Daily Archives: August 24, 2016

Chalk-Style Holiday Coloring Book: Color with All Types of Markers, Gel Pens & Colored Pencils

By: Valerie McKeehan

Rating: 5 of 5

I really enjoy the designs in this coloring book but there are some issues with the formatting that I really do not like. I love the designs but some of them have needlessly been made difficult to color.

The designs are primarily Christmas in nature but some are a little more generic. I finished one of cups of hot cocoa to be generic while the sample showed it in Christmas colors.

The designs are in chalk-style and the backgrounds of these designs are not a pure black as others have been. They have a kind of used chalky look to them which makes them a little more gray in tone than black. It gives it a very realistic look.

In my recent coloring books from this publisher, they have altered their format and the designs which are shown as colored samples in the book are no longer provided in full page format. They are included as medium designs with a thumbnail of the color sample, a few samples of the colors used and a quick sentence or two about the how the colors work with the design.

At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this change but now that I have worked with a couple of these books, I must say I really do not like the change. I want the pages in full size for both ease of coloring and for consistency with the other pages in the book. The shrinking of the designs has made some of the details small and intricate and difficult to color.

Simply put, I wish they would go back to the old format and perhaps include the information on the sample color pages. While I didn’t detract stars in my rating because of the format as I do color in books that have intricate details, the new format makes me less inclined to want to purchase their coloring books in the future.

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

32 Holiday (primarily Christmas)Designs in Chalk-board style (white images on dark gray to black backgrounds) with 24 large designs and 8 medium ones

The 8 Medium Designs include colored thumbnails and coloring advice on the page (info can be removed at provided perforations)

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is medium weight, slightly rough, dark gray/black printed on white paper and is perforated for easy removal. The paper is noted as archival-grade and acid free for 200 years.

Designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page

Gel pens and India ink pens can spot through to the back of the page

Colored pencils work well with the paper. Both oil and wax based pencils provide good color, layer, and blend well. Hard lead pencils can dent through the page.

I use a blotter page to keep seeping ink and dents from marring the pages below. I recommend this in general or that you remove pages before coloring. I use card stock or several sheets of paper as my blotter page.

Kawaii Girl Fashion Coloring Book: Clothes, dresses, costumes and lots of cute kawaii fashions (Kawaii, Manga and Anime Coloring Books for Adults, Teens and Tweens) (Volume 3)

By: Mindful Coloring Books

Rating: 4 of 5

Kawaii is the Japanese word for cute. The movement in their art is to have simplified artwork that is very cute and feminine. While I found some of this coloring book to be almost manga in its detail, there is still a cute factor and simplistic facial features that moves it into the kawaii category. There are 20 designs that feature young women dressed in a variety of fashions. The girls are set in a background setting as well which adds a lot of detail to the coloring experience.

Along with the 20 full size pages, there are 6 sample pages from several other Mindful Coloring books as well.

This is what I experienced when coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. In the comments section below, I will include a list the coloring medium I used for testing and which I also use for coloring.

20 Kawaii Girl Designs with emphasis on fashions plus 6 bonus pages

Printed one side of the page

Paper is thin, slight rough, white and non-perforated

Glue bound

Designs do not merge into the binding area. There is plenty of room to cut out pages if you choose to do so.

Designs all have framing lines around the outer edge to give the colorist a natural stopping point.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper rapidly.

Water-based markers bleed through in spots.

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through in spots if you apply the ink heavily or in multiple layers.

Colored pencils work well. I tested both oil and wax-based and had good results with both. I was able to lay down good color, layer the same and multiple colors, and blend easily using a pencil style blender. Hard lead pencils can leave dents through the paper.

I use a blotter page of card stock to keep seeping ink and dents from damaging the pages below my working page. A couple of pages of heavyweight paper works well, too.