Daily Archives: January 29, 2017

Adorable Animals Grayscale Coloring Book

By: Jane Maday

Rating: 5 of 5

This grayscale coloring book is wonderful both for design content and for the quality of publishing. I have two other grayscale books which I consider excellent as well. The designs in this book are based on original artwork by Jane Maday.

The 54 designs in this book are really adorable, just as the title states. The animals are realistically drawn and include details such as fur and feathers which is a wonderful time saver in coloring. The animals have complete background artwork so when you have finished, you have a beautiful project that should be fairly easy to frame.
In addition to the great designs, the artist has included a good tutorial on how to color grayscale, along with step by step views of each stage of layering various coloring medium. This is one of the more comprehensive discussions I have seen on the technique actually included in a book. It is a wonderful resource both for this book and for other grayscale coloring books as well.
At the end of the book, there are colored photos of the original artwork which was included in the book. They are printed four to a page.
54 Animal Grayscale Designs based on artwork with full backgrounds
Printed one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly smooth and perforated
Sewn Binding
Designs do not extend past the perforations and fit well within the page for framing
Book opens fairly flat for ease of coloring (may need to crease or break spine)
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers, India Ink pens and gel pens do not bleed through but leave the very slightest of shadows on the back of the page.
Colored pencils work well with this paper. While slightly smooth, there is still enough tooth to the page to get good pigment coverage. I got deep color by layering multiple coats. I could also easily layer multiple colors and blend well using a blender stick. Both oil and wax based pencils worked equally well.