Monthly Archives: October 2016

A Christmas Carol: A Coloring Classic

By: Author: Charles Dickens; Illustrators: Kate Ware and Vladimir Aleksic

Rating: 5 of 5

Creative Haven Mermaids Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Barbara Lanza

Rating: 5 of 5

I have several coloring books by Barbara Lanza (one of which is by Creative Haven as well.) Those books all focus on fairy designs so I was really pleased to see that her newest book is a departure from what I have seen in the past. This coloring book has 31 different mermaid designs.

The designs have Ms. Lanza’s usual graceful look. There are designs of mermaids singly or in groups. There are ocean scenes above and below. There are plants and sea life as well. The drawings are detailed without being overly intricate and are a pleasure to color.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 Mermaid Designs the majority of which have beautiful backgrounds as well
Printed one side of the page
Paper is white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but you can remove pages at the perforation easily
Most Designs extend past the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through if you apply heavily or with with multiple layers.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. They lay down good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.
I either use a blotter page under my working page or I remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.

Creative Haven Bizarro Land Coloring Book: by Bizarro cartoonist Dan Piraro (Adult Coloring)

By: Dan Piraro

Rating: 5 of 5

Bizarro Land is one of the most interesting and imaginative coloring books that I have come across. The subject matter of the designs is so different that I fully understand the title. The designs are bizzare and thought-provoking with so many nuances, it is hard to grasp the full concept of the drawing just by looking at it.

The designs are by cartoonist Dan Piraro, who brings to paper his concept of another land or planet. It is one where a woman’s head is that of a pug. Where a man can have a animal cage (complete with animal) instead of a torso. The rules of our world are completely displaced and are limited only by Mr. Piraro’s imagination. What is cool is that I get to bring my concept of color to these drawings and give them my own spin.
The designs are very detailed and in many places are intricate with small spots to color. I am using a wide variety of coloring medium as I feel that anything goes with this coloring book.
This is what I saw while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for coloring.
31 Wildly imaginative and more than slightly bizarre designs from cartoonist Dan Piraro
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show colorful shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I apply more than one layer of ink.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.
I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.

My Wondrous World: Enchanted Winter Adult Coloring Book

By: Masja Van Den Berg

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a hand-drawn coloring book which is inspired by winter. There are a number of animal designs as well as mandalas, paisleys, and other abstract swirl designs. Many of the designs have a doodle style of detail. There are also several designs which bring snowflakes to mind.

A number of the designs are printed across two pages and those designs lose a bit of their continuity as the designs disappear into the binding. Even when I break the spine to lay the book flat, a tiny portion is missing. And due to the type of binding the book has, when I forced the book into a flat position, there were a number of little tears at the bound edge as there are multiple stitches as well as glue in the binding. I’ll try to post a picture of the issue.
The rest of the book has designs that stop short of the binding and those are much easier to color. The designs are detailed and some have intricate parts to color. Apart from the binding issue (above) and blending issues with colored pencils (below), I really enjoyed coloring in this book.
33 Winter Inspired designs by Masja van den Berg
Designs printed on both sides of the page
Paper is soft white, fairly smooth, heavyweight (or light weight card stock) and non-perforated
Binding is hybrid of sewn (many stitches) and glued
Designs disappear into the binding area and some part of two page spread designs are missing because of it
My copy was slightly off in lining up on two page designs
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers, India ink and gel pens did not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page. Gel pens took a considerable amount of time to dry.
Colored pencils were mixed. I could put down a pigment well and could layer as well. However, when trying to blend with a blending stick, the colors smeared lightly rather than blend.

Enchanted Forest 2017 Wall Calendar: An Inky Quest and 2017 Coloring Calendar

By: Johanna Basford

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a spiral bound 2017 calendar based on some of the artwork from Johanna Basford’s popular coloring book Enchanted Forest. I must say that of her coloring books available at this time, Enchanted Forest may be my favorite so I was really pleased to find this calendar for my craft room. I recently picked up my copy of this calendar at my local big box store.

The original coloring book was printed on a cream tone paper but the calendar is printed on white. The calendar is the standard 12 x 12 inch wall calendar and is larger than the original book (approximately 10 x 10 inches.) It looks as if the designs were enlarged for the calendar format.

Because of the enlarged designs, I think that this might be a great way for someone with fine motor or vision issues to have an opportunity to color some of Ms. Basford’s designs. In the book, the details may have been a little too intricate for some people and the enlarged designs in the calendar may be just the right size for those individuals. It could be a great holiday gift.

There are holidays listed for a variety of English speaking countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland.

In addition to the pictures for each month, there is also one on the reverse side of the cover which is opposite a four-month segment of calendar for the last four months of 2016. The cover can also be colored and has pretty gold foil accents.

I purchased the Secret Garden Calendar last year and I think that the paper used in this calendar is superior to that. I also really like the spiral binding instead of the staple binding of the older calendar. The paper is a medium weight card stock in white.

This is what I found while coloring in this calendar and testing the paper with my coloring medium.

13 Enlarged drawings from the Enchanted Forest coloring book.

Designs are printed on one side of page with calendar on the reverse, except the first design which has the cover on the reverse.

Paper is medium weight chipboard, white and non-perforated.

Spiral binding

Designs do not cross over the binding area and stop short of the hole at the top of the page (for hanging purposes.)

Alcohol-based markers bleed through quickly.

Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens did not bleed through the page. Some gel pens needed extra drying time. I suggest that you test any wet medium to see if you get leak through with the brand that you use.

Colored pencils work well with this slightly rough paper. I was able to put down good pigment, layer same and multiple colors, and blend using a blending stick. This was true of both oil and wax-based pencils.

I am using the 12 x 12 inch piece of cardboard as a surface under my working page. I am also using a 12 x 12 inch card stock for my blotter page (found these at my local craft store fairly inexpensively.) This keeps damage from ink that seeps through the page at a minimum.

I personally don’t care if the ink messes with the calendar page on the back, so I will use wet or dry medium depending on my mood. The cover and the picture below are the ones that I will use only colored pencils on as I don’t want seeping ink on either of those pages.

Color At Home: A Young House Love Coloring Book

By: Sherry Petersik

Rating: 5 of 5

I’ve read the Young House Love blog for years and was happy to find out that Sherry and John Petersik were collaborating with illustrator Joan Borawski to develop a coloring book based on interior design. I’ve found their blog to be both fun to read and an inspiration for changes I have made around both my current and last house.

The designs in the book are wonderful. They are clean line drawings that are fun and easy to color. In addition to the actual coloring pages, there are also some hints for interior design and some exercise pages for trying out some of those hints. Most of the designs are detailed and a few of them include intricate elements to color. The designs show a wide variety of rooms, a couple of outside views, as well as some furniture and other design collage style pages.

The book is printed on both sides of the perforated page and 15 of the designs spread across two pages. What is great is that the designs stop right at the perforations and pick up on the next page at the same spot. It makes it easy to color the whole design without having to struggle coloring into the binding area.

I have a couple of coloring books by this publisher and the paper, binding, and the printing of this book are quite different from those. While I like the prior books, this one steps up a level in publishing. It’s a real pleasure to color in.

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

61 pages of designs inspired by Young House Love (not including title, intro or exercise pages.)

Printed on both sides of the page

Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly smooth, and perforated

Sewn binding. You can remove pages in whole by cutting the binding; however, I would simply remove pages at the perforations.

Designs do not merge past the perforations.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. They are the only wet medium that I tested which did bleed through the page.

Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens did not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page. Gel pens did require additional drying time.

Colored pencils work well with this paper. Even though the paper is slightly smooth, it grips color really well. I was able to layer and blend easily with both wax and oil based pencils.

In addition to the copy of this coloring book that I purchased on Amazon, the publisher sent me a sample advanced reader copy of this book.

Mouse Guard: Coloring Book

By: David Petersen

Rating: 5 of 5

My husband and I have both enjoyed the Mouse Guard comic series of books over the years so it was an easy decision to purchase the coloring book based on the artwork of those books. The book is a larger format book and is quite thick as well.

The artwork in the coloring book seems to have been lifted from the books themselves. As a result, there is a fairly large amount of black in the designs. That doesn’t bother me but it is something that should be noted. There are a couple of pages that are extremely heavy with black and I will try to post at least one of those in photos. With books that have this, I incorporate the black as part of my design and figure I will save ink.

The designs are detailed and some have intricate spots to color. They are a really great representation of what I have seen in the book series. The book is printed on ivory color which adds to the ambiance as it gives the designs an type of antique vibe.

While the coloring book is printed on both sides of the page, only the designs that spread across two pages have elements which merge into the binding area. While most of the designs are limited to one page (and most of those have framing lines at the outer edge), there are 14 designs that spread across two pages. In my copy, those pages line up extremely well and I have been able to get the book open flat enough for coloring purposes. It is still a bit difficult to get my pencils into that area but it is do-able.

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

90 pages of Mouse Guard coloring designs

Printed both sides of the page

Paper is heavyweight, ivory, slightly rough (with good tooth), and non-perforated

Sewn Binding

Only 14 two-page spread designs merge into the binding area, the rest are one page designs that have have space between the edge of the design and the binding.

Pages can be removed in whole (several at a time) by snipping threads but it may prove difficult to line the two-page spreads once they are removed.

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper

Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens all leave shadows on the back of the page.

Colored pencils work well with the paper and will be my choice of coloring medium for this book. The paper has a very slight roughness to it and provides a good surface for pigment. I tested both oil ad wax based pencils and found that I could easily layer the same color, multiple colors, and blend using a blending stick.