Daily Archives: September 7, 2016

Magical Jungle: An Inky Expedition and Coloring Book for Adults

By: Johanna Basford

Rating: 5 of 5

Magical Jungle is a very different coloring book from Johanna Basford. The designs are much less intricate than those of her previous books, especially when compared to the tiny and intricate designs of Lost Ocean. Another big difference is that it seems the artist made a concentrated effort to reduce the amount of elements in designs that cross over two pages (as the book is printed on both sides of the page.) There were still a few but that is so much less than in previous books, it is almost unnoticeable.

The paper in US version of Magical Jungle is ivory. It is not the same color of cream as used in Secret Garden or Enchanted Forest. Nor is it the white color that was used in the first four printings of Lost Ocean. I would have modified my review of that book to mention the ivory color paper starting with the fifth printing but due to a glitch in Amazon’s review system, I am unable to modify my review of Lost Ocean. If you buy a later version of Lost Ocean it now has the same ivory paper as used in Magical Jungle.

The designs are based on the jungle with cartoon style animals and lots and lots of plants and flowers. You should be sure to have a large number of green pencils/pens ready when coloring in this book. My preference turned out to be oil-based pencils for that reason. Between my two sets of oil-based, I have a lot of shades of green.

I also purchased the UK version of this book and found some common areas and some noticeable differences:

First, the paper, while definitely different colors and perhaps weight, were comparable when it came to coloring mediums. I would not choose one over the other thinking I could use a specific medium with better results.

Second, the color of the paper. The US version is ivory and the UK version is white. I will include two photos showing both the color difference and how the two-page designs line up. In those photos, the UK version is on the bottom and the US on the top. The rest of the photos and my colored designs are from the US version as is the video on Amazon.

Third, the UK version has a removable dustcover with a single long designs on the inside. The inside cover is a pea green with a black design printed on it. It does not have inside flaps. The US version has a fixed cover with the front and back having fold out flaps with the same sort of design on the inside. The covers are slightly different colors but still in the ivory family with gold foil accents.

Fourth, the weight of the two are the same (1.23 pounds) with the dustcover on the UK version. Without the dustcover, the UK version is 1.14 pounds. The paper portion of the UK version is 1/16th of an inch thinner than the US version. Between the weight and the slight difference in depth, I think the UK version is a slightly lighter weight paper.

Fifth, the binding is different and this makes for a real difference in how the designs inside line up. The US version is a hybrid glue/sewn binding with multiple stitches. The UK version is sewn binding with only a few stitches. My US version did not line up well but my UK version did line up well. For a couple of designs, there was a noticeable difference but, in general, as few designs spread elements across two pages, it wasn’t a huge factor.

I like both books for different reasons. I like the dustcover and the binding of the UK version but I also like the ivory of the US version. I can’t recommend one over the other. It really comes down to what you prefer for your coloring.

This is what I found as I colored in this book and tested the paper with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I used for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly.

Water-based markers (except for Tombow’s) leave shadows and even spots of color on the back of the page. The brush end of Tombows did not bleed through.

Gel pens and India ink did not bleed through the page.

Colored pencils worked well. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with good results. I was able to layer the same color for deeper pigment, layer multiple colors and to blend easily with a pencil style blending stick. Pencils did not leave indentations on the back of the page.