Monthly Archives: December 2016

Invasion of the Doodle Aliens – Adult Coloring Book: Fun and Relaxation with Aliens from Outer Space

By: Okami Books

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my first coloring book by artist Pedro De Elizalde. I own several other books by Okami Books which seems to be a publisher for a variety of artists. I’m pleased to find such a diverse publisher and will be looking for new releases by this company in the future.

The 40 designs in this book are of doodle creatures. If you are at all familiar with the Doodle books by Zifflin, you may possibly recognize the genre of sketch which involves these little creatures.
In this book, the creatures are overwhelming all in their path. Invasion is a good word for what is going on. From the man sitting and watching a movie (eating popcorn) and covered in the little creatures to the waves being filled with them swimming and surfing to the hand which is (painfully) inundated by ferocious aliens, the little guys are everywhere. It should make great fun to play with various color while coloring each of them.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
40 Designs of Doodle Creatures in an overwhelming invasion
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
The designs do not merge into the binding.
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 blending stick. I tested both oil and wax based pencils. I also found that hard lead pencils leave dents through the paper.
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.

Psalms in Color: Cards to Color and Share

By: Christian Art Gifts

Rating: 5 of 5

I now have my fourth set of Christian coloring cards by this publisher and each one is better than the last. I especially appreciate this set of 44 cards which are based on verses from the Psalms. The cards in this set are inspired by the coloring pages in their previous coloring book The Psalms in Color. While the cards are similar to the book, the designs have been reduced, cropped, and/or reworked to fit the new format of a smaller card. The verses are all from the Psalms and cites are also listed.

I always go to the Psalms when I need to be reminded that I am to praise God at all times. The Psalmist has expressed both happiness and sadness and still praises God. I can find both comfort and joy in reading through the book. One of my favorites verses was the basis for the late Andra Crouch’s song, Bless the Lord, Oh my Soul. It is a tune that I grew up with and which runs through my mind throughout the day.
While I cannot find translation information on the cards, the coloring book from which they are derived listed the following Bible translations used for the verses are: The Holy Bible NIV, the Holy Bible New Living Translation, the New King James Version and The Holy Bible English Standard Version.
The cards are 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches. Sixteen of the cards are in horizontal format and the rest are vertical. The color is very light ivory (almost a warm white), the texture is slightly smooth on the design side and extremely smooth (probably with a coating) on the reverse blank side. They are a great size for on the go.
While I have colored and given away many cards from the first two sets by the publisher, and plan to do so with my last set as well, the first set of these cards will be for me. After coloring it, I want to carry one around with me daily throughout the month to remind myself to Praise God in All things. I will pick up an additional set to color for friends and family.
The designs are printed fairly small and I found that using my ultra-fine markers, smaller nib gel pens, and hard lead coloring pencils worked the best for me. Some of the cards have very tiny areas to color but that is to be expected with such a small coloring area.
As with the previous sets, none of my various coloring medium bled through this paper. That includes alcohol-based markers, water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens. It is a great quality card stock and the cards are well made and printed on it.
My coloring pencils worked well but there wasn’t really enough surface to do much with blending; however, when I tested them, both oil and wax based pencils blended well using a pencil style blending stick.

Proverbs in Color: Cards to Color and Share

By: Christian Art Gifts

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my third in the series of Christian coloring cards by this publisher. The 44 cards are inspired by the coloring pages in their previous coloring book A Garland of Grace. While the cards are similar to the book, the designs have been reduced, cropped, and/or slightly reworked to fit the new format of a smaller card. All of the cards have quotes and cites to the Proverbs.
For me, the Proverbs are one of the first books in the Bible I search out when I am trying to learn how I should be living my life. There are life lessons to be learned from each quote and sometimes I find them easy and sometimes I find it more difficult even though I know they are right.

While I cannot find translation information on the cards, the coloring book from which they are derived listed the following Bible translations used for the verses are: Holy Bible, New International Version NIV, Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version, and Holy Bible, English Standard Version.
The cards are 3 1/8 x 4 1/8 inches. Eight of the cards are in horizontal format and the rest are vertical. The color is very light ivory (almost a warm white), the texture is slightly smooth on the design side and extremely smooth (probably with a coating) on the reverse blank side. They are a great size for on the go.
I found, with my prior sets, that they worked wonderfully at Home Group as both women and men enjoyed finished the evening coloring a card. I also enjoy dropping them in as a small gift with other items as well as coloring them and using them as gift cards or a special pick-me-up gift for my friends and family. It’s so nice that at this wonderful value, I can purchase sets over again when I run out.
The designs are printed fairly small and I found that using my ultra-fine markers, smaller nib gel pens, and hard lead coloring pencils worked the best for me. Some of the cards have very tiny areas to color but that is to be expected with such a small coloring area.
As with the previous sets, not one of of my coloring medium bled through this paper. That includes alcohol-based markers, water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens. That makes it some of the best coloring card stock I have used.
My coloring pencils worked well but there wasn’t really enough surface to do much with blending; however, when I tested them, both oil and wax based pencils blended well using a pencil style blending stick.

The Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book

By: Marissa Meyer

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a beautifully illustrated coloring book based on the New York Times Best selling series by Marissa Meyer, The Lunar Chronicles. The designs are by a fan artist, Kathryn Gee. For the most part, the designs represent four of the books in the series (Cinder, Scarlett, Cress, and Winter) though there is one design from Stars Above. The designs wonderfully represent the series which is a great cross of science fiction and fairy tales.

The designs are divided into four sections: The Crew, Allies and Villains, The World of the Lunar Chronicles, and Moments. On the facing page of each design is an excerpt from one of the books or, at the beginning of each section, an interesting note from Ms. Meyer about the process of writing the series.
Each section develops around its theme. In The Crew, there are designs of many characters (and my favorites!), including: Linh Cinder, Emperor Kaito, Iko, Scarlet Benoit, Ze’ev Wolf Kesley, Crescent Moon Cress Darnel, Captain Carswell Thorne, Princess Winter Hayle-Blackburn, and Sir Jacin Clay. The three other sections have additional characters, locations, and scenes from the book. It’s a great representation of the stories for fans of the books.
Additionally, Ms. Meyer tells the fun and interesting story of how the coloring book came to be. I think it is great that Ms. Meyer chose a fan-artist to illustrate the book and the story behind that choice makes the coloring book even more special. There is a special illustration that started the ball rolling on the project. I’ll include that one first in the photos that I upload.
The designs are detailed and will be fun to color. They are not so intricate that they will require special nib pens, markers, etc. but each one will provide hours of coloring time.
This is what I found 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 to test this book and which I generally use in my coloring projects.
46 Design Pages with quotes from books printed on back of page
Designs printed on one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly smooth, and perforated
Sewn Binding
You can remove pages from the book at the perforations but I don’t plan to do so as it will break the continuity of the story included.
While most designs stop short of the perforations, some designs are printed across the perforations and into the binding area.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper. Rather than remove pages from the book, I use card stock as a blotter when using this medium. It will soak through the design page but the card stock stops it from bleeding through and damaging the page below.
Water-based markers, India ink and gel pens do not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page.
Colored Pencils work well with this paper. I tested both oil and wax-base pencils and got good results with both. My tests were for pigment lay down, layering the same color, layering multiple colors, and blending using a pencil style blending stick.

Doodles in Outer Space – Adult Coloring Books: Relax on an Intergalactic Journey through the Universe

By: Julia Rivers

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my second book of doodle creatures by this publisher. As with the Zifflin line of doodle books, so far each of the books by Okami Books has had a different illustrator. The artist for this book is Irvin Ranada and the theme is doodle creatures in outer space. This is my second book by this artist (the first was from another publisher) and I appreciate his style of artwork.

The designs are so cute and quirky that just looking at them makes me smile. They are very detailed to color and some have intricate and small spots as well. I especially enjoy the picture of the alien cats in outer space but there are so many I enjoy, I know that I will spend hours with this book.
This is the style of book that will appeal to people with a quirky sense of humor who also like drawing many small elements on each page. There is a fun sense of abandonment to reason when I color doodle creatures. I can use any colors or medium I wish making it cohesive through color or giving it a feeling of dissonance or disharmony through color as well.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
40 Detailed Doodle Creatures designs in outer space
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: 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. The designs have a framing line at 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 blending stick. I tested both oil and wax based pencils. I also found that hard lead pencils leave dents through the paper.
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.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: A Book of 20 Postcards to Color

By: HarperCollins Publishers

Rating: 5 of 5

I’ll include a silent flip-through video as well as a few sample photos so you can see if this book will work for you.

This is a set of postcards (from Harper Collins) which is based on the first coloring book in the new Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series. Postcards are, by nature, somewhat more difficult to color as everything is scaled so much smaller than in a book. I’ve found that if I use small nib gel pens, ultra-fine point markers, and very sharp and hard pencils, I have an easier time getting into all the small and intricate details.
The mix of designs in the postcards are fairly good for my taste. It includes many of the designs I enjoyed from the original coloring book and it will be nice to color them again (especially using small nib alcohol-based markers.) I don’t really send postcards per se, so I will probably mount these on folded cards and either frame them or give them as cards. That is my personal preference but these should hold up well as postcards in use provided you use waterproof medium so that rain and moisture won’t cause havoc with your coloring.
Here is a brief overview of what I found in this set of postcards:
20 Postcards based on the Fantastic Beasts Magical Characters coloring book.
Printed on one side of heavy weight, somewhat smooth, white card stock
Address and stamp areas are defined and printed on the back of the card
Postcards are glue bound with a hinged cover (think notepad style glue binding.) They are very easy to remove from the binding.
Alcohol-based markers left a faint shadow on the back of the card
Water-based markers, India ink and gel pens do not bleed through the card stock. Gel pens took a longer than usual time to dry.
Colored pencils worked well with this slightly smooth 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 fairly nice results using a blending stick.

Ukiyo-e: A Japanese Woodblock Coloring Book: A Unique Antistress Coloring Gift for Men, Women, Teenagers & Seniors with Samurai, Geishas, Dragons, … Relief, Mindful Meditation & Relaxation)

By: Papeterie Bleu

Rating: 5 of 5

I am a fan of Japanese art and have collected a few woodblock prints. This coloring book is a wonderful set of designs which capture the look and feel of my antique prints. I am so thrilled to have a fairly easy to color set of designs as other books that I own are very detailed and hard to color. This book has a nice level of detail but does not have tiny or intricate spots to color.

The designs range from female and male forms to birds, flowers, and fish. I know that I will color each picture in this book and will probably come back and buy another copy so I can do them over again in another colorway. The illustrations are by Ekaterina and I sincerely hope that she will continue in this series with new books in the future. I would love to see some designs with landscapes and seascapes (waves) in them.
This is now my third coloring book by Papeterie Bleu. It appears that having black line drawings on white with the back of the page in black with gray print is standard for this publisher. It is really interesting to work with and is only the second publisher I have come across who provides book in this manner. It also gives the white paper on the front of the page a kind of antique look which works extremely well with the idea of antique Japanese woodblock prints.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
30 Beautifully illustrated Japanese Woodblock print inspired 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.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Magical Creatures Coloring Book

By: HarperCollins Publishers

Rating: 5 of 5

Attached to this review will be a silent flip-through of the entire coloring book so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not it will work for you.

I have had a lot of fun with the first book in this series and am just as pleased with the second one. While there is more of a focus on the Magical Creatures, a good number of designs are also of characters and scenes.
Once again, the book is well made and the designs great as well. There are a color pictures on the inside of the front and back cover to give you some idea of color and setting if you choose to go realistically with your coloring. The scenes are set in New York in the 1926.
The designs are a nice mix of detailed and open and easy to color (notably some of the character designs are quite open and free of details.) There are a few designs that have intricate and small areas to color.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my various coloring medium. In the comments section below, I will list the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects:
78 Pages (including title page) of Fantastic Beasts Magical Creature inspired designs based on the movie
Printed on both sides of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly smooth and non-perforated
Binding is hybrid glue/sewn. If you wish to remove pages, you will have to cut them out. I do not plan on doing so as so much important detail will be lost especially on the two-page spreads.
Designs merge into the binding area
Seventeen designs spread across two pages. On my copy, the pages line up well.
Book can be opened fairly flat for coloring by breaking the spine, though it is still difficult to color into the binding area
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper rapidly. If you use this medium, you will definitely mar the design on the back of the page.
Water-based markers did not bleed through; however, Stabilo 88 and Staedler fineliners left the faintest of shadows on the back of the page.
Gel pens and India ink pens did not bleed through or leave shadows. Some gel pens required additional drying time.
Colored pencils worked well with this paper. I got fairly good pigment from both oil and wax-based pencils. Layering the same color for deeper pigment worked well as well as layering multiple colors. Blending with a pencil style blending stick worked pretty well though my Tombow Irojiten did not blend as well as my other pencils (perhaps due to their hardness.)