappointed. The artwork in the book are mostly flowers with some other plants and a bird or two. The designs are very simplistic and are what I would expect more from a daily type calendar than one set up for a week. It took me about half an hour to color my first design and I did that while I was watching/listening to a television show.

Otherwise, the calendar is made decently for its purpose. It has each week of the year as well as a full one page calendar for 2017 and a page which has the full year calendar for 2016 and 2018. It also has a couple of pages of planning note lines for 2018. The paper is a medium weight and the book is glue bound. It is printed on white paper is not perforated. The designs are printed on the left hand side of the page and the calendar on the right.

I found that only alcohol-based markers bled through the paper. Water-based, India ink, and gel pens did not bleed through or leave shadows. I was able to get good color, layer, and blend with both oil and wax based pencils.

The designs were too simplistic for my taste and were not what I expected from Mary Engelbreit. On the plus side, they are easy to color so this might be a good calendar to color for those who have vision or fine motor skill issues. I am keeping the book to use for its purpose. I keep a lot of information on-line but there are some things that I prefer to keep written down for privacy sake. I will use this book specifically for those and will color in it when I want a project that takes minutes rather than an hour to finish.

Coloring Your Jewish Year 2017 Wall Calendar: A Hebrew Illuminations 16-Month Coloring Calendar

By: Adam Rhine

Rating: 5 of 5

I was recently introduced to Adam Rhine’s artwork and coloring designs in his recently released coloring book Hebrew Illuminations Coloring Book. I was so taken with the designs, that I also purchased this calendar so that I could color some of his work in a larger format. As with his book, the designs are beautifully drawn.

A calendar of 16 months is a Jewish tradition but as I am not Jewish, I was happily surprised to receive 16 instead of 12 designs in the calendar. In the Gregorian calendar (or Western calendar), the dates start with September 2016 and continue through December 2017. These months correlate with the Jewish year 5776-5778. The calendar contains holidays and much more information as well.

The calendar is a standard 12 x 12 inch size. It has a hanging hole at the top of each page. What is really great about the way the calendar is constructed is that it has a spiral binding at the top. That is really unusual for coloring calendars. I usually have to have a large tabletop to hold the calendar open or I have to bend it back on the crease which weakens it over time.

This is what I experienced while coloring in and testing the paper of this calendar with my various coloring medium:

16 large format designs celebrating the Jewish Year

Designs are printed on one side of the page with the calendar printed on the reverse (with the exception of the first design which has the cover at its back.)

Paper is heavy weight, white, slightly smooth and non-perforated.

Spiral binding at the top of the page with plenty of room to cut out a design if you wish to frame it.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper.

Water-based markers are mixed. I had no problems with brush end Tombow or Staedler fineliners; however, my Stabilo 88 has some spotting through to the back of the page.

Gel pens and India ink pens did not bleed through this paper.

Colored pencils worked well. I was able to get good color with repeated applications at a light touch, blend and layer different colors with both wax and oil based pencils. Hard lead pencils did not dent through to the back of the page.

My plan with this calendar, as with others I have colored in the past, is to color the month’s design at the beginning of the applicable month. That way, I can enjoy seeing the finished design and still be able to use the calendar for its intended purpose. If I use alcohol-based markers (and I will) it will seep through and mar the calendar. By doing it as I discuss above, I won’t mar a calendar page until after the month is over.