Daily Archives: January 31, 2017

Big Kids Coloring Book: Fairy Houses and Fairy Doors, Vol. 4: 50+ Illustrations on Single-Sided Pages Plus Bonus Coloring Pages (Big Kids Coloring Books)

By: Dawn D. Boyer Ph.D.

Rating: 5 of 5

This coloring book is the fourth one in a series of fairy houses and doors. It is my first coloring book in the series and I was amazed at the quantity and quality of the hand-drawn designs. It is hard to imagine that there are three other books all filled with original artwork in the same subject matter but I will certainly be looking for more in the series in the future.

There are 52 new fairy house/door designs ranging from houses built into trees to toadstool houses and more. In a few of the designs, there is even a fairy who pops in. The designs are detailed and some include intricate areas to color.
In addition to the 52 designs (plus title page), there are 23 designs/activities from other books in the Big Kids Coloring Book line.) These pages are printed on both sides of the page where the actual fairy house/door designs are printed single side.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
52 Hand-drawn fairy house and door designs; fourth book in series
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical inexpensive quality such as that used by CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
The designs do not extend into the binding area. There is plenty of room to cut out pages if you choose to do so.
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.

Art of Coloring: Beauty and the Beast: 100 Images to Inspire Creativity

By: Disney Book Group

Rating: 3 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 book are based on the Live Action movie Beauty and the Beast and not the cartoon version that was re-released in 2016. The designs are nicely drawn with a manageable level of detail. The issue for me is the actual content of the designs. I think the book ends up being simply okay when it could have been much nicer.
There are 124 pages with designs on them but most are not character studies. In fact, the most prominent subject is books. There are fully 23 designs devoted to book studies most of which are more in the nature of wall-paper style designs. There are not that many designs of Belle or Beast in the book.
The book does not include any designs of Belle’s father nor of Gaston. It does include Mrs. Potts, Chip, Lumiere and Cogsworth but they are very few. A good number of the few character studies included have the character in solid black silhouette. That means you can’t color the character but simply the space and swirls and twirls around them.
There are 68 repeating wall-paper style designs in the coloring book. Some of these patterns are duplicated. A few have a banner of words added (at the end of the book) but are really a repeat of an earlier page of wall-paper. That means more than half of the book is repeating patterns and, for me, that is way too many.
Given the number of wall-paper designs, it is very disappointing to me that they were not placed on the backside of character designs. It could easily have been done if the publisher had given it proper attention. I would be happy to waste a wall-paper design in order to use markers but the choice becomes difficult when one of the few character designs backs onto another character designs (such as Belle on one side and the Beast on the back.)
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. Beauty and the Beast has a soft cover, is smaller, has thinner paper, has glue binding and has perforated pages. One of the nice improvements in Beauty and the Beast is that the designs are limited to one page they do not spread across two pages as have other books in this series.
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 which is thinner than that of the earliest books in the series.
This is what I found while coloring in the book and testing my color medium on the paper.
124 Live Action Beauty and the Beast inspired Design pages
Includes 68 pages of wall-paper style repeating designs
Printed on both sides of page; however designs are limited to one page only (no two-page spreads).
Paper is medium weight, white, very slightly rough, and perforated
Glue binding
Many designs extend across the perforations, some into the binding. I was able to break the spine to get into the binding area a bit easier. If you remove pages, you will not lose anything integral to the 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.

Adult Coloring Books: Floral Garden Coloring Books for Adults Relaxation (Flowers, Animals, and Gardens)

By: Adult Coloring Books

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a coloring book which has a variety of subjects in it. The title does not specify which; however, on the title page it does mention gardens and floral animals. I would say the majority of the designs have flowers in them.

It is fairly obvious that many of the elements of a design are reused over and over within the design (e.g., the same flower in different sizes and flipped and angled differently throughout the design.) Some elements are repeated within more than one design. Having said that, the designs are still pleasing to color. These are not wall-paper style designs (though there are a few of those in the book) where a design is filled with repeats over and over again. I just wish there was a little more variation on the repeated elements.
The designs are detailed and fun to color. Some of the designs have intricate and small areas to color. These may require small nib pens/markers and thin, sharp pencil points for coloring. Because of this, I don’t recommend this coloring book to any one who has fine motor or vision issues.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
40 Detailed and Swirling Designs with emphasis on flowers and animals
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical inexpensive quality such as that used by CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
Some designs merge into the binding; however, most do not. Most have unfinished elements at all four edges of the edges with blank space beyond.
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.