Daily Archives: December 1, 2016

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.)