Daily Archives: September 1, 2016

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Magical Characters and Places Coloring Book

By: HarperCollins Publishers

Rating: 5 of 5

Attached to this review will be a silent flip-through of the entire coloring book so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not it will work for you.

While I (as many others) am eagerly awaiting the release of the movie on which this coloring book is based, I was really pleased to get this book ahead of the movie release. It gives a sense of the vibe of the movie and also allows my imagination to run full rein as, apart from a few clips on-line and the pictures on the inside of the front and back page, I don’t have preconceived notions of what something should look like.

The book is well made and the designs are well done. I appreciate having the handful of small colored pictures (rather than pages of them.) The scenes are set in New York in the 1926. It is an interesting time period as the excess of the roaring 20’s was still in place but, historically speaking, there were foreshadowing of the Great Depression already in place.

The designs are detailed for the most part (though some of the character designs are quite open and free of details.) There are a few designs that have intricate and small areas to color. I’ve already started my first two projects in the book and am looking forward to coloring through the pictures (probably before the movie is released) and will certainly be waiting for the next coloring books in the series to be released.

This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my various coloring medium. In the comments section below, I will list the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects:

78 Pages of Fantastic Beasts Designs based on the movie

Printed on both sides of the page

Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly smooth and non-perforated

Binding is hybrid glue/sewn. If you wish to remove pages, you will have to cut them out. I do not plan on doing so as so much important detail will be lost.

Designs merge into the binding area

Many designs spread across two pages. On my copy, the pages line up well.

Book can be opened fairly flat for coloring by breaking the spine, though it is still difficult to color into the binding area

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper rapidly. If you use this medium, you will definitely mar the design on the back of the page.

Water-based markers did not bleed through; however, Stabilo 88 and Staedler fineliners left the faintest of shadows on the back of the page.

Gel pens and India ink pens did not bleed through or leave shadows. Some gel pens required additional drying time.

Colored pencils worked well with this paper. I got fairly good pigment from both oil and wax-based pencils. Layering the same color for deeper pigment worked well as well as layering multiple colors. Blending with a pencil style blending stick worked pretty well though my Tombow Irojiten did not blend as well as my other pencils (perhaps due to their hardness.)

Night Magic – Gothic and Halloween Coloring Book (Fantasy Coloring by Selina) (Volume 10)

By: Selina Fenech

Rating: 5 of 5

I own a number of Selina Fenech’s coloring books so I am very familiar with her elegant artwork. I also really enjoy Halloween inspired designs and am always looking for new books to add to my collection (especially as there have been very few published compared to other genres.) In Night Magic, Ms. Fenech has provided a number of lovely witches along with Gothic style designs. I would not categorize the book as a Halloween book but rather one that includes Halloween designs.

The designs are detailed and I find them fairly easy to color. While some designs have small details, the designs are not generally intricate with tiny details that are hard to color. I like to work first with my markers and then with my colored pencils as I find that that is the process that works best for me with Ms. Fenech’s coloring books.

Two things I really appreciate about the book are that you get two copies of each design. That makes it easy to share or to try two different colorways or mediums. The second thing I really like is that almost all of the designs have framing lines around them. It gives me a natural stopping point which gives a more finished look at the end and it also saves me ink/pencil as I dont’ have to color to all the edges.

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

25 x 2 Gothic and Halloween-inspired designs

Printed one side of the page

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

Designs do not merge into the binding and there is plenty of room to cut out pages if you choose to do so. Most designs have a framing line around the outer edge

Glue Binding

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly.

Water-based markers bleed through in spots.

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

Coloring Pencils work well with this paper. I found that I could layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and I could blend easily using a pencils style blending stick. Both wax and oil based pencils worked well with the paper. Hard lead pencils can leave dents through the page.

I like to use a blotter when working in the book. I use a page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper under my working page. It keeps seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below.

By: Hanna Karlzon

Rating: 5 of 5

I recently discovered Hanna Karlzon’s amazing coloring books and have purchased those that are currently available. While I am enjoying using colored pencils in her regular coloring books, I have not been able to use the alcohol-based markers I so enjoy. These postcards are printed essentially one-sided so I purchased this set which will allow me to use my markers without damaging a design on the back of the page.

I am really enjoying Ms Karlzon’s imaginative world of flowers, birds, insects and animals that inhabit the pages of these postcards. I hope she considers doing another set of postcards which include some of the lovely people that inhabit her books as well.

While a few of the postcards in this set are sized down from the original designs in the coloring book by the same name (Daydreams) most are cropped down to fit the postcard format rather than reduced in size. That makes it much easier to color without having to resort to smaller size nibs. In the first designs I did in this set, I used alcohol-based markers such as fine and ultra-fine nib Sharpies, Bic Mark-its and the brush end of Copic markers.

This is what I experienced while coloring these postcards and testing the paper with my coloring medium.

20 Daydream designs sized for postcard format with mailing areas defined on the back of the card

Printed on one side of the card

Paper is heavyweight card stock in smooth ivory

Glue bound but in the style of easy to remove pages such as a notepad

Alcohol-based markers left colorful shadows on the back of the page and only one had the tiniest bit of spot through. I would put a blotter page of paper under my working page or remove the card from the book to color to keep the designs below safe from the slight possibility of seeping ink

Water-based markers, India ink, and gel pens did not bleed through the card. Gel pens took a little longer to dry than usual.

Colored pencils worked well with this paper. Oil and wax-based pencils worked well with good color, layering, and blending using a pencil style blending stick.