Monthly Archives: November 2016

The Official Poldark Coloring Book: A Coloring Adventure in Cornwall

By: Winston Graham

Rating: 5 of 5

My husband and I are fans of the Poldark series from BBC One (and in the US, PBS.) This coloring book is based on the first two series and shows scenes from each which includes some hint as to plot lines. The coloring book is really well made and the characters are, for the most part, very true to life.

I’ve purchased the UK version of this book (which was released in September) and will include a comparison of the US and UK version below. In the photos I include, the US version is the smaller one on top and the UK version is the larger one on the bottom. Otherwise, the photos and video in this review are of the US version only. My rating is based only on the US version and does not add or detract because of comparison to the UK version.
The 46 designs include a lot of character studies which I really appreciate. They also give a hint of the lush beauty of the countryside, homes, and clothing that I appreciate in the series.
The designs are done with a very light hand with an almost sketch-like quality to the drawings. The artist has, in a number of the designs, included lines across the characters faces, etc. for shading purposes. Some people like this and some do not. I’m fairly neutral on the matter but wanted to be sure to mention it.
I really appreciate that this book was printed single sided. So many of the of television/movie/book coloring books are done two-sided which makes it difficult for someone who colors with alcohol-based markers. With the high level of detail in these designs, it shows that a single sided book with great designs and detail can be accomplished and accomplished very well.
When I did a side-by-side comparison of the US and UK versions, two things were immediately evident: 1) the US version is much smaller. It is 8.5 x 8.5 inches. The UK version is 9.75 x 9.75 inches. That doesn’t sound like much but it looks like a lot when seen together. 2) the covers are different. The US version is a cropped image of Ross Poldark which is missing the lower portion of the image. It is black and white with metallic (not foil) gold ink highlights. The UK version has a bigger image which is partially colored and the title is in gold foil highlight. The back of the books are different images with the UK version being partly colored. I did note that while the cover image of the US version is cropped, the images inside are the same they are just smaller.
The other difference I noted was in paper quality. The UK version is a definite medium weight paper. The US version is a much lighter paper. It is what I would call light medium weight as not all wet mediums bled through the paper (see below.)
For my take, I would rather have the UK version as it is larger which makes the intricate elements easier to color, the paper is a brighter white and heavier weight which I prefer and the binding is sewn which makes it somewhat easier to get the book to lay flat and/or to remove pages from the book. It does take several weeks to receive the UK version versus a few days for the US one.
In the end, both books are quite nice and either one is a great coloring book.
Here is what I have experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper.
46 line drawn designs which are based on series 1 and 2 of Poldark
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is light/medium weight, warm white, slightly rough and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Designs merge into the binding area
Book can be opened fairly flat by breaking the binding but it is still a bit difficult to color into the binding area
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. I use a blotter page of card stock under my working page to keep seeping ink from ruining the page below.
Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens leave a very light shadow on the back of the page
Colored pencils work very well with this paper. The slight roughness to the page provides excellent tooth for pigment. I was able to layer the same color, multiple colors and blend well (using a blender stick) with both oil and wax based colors.

Fantasy Colouring Book

By: Tomoko Tashiro

Rating: 5 of 5

I own the two previous fairy tale coloring books by Tomoko Tashiro. I was happy to see that there was a third book published. This is the Japanese version which was recently released. The wording on the front and the titles of the tales are both in English and Japanese. The rest of the book, including the introduction and short blurbs about the stories (at the end of the book) are in Japanese.

The book has 82 pages of designs (including the title and introduction pages.) Most of the artwork spans across two pages. The artwork in this book, as in the previous ones (Fairy Tales and Princesses and Fairies) is intricate and detailed with many tiny areas to color.
The designs are all new stories (unlike the previous two which had a few duplications.) The stories in this coloring book are: The Secret Garden, Peter Pan, The Blue Bird, The Wonderful World of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Manon Lescaut, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Daddy Long Legs, Little Women, The Red Shoes, Twelve Months, and Night on the Milky Way Train.
The book has a removable dust cover which is beautifully illustrated. The inside of the dust cover is plain white and the actual book is olive green with white line drawings on it which can be colored if you wish to do so. I was not able to get the book to lay flat easily (due to the glue binding), so coloring into the binding edge will be difficult (something that is common with glued bindings.) As with her first two Japanese versions books, if I could give this book a 4.5, I would do so because of the binding/printing issues. I always round up when I am faced with this issue, thus a 5 star rating.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
82 pages of intricate storybook/fairy tale designs
Printed on both sides of the page
Paper is heavyweight, warm white, slightly rough and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Designs merge into the binding
Most designs spread across two pages
I had problems getting the book to lay flat on all pages
Alcohol-based markers bled through the paper
Water-based markers and India ink pens left slight shadows on the back of the page.
Gel pens did not bleed through required a longer drying period than normal.
Colored pencils worked well with this paper. I tested both oil and wax based pencils and got good results with it grabbing pigment, layering the same color, layering different colors, and blending using a blending stick.

Princesses and Fairies Colouring Book (Colouring Books)

By: Tomoko Tashiro

Rating: 5 of 5

This is the second coloring book of mostly fairy tales by Tomoko Tashiro. Some of the tales were unfamiliar to me but I loved the artwork regardless of the story. While there is duplication of some of the tales between the first and second book, the artwork is different no duplication of designs. There are 80 pages of designs (including intro pages) with most of them spanning across two pages. The designs are intricately and exquisitely drawn and will require a small point coloring medium, a steady hand, good eyesight to color.

The tales included are: Thumbelina, The Frog Prince, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Real Princess (Princess and the Pea), Cinderella, Princess Minon-minette, The Fairies, The Little Mermaid, The Flying Trunk, The Moon Princess, and Tanabata, The words in the UK version are only in English where the Japanese version had words in English with the majority in Japanese
The UK version has an attached cover (where the Japanese version had a dustcover.) The book is printed on both sides of smooth, white non-perforated paper. Many of the designs span across two pages and the designs merge into the binding. The binding is sewn so you can remove several pages at a time by snipping threads if you wish. I could get the book to open fairly flat. The Japanese version was glued and it was next to impossible to get the book to open flat.
My alcohol-based markers bled through this paper. My water-based markers and India ink artist pen left slight shadows on the back of the page. My gel pens were mixed some bright colors left shadows but most did not. I especially liked the smaller nib Uni-ball Signo (0.28 and 0.38) for the fine detail on this book.
My colored pencils worked were mixed. I could get good pigment with single and multiple coats. I had problems blending colors as the colors smeared more than blended (using a blender stick.) I had the same results with both oil and wax-based pencils. The Japanese version worked better with colored pencils but wet medium bled through a bit more.
There are things that I like and dislike about both versions. I prefer the binding on the UK version but I much prefer the paper (for use with colored pencils) and the dustcover on the Japanese version

The Mysterious Library: A Coloring Book Journey Into Fables

By: Eunji Park

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a beautifully illustrated coloring book. It was originally published in Korea and is now being brought into the US market. Unfortunately, as Amazon did not sell the original Korean published book, I cannot compare the two. What I can provide is an assessment of the US version.

The illustrations are really beautiful. The artist tells the visual story of a young girl who stumbles into a library, gets locked in tight and then finds herself the main character of the storybook world. The story goes on to show the young girl adventuring some very well know stories, including: Little Red Riding Hood, Gingerbread Man, Pinnochio (misspelled in text, i.e., should have been Pinocchio), Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Thumbelina, Swan Lake, Florence Nightingale, the Sandman, Princess and the Pea, Aladdin, The Red Shoes, The Pied Piper, Town Musicians of Bremen, The Snow Queen, and Alice in Wonderland
The issue I have with the book has to do with the binding. It is glued and is very tight and hard to open flat for coloring. As most of the designs spread across two pages, this makes it difficult to color the parts of the design which merge into the binding area. While it is not unusual for story books designs to spread across two pages, the tight binding is unusual. It is also out of line with what I am used to from this publisher. Hopefully, this is something that can be corrected in future prints of the book but it is the reason I am detracting a star from an otherwise five star coloring book.
Waves of Color is the publisher for this book. They also published the Color the Classics coloring books by Jae-Eun Lee. What I am excited about with this new book is that the publisher has switched from a very smooth paper to one that is ever so slightly rough. It has great tooth for grabbing pigment with colored pencils. The Lee books were okay but this paper is great in comparison. It is slightly less heavy weight than the Lee books but is still what I consider heavier medium weight based on how wet medium worked with the paper.
There are 62 pages of designs with thumbnails of each designs at the end (along with the title of the story represented.) The designs are detailed and have intricate and small spots to color. I am extremely happy with the quality of illustration in the book though it appears that some of the picture may have been cropped and cut out the very edges of designs. I can’t verify that as I don’t have the Korean book (though I will be looking for it elsewhere for the future) but some of the elements look a tad unfinished.
This is what I experienced 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 used for testing this book and which I generally use for coloring.
62 pages of hand-drawn story book designs
Printed on both sides of the page
Paper is warm white, slightly rough, and heavier medium weight non-perforated paper
Glue binding which is too tight to allow book to lay flat for coloring
Designs merge into the binding
Most designs spread across two pages
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper
Water-based markers do not bleed through the paper.
India ink pens do not bleed through but dark colors leave a slight shadow on the back of the page
Gel pens do not bleed through and dry in what I consider a reasonable amount of time
Colored pencils work excellently with this paper. The paper has excellent tooth for grabbing pigment from both oil and wax based pencils. I was able to get great color from multiple layers of the same color, layers of different colors, and easily blended colors using a pencil style blending stick.

Creative Haven Deluxe Edition Artful Quotes Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Lindsey Boylan

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a large coloring book with 63 designs. The designs are built around a quote from a famous person. The designs are mostly flowers (though there are a fish animals as well.) What is different about this book is that some of the pages have white backgrounds and some have black backgrounds. I have a few issues with the black backgrounds that I will detail below.

The designs are very pretty and are quite detailed. Some of the designs have intricate areas that are small and more difficult to color. There is a wide range of individuals who are quoted from Buddha to Abraham Lincoln.
The problem I have with my copy is that on some of the pages that have black backgrounds, one of two different issues arise. On some, there are scattered dots of white in the black. On others, the black is printed unevenly with some parts much lighter than others. This occurs on about one third of the pages. The white based pages seem to be in much better condition. Because of this issue, I reduced my rating to a 4 star.
This is what I saw while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
63 Quotes with mostly floral designs
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white (with a mix of white backgrounds and black printed backgrounds), medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs cross slightly over the perforations (nothing essential lost if you remove the pages from the book)
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.

The Dr. Seuss Coloring Book

By: Dr. Seuss

Rating: 4 of 5

I enjoyed Dr. Seuss as a child and have since read them to my children and their children. I was looking forward to receiving my new coloring book with artwork from the Dr. Seuss books. The book is nicely done but is missing some of my favorites (especially Green Eggs and Ham.) There are a good number of designs in the book and there are so many books to choose from that it almost seemed a given that many would not be included.

The designs are detailed but not too intricate. Many of the designs spread across two pages and parts of the design are lost in the binding area. In my copy, the pages line up fairly well. What is a problem is that the binding is a hybrid of glue and sewn. It has many stitches and the glue is heavier on certain pages. Those pages are difficult to lay flat for coloring. While there are not many of those pages, the ones that have the issue will be very difficult to color as even when I break the binding, I have to struggled to get my very sharp pencil point into the coloring elements. For this issue, I dropped my review to four star.
The designs are derived from Dr. Seuss books rather than exact duplicates. According to the publisher, these are the books utilized: And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street, The Cat in the Hat, The Cat in the Hats Songbook, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?, Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book, The Foot Book, Horton Hears a Who!, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, If I Ran the Circus, If I Ran the Zoo, The Lorax, Oh Say Can You Say?, Oh, the Places Youll Go!, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!, On Beyond Zebra, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Scrambled Eggs Super, Theres a Wocket in My Pocket!, What Pet Should I Get?, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories, and Youre Only Old Once.
This is what I experienced while coloring in the book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
46 Designs derived from a few of Dr. Seuss’ story books.
Printed on both sides of the page
Paper is white, medium weight, fairly smooth and non-perforated
Hybrid glue/sewn binding that is difficult to open to lay flat
Designs reach into the binding area/spine
Many designs spread across two pages and important elements are divided onto both pages
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. These will leak through and mar the designs on the reverse of the page.
Water-based markers and India ink pens do not bleed through but do leave shadows on the back of the page. These will be noticeable on the designs that are on the reverse of your working page.
Gel pens do not leak through but require additional drying time.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. Though it is smooth to the touch, it still has enough tooth to grab pigment. I tested both boil and wax-based pencils and got good results from layering the same color, multiple colors, and blending with a blending stick.