Daily Archives: November 28, 2016

Faedorables – Sweet and Simple Coloring Book (Fantasy Coloring by Selina) (Volume 14)

By: Selina Fenech

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my first coloring book by Selena Fenech which is focused on simple and easy to color designs of young girls in fantasy. The style is very different from that of her adult fantasy girls. The young girls have sweet round faces, tiny shy eyes with a fringe of eyelashes and small little mouths turned up in tiny smiles.

The designs cover a nice range of fantasy with mermaids, fairies, witches, dragons, unicorns and more. The designs are fairly simple to color and have open and easy line drawings. These would be great designs for someone with slight fine motor issues and/or visions issues as there is nothing detailed or intricate about them.
I also really appreciate that this artist provides you with two copies of each design. That makes it easy to share or to try two different colorways or mediums.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
25 x 2 Cute Little Girls Fantasy 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. Some 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.

Santa Clause: The Book of Secrets Colouring Book

By: Russell Ince

Rating: 4 of 5

Santa Claus the Book of Secrets is a fairly detailed coloring book for the holiday season. There are a number of Santa designs and lots of patterns and holiday symbol designs in the book. A number of pages are patterns that mirror that of the opposite page or which contain repeating elements (rather like wall-paper).

I found that most of the designs were detailed but not to the point of being intricate. While some elements may require use of small nib pens/markers/sharp pencils, for the most part, my standard coloring medium should work fine.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium:
45 pages of Christmas designs including repeating patterns
Designs are printed on both sides of the page
Paper is white, thin cardstock, slightly smooth and non-perforated
Hybrid glue/sewn binding with many stitches
Book can be opened to a fairly flat position for coloring but it takes effort and you must break with spine
Designs merge into the binding
Some designs spread across two pages
Alcohol-based markers lightly bleed through this paper
Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens do not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page. Gel pens require additional drying time.
Colored pencils worked well with this thin but slightly smooth paper. There was still enough tooth to get decent pigment. 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 results using a blending stick.

Christmas Trees: Coloring Book for Adults

By: Happy Coloring

Rating: 4 of 5

Christmas is my favorite holiday and I am always looking for fun Christmas tree coloring books. This book has 30 different trees, most with themes. The designs have many small and intricate elements to color. These will require small nibs pens/markers or very sharp pencils. If you have good eyesight and a steady hand, these are a wonderful set of designs for the holiday.

I especially like that the base of the tree has not been neglected. There are packages and pets and lots of fun things to color that remind me of Christmas morning. The trees themselves are less detailed and the ornaments and other designs elements stand out.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
30 Christmas tree designs with intricate and detailed ornaments
Printed one side of the page
Paper is white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated typical of CreateSpace published coloring books.
Glue Binding
Designs stop short of the binding area and can be cut out if you choose to do so.
Book opens fairly flat for ease of coloring
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.