Monthly Archives: January 2017

Art of Coloring: Moana: 100 Images to Inspire Creativity

By: DBG

Rating: 4 of 5

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

The designs in this coloring book are quite cute and remind me of the film in good ways. Not all of the characters are represented but those who are have great quality designs.
The designs span from detailed to very simple. There are many wall-paper (repeating pattern) designs and there are really nice character studies. The designs range from simple line drawings to those where there are heavy lines and heavy use of black (which may be a problem for some.)
The book is part of the Art of Coloring series and has changed format in a number of ways from the earlier books in this series. Moana has a soft cover, is smaller, has thinner paper, has glue binding and has perforated pages. Personally, I don’t mind the change (except for the thinner paper) but it makes for a mismatched set. Having said that, I’ve recently seen (at my local bookstore) that the older books have changed format and are now being published in the same format as Moana.
The book is sized smaller at 10 7.8 x 7 inches (compared to approximately 11 1 /2 x 8 inches. For those who like to scan and print their pages on better paper, this will make it easier as it should work with most standard scanner/printers.
The soft cover is okay but I would have hoped for a better value on the book if the quality of the publishing was being diminished. That is also true of the paper. Moana has medium weight paper (compared to the heavy weight of the earlier books.)
The change from sewn to glue binding makes it more difficult to get the book to open flat for coloring. As the pages are now perforated, the lack of ease of snipping threads to remove pages is less important. While my pages line up well, they line up at the binding and the perforations and the glue binding make it difficult to open to see the continuity of the design.
The perforated pages are a nice change; however, given that the designs are printed on both sides of the page and many of the designs spread across two pages, the usefulness of the perforated pages is diminished.
One of my issues with designs/publishing is a heavy use of wall-paper designs. I would have been okay with this if the publisher had used some forethought and placed the wall-paper designs on the reverse of the more unique designs.
Because of the way the book was put together, for the most part, I will be using colored pencils. I will be willing to give up most of the wall-paper designs if I prefer to use markers on the reverse page but that will be limited to maybe a third of the designs in the book.
This is what I found while coloring in the book and testing my color medium on the paper.
124 Moana inspired Design pages
30 pages of wall-paper style repeating designs
17 Designs spread across two pages
Printed on both sides of page
Paper is medium weight, white, very slightly rough, and perforated
Glue binding
Many designs extend across the perforations, some into the binding. Certainly true of the two-page spreads and removing them from the book will result in loss of design. I was able to break the spine to get into the binding area a bit easier but there are still some issues with coloring and continuity of design.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper
Water-based markers either bled through or left colorful shadows on the back of the paper.
Gel pens and India ink pens left anywhere from colorful shadows to indistinct shadows on the back of the page but even at best, where still noticeable.
Colored pencils worked well with this paper. I was able to get good, deep pigment. I could layer easily (both same and different colors.) Blending was okay though the tooth of the paper was not optimal. I was able to blend with a pencil style blending stick.

Lovely Swirls: Coloring Book for Adults

By: Happy Coloring

Rating: 5 of 5

I own several coloring books by artist Stefania Miro so when I saw that she had a new swirl design book, I was very happy to purchase it. The 30 designs (31 if you include the title page which duplicates another design in the book) are of animals, birds, and flowers (and even a mermaid) with mostly swirling vines surrounding them. I don’t believe I saw a straight line anywhere in the coloring book.

The designs are detailed but not what I call intricate (i.e., with tiny spots to color.) Some of the designs are easily colored while others will take more time to complete.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
30 Flowing and Swirling designs
Designs are printed on 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 (there is room to cut the pages out if you choose to do so.)
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.

LANG – Adult Coloring Book – “Doodle House” – Artwork by Susan Winget – Hardcover – Spiral – Designs for Beginner to Expert – 100 Pages – 9″ x 11″

By: The LANG Companies, Inc

Rating: 5 of 5

I was surprised at how well this Lang coloring book is constructed; however, I was not surprised at all by how cute the designs were. I have seen Susan Winget’s designs in household goods and needlework for years and was really happy to find a coloring book filled to the brim with her designs.

The book is called Doodle House and it appears to be a glimpse at Ms. Winget’s sketchbook. The designs are hand-drawn and have the charming less than perfect look I expect from hand-drawn. I think that it makes coloring them more interesting and I am enjoying this book quite a bit.
Two things that I really like about the construction of the book are the spiral binding and the hard covers. The binding makes it easy to open the book to a flat position for coloring. It also makes it easy for leftys to color with the same easy as rightys. The hardcover gives a good flat surface for coloring on the go.
There are many designs with sayings as well as birds, animals and flowers. While it is not a book dedicated to the natural world, many of the designs lean that way. The designs are quite detailed but not what I would call intricate with tiny spots to color. As I mentioned previously, the hand-drawn nature of the artwork does show less than perfect. There are disconnected lines, a bit of uneven spacing, and even lines of varying thickness. It is that which gives it the sketchbook quality.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
100 Design pages featuring hand-drawn artwork by Susan Winget with a focus on nature
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and perforated
Designs do cross over the perforations but stop short of the spiral binding. If you remove pages from the book, the edge that you will lose does not contain essential elements of the design.
Spiral Binding with hard covers that help the book lay flat and provide a good coloring table
Alcohol-based markers bled through the paper lightly. I was surprised at how little bled through given that the paper is more medium in weight. I would still use a blotter of card stock to protect the designs below my working page when using these style of markers.
Water-based markers, gel pens and India ink pens did not bleed through or leave shadows on the back of the page.
Colored pencils worked well with this paper. It has a good tooth and allowed for applying layers of the same color to get rich pigment. I could also layer multiple colors well and I could blend both oil and wax based pencils easily with a pencil style blending stick.