Monthly Archives: July 2016

Forest Rhapsody

By: Yu Han Chen

Rating: 5 of 5

I own a number of the coloring books which have been released by Dream State Studio. This recent one is illustrated by artist JuJu (Yu Han Chen) who has a lovely and delicate touch with her design work. What I really appreciate about this particular book (versus the others by this group) is that the design are on a larger scale. It makes it much easier to color albeit the designs are still very detailed and have intricate spots to color.

There are many types of animals in this book, including: deer, owl, lion, rabbit, wolf, seahorse (which doesn’t actually go with the forest theme but is gorgeous), birds, tiger, reptiles and much more. There is also a visual thumbnail table of contents at the beginning of the book to assist you in finding which design to color next. The designs are printed on the right on side of the page and on the opposite side, there is a short commentary about the design. The words are quite poetic and evoke the scene that the artist had in mind in creating it.

This is what I discovered in coloring in this book and by testing my coloring medium on the typical CreateSpace paper:

30 Beautiful and Intricate Animals designs with some doodle styling

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is typical of this publisher. It is thin, white, slightly rough and non-perforated.

Glue Bound

Some designs merge into the binding area. You may lose some portion of the design if you remove it from the book.

Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper. Alcohol flows through quickly while water-based comes through in spots.

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. I have had India ink spot through on the paper when I use layers of color or blend multiple colors together.

Colored pencils work well with both oil and wax based providing good color. I can layer and blend well with both as well. Hard lead pencils can dent through on this paper to the page below.

I use and suggest the use of a heavyweight blotter page below your working page. That will keep any ink or dents from marring the designs below.

Art Nouveau Animals & Flowers Coloring Book for Adults

By: Happy Coloring

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my third coloring book by Juliana Emerson. The previous two focused fairly exclusively on animals (Cute Cats and Creative Animals.) In this coloring book, Ms. Emerson shows a broader range of her talents by showcasing animals and flowers and the occasional young lady or fairy in the midst of an Art Nouveau inspired backdrop. While the designs are not strictly Art Nouveau in nature they certainly are a good modern interpretation of the style.

There are 30 designs in this coloring book with many fun opportunities to color. The designs are detailed but not overly intricate. I don’t think I will need to rely on special small nib pens and sharp point pencils to color in this book.

An interesting technique that I noticed in these designs is that the centerpiece (the animal, flower or maiden) are done in a slightly bolder and darker line than the rest of the design. It helps give the illusion of a slightly 3D effect with that portion of the design standing out.

Here is what I experienced in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:

30 Art Nouveau inspired designs featuring Animals, Flowers, and Females

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is typical of CreateSpace. It is thin, white, slightly rough, and non-perforated

Glue Bound

Plenty of room to remove designs from the book without loss of design. Each design has a framing line around it for ease of coloring and giving a more finished look to your project.

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

Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page. If used heavily, the India ink pens can slightly bleed through in spots.

Colored Pencils work well with this slightly rough paper. There is enough tooth to the paper to layer pigment from light to heavy. Both oil and wax pencils can be layered and blended as well. I use a pencil style blender stick for my testing purposes.

To the Moon: The Tallest Coloring Book in the World

By: Sarah Yoon

Rating: 5 of 5

I recently purchased this artist’s newly released book To the Ocean Deep which is made similarly to this book but with obvious differences in subject. My husband wanted to take turns coloring in it with me so we decided to alternate pages within the book. That left one of us without a fun cartoon style color book to every other week. I then found Ms. Yoon’s first coloring book To the Moon and decided to pick it up and now we plan to alternate each of the books. It is a fun way to tackle this large a project and it is keeping our interest high as we look at what the other has done the week before.

In this book, the background is pre-colored in a white to light blue to deeper blue as you head further into space. The actual designs are black lines on white. I found that the pages are a little to maneuver unless you have a really big area in which you color. I found that folding the pages the opposite direction from they way they came also helped keep the fold-out manageable.

The design concept is a long tower that reaches from a house on Earth up through the atmosphere into space and finally ends at the Moon. There is even a small portion of the design that goes underground on Earth as well. There are towers and castles and trees and all sorts of creatures and machinery as you make your way up to the moon. As with my other book by this artist, the drawings remind me of old Mad magazine cartoons I read as a child. It is fun to color and discover all the zany bits that are hidden at first glance.

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

15 page continuous fold-out cartoon Earth to space to Moon theme designs

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is heavyweight, lightly smooth, filled background, non-perforated. The last page (at the Moon) is glued to the cardboard backing while the other 14 pages fold out.

Cover (front and back) is a lightweight cardboard.

Alcohol-based markers seep through the paper

Water-based markers, India ink artist pens and gel pens did not seep through the paper

Colored pencils worked well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer, and blend well with both oil and wax based pencils.

‘Color Therapy’ Anti Stress Adult Coloring Books, 80 Different Designs on each sheet, Wire Bound Sketchbook, 11.7″ X 8.9″ X 0.6″

By: Pinkfoot

Rating: 5 of 5

Color Therapy is a coloring book printed on thin card stock like paper. The designs are mostly of flowers and other plants but a few are of buildings or abstract patterns to color. The book contains 80 designs which are printed on both sides of the page.

The book is presented in landscape or horizontal format with a spiral binding at the top. A number of the designs actually extend into the spiral area and that makes those difficult to color as you need to maneuver into the spirals themselves.

The book is a slightly larger format for books in the US but as the copy I purchased was published outside of the US, it isn’t too surprising. The pages are well printed and the designs are imaginative and very well done.

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

80 Mostly Floral Designs

Printed on both sides of the page

Paper is lightweight card stock, white, slightly rough, and non-perforated

Spiral bound at top of the page

Designs merge into the spiral binding area

Opens flat easily for coloring

Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through to some extent

India Ink pens leave a colorful shadow on the back of the page

Gel pens do not bleed through the paper

Colored Pencils worked well. I used both oil and wax based to test an was able to get good color, blend and layer well. Hard lead pencils do not dent through the paper