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Net Galley
Daily Archives: November 25, 2016
Difficult to Follow
White Lead: A Novel of Suspense
By: Susan Daitch
Rating: 2 of 5
I am a huge mystery buff and I really enjoy mysteries which deal with the art world. That being said, “White Lead” was a book that I found difficult to follow and equally difficult to finish.
The plot line is rather convoluted but follows an art conservationist as she runs from dangerous situation to even more dangerous situation. The problem was that I never fully understood why she was involved, how she got away time and time again and, in the end, I really did not understand the ending (which left too many open plot lines – perhaps thinking there would be more in this series?)
Posted in Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
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80 Fantasy Designs Volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4 combined in one new book printed one side of the page
1-4: Spellbinding Images: A Fantasy Coloring Book Collection: Volumes 1, 2, 3 & 4
By: Nikki Burnette
Rating: 5 of 5
I own a couple of grayscale coloring books by Nikki Burnette but had not purchased any of her regular line drawing coloring books. When I saw that she had put together a coloring book which included all four volumes of her first four books, I decided that it would be a good time and a great value to purchase it.
The drawings are familiar to me as the grayscale is based on the same figures. It is quite fun to color some of the same images and there are certainly so many more that I have not yet seen. The drawings are a mix of detailed and more simple drawings. That provides a good change of pace while I am coloring. The detailed drawings have backgrounds and lots of elements where the more simple drawings are of the fantasy female by herself.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
80 Female Fantasy Line Drawing Designs, including witches, fairies and mermaids
Printed one side of the page
Paper is type of CreateSpace paper: thin, white, slightly rough, and non-perforated.
Glue Bound
Designs do not merge into the binding and designs have a framing line at the outer edge for a natural stopping point. There is plenty of room to cut pages out if you choose to do so.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots
Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page. India ink pens can seep through in spots if used heavily or in multiple coats.
Colored pencils worked nicely with this thin but slightly rough paper. I tested both oil and wax based pencils and got good color with multiple layers of the same color, good results from layers of different colors and nice blending results using a blending stick. Hard lead pencils easily dent through the page and can damage the page below.
I use a blotter page of card stock or a couple of sheets of heavier weight paper under my working page. It keeps seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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36 Fantasy Designs with full page and banner size (18 each) printed one side of the page
Mythical Enchantments Adult Coloring Book — Large (8.62 x 11.75 inches)
By: Action Publishing
Rating: 5 of 5
This is one of my first coloring books by Action Publishing. I was surprised at how well made the book was compared to other coloring books. It has a spiral top binding so left and right handed colorists should both have an easy time coloring. It is printed on a good grade of card stock and it also has a plastic blotter page which can be moved around under whatever your current working page is.
The designs are great fun too. There are a full 36 designs with half of them being full page and the other half being banner size. The subjects are all fantasy with dragons, unicorns, castles, mermaids and more. The way the book is arranged, there is a full length design first and then a banner design on the same subject. It’s a different and interesting way of setting the book up.
This is what I experienced while coloring in the book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
36 Fantasy Designs 18 subjects in full page and banner size designs.
Printed one side of the page
Paper is white, card stock, lightly rough and non-perforated
Spiral bound
Cutting line is at the top of each page but the pages are not perforated.
Easily opens flat for ease of coloring
Designs stop well short of the cutting line and spiral binding
Includes moveable medium weight plastic blotter page
Alcohol-based markers bleed lightly through this paper
Water-based markers and India ink pens leave indistinct shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens do not bleed through the paper
Colored pencils worked nicely with this thin but slightly rough paper. I tested both oil and wax based pencils and got good color with multiple layers of the same color, good results from layers of different colors and nice blending results using a blending stick.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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34 Beautiful Elephant Designs printed with black backgrounds printed one side of the page
The Art of Marjorie Sarnat: Elegant Elephants Midnight Edition Adult Coloring Bo
By: Marjorie Sarnat
Rating: 5 of 5
I own this coloring book in the first version which was black line drawings on white backgrounds. When I saw that Marjorie Sarnat was releasing a book with black backgrounds, I purchased it immediately even though I already had the original book. I did so because I have found that designs on black background have a whole new look and vibe and it makes having the design twice a new experience the second time around.
The 34 designs in this book are beautiful and detailed. What is interesting is how much easier it is to color a detailed design with a black background. I don’t have to bother with coloring it myself and I tend towards bright and/or pastel shades with midnight books. That’s really different from what I do with Ms. Sarnat’s other books. Ms. Sarnat also took it a step further than other artists have done and reversed some of the detail elements to be mostly black with white lines on their outlines. Just this extra step makes a world of difference in how the finished design looks.
As with all of Ms. Sarnat’s coloring books, the designs are very detailed but don’t have tiny, intricate details that are hard to color. There are a number of doodle style designs as well as designs which feature other types of details added to the hides of the elephants. This makes coloring fun as you can color the creatures in any fashion you can imagine.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
34 Detailed Elephant Designs by Marjorie Sarnat
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is medium weight, white with black backgrounds printed, slightly rough and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding area and there is enough room to cut pages out if you choose to do so.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper. Water-based markers bleed through in tiny spots (mostly leaving colorful shadows on the back of the page.) I suggest you use a heavyweight blotter page of card stock or several sheets of paper below your project page if you are using alcohol-based markers. This will keep seeping ink from ruining the pages below.
Gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the paper but do leave colorful shadows on the back of the page.
Colored pencils work extremely with this paper. I tested both oil and wax based pencils and got good results with color, layers of the same color, layers of different colors, and blending with a pencil style blending stick.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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31 Swirly Doodle Designs design printed on one side of the page
Scribbles & Doodles: Stress Relieving Doodle Designs: A Unique Antistress Coloring Gift for Men, Women, Teenagers & Seniors with Relaxing Doodle … Relief, Mindful Meditation & Relaxation)
By: Papeterie Bleu
Rating: 4 of 5
This is my first coloring book by Papeterie Bleu. I don’t know if they generally print the reverse side of the page black with gray print or if this book is unusual. For me, it was different and interesting. The designs are black line printing on white background. Because of the black on the back of the page, the white background has a gray tone to it.
The designs are done in a swirly doodle style. The designs all have a hand-drawn look to them with very few straight lines. While I like many computer-generated designs, hand-drawn are still my favorite.
Some of the designs are repeated elements (not wallpaper style as each element is slightly different) and some of the designs are a mass of unusual shapes, lines, and elements. All of the designs have framing lines at the outer edge which provides a natural stopping point in coloring.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
31 Swirling Doodle style designs
Printed one side of page
Paper is thin, white, slightly rough and non-perforated. The back of each page is black with a variety of quotes and designs in gray print.
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding and have a frame around the outer edge. Plenty of room to remove pages if you wish.
Book opens fairly flat for coloring by creasing the spine hard.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper. You don’t see much more than a shadow at the back of the page (because of the black print) but you will need to be careful to use a blotter page so the page underneath does not get ruined by ink bleeding through.
Water-based markers spot through to the back of the page. Again, you can’t see it too clearly but I still recommend at blotter page with this medium.
Gel pens and India ink do not bleed through. If they leave shadows, it is hard to see through the black print.
Colored pencils work well with the rough texture of this paper. I did note that pencil style blender sticks did not work well. I found that using them smudged the black print of the design consistently. While I generally don’t test with wet blending medium, I did so for this book. I found that mineral spirits and other wet blending pens worked well and that petroleum jelly also worked well. No smudging but I would use a blotter page to be safe.
Otherwise, colored pencils did well with pigment lay down and layering with both the same color (for deeper pigment) and multiple colors. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils.
Posted in Adult Color Books
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