Daily Archives: December 19, 2016

Creative Haven Circular Cities Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: David Bodo

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my first coloring book by this design duo (David and La Jeana Bodo) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Certainly, the cover art is representative of what is inside as it is both a design in the book and a compilation of various elements from many of the designs in the book. While the designs are detailed, for the most part, there are no small and intricate parts to color.

While the city designs are circular, the design pages are not. There are corner or side elements on each page along with a framing line at the outer edge. I like the format as it gives you the fish-eye look at the city but still presents you wish an easily framed design if you should wish to frame your finished project(s).
The designs are of well-known cities around the world. Some of the most famous and recognizable landmarks of each city is included in the circular design. While seven of the designs are of cities in the United States, I still found the cities of other countries I would expect and many others that were a pleasing surprise.
The name of each city, along with the associated landmarks, are listed on the back of the applicable designs. I like that it is on the back as I want the ability to guess at which city is which based on what I know of the architecture of the place. It also keeps the information together if you remove pages from the book.
These are the cities that are included:
Bangkok, Barcelona, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Chicago, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Istanbul, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Mexico City, Miami, Montreal, Moscow, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Venice, Vienna, and the World Compilation.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper.
31 City/Architecture Designs in an unusual circular format
Designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding with perforations so you can remove them one at a time.
The designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through with colorful spots and 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 use more than one layer of color.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blending stick. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.
I generally prefer to use a blotter page under my working page to keep ink from seeping through but you can also remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.

Creative Haven Winged Fantasy Designs Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Aaron Pocock

Rating: 5 of 5

I have another coloring book by artist Aaron Pocock (Fantasy Designs) and enjoyed it so much I purchased this book before I could have a Look Inside peak at what it contained. I’m glad that I did so as it is a great representation of fantasy winged creature art. The range is from curious animals to elegant females and pretty much everything in between. Some of the designs are peaceful and some are quite furious in their aspect.

The designs themselves are quite detailed. There is a heavy use of shading. Many of the designs contain intricate spots to color which might require very small nib pens/markers or extremely sharp pencils. Because of that, it might not be for those who have fine motor or vision issues.
This is what I saw while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 Detailed Fantasy designs based on winged animals and creatures
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations
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.