Monthly Archives: February 2017

Lang Reflections Coloring Book by Tim Coffey (1020106)

By: Lang

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a lovely book of bird and birdhouse designs. The designs are quite detailed though not what I would consider intricate with small areas to color. Tim Coffey’s designs are fairly open with easy to color spaces.

My only issue with the book is that all of the designs extend to the edges of the paper on all four sides (including past the perforations and spiral binding on the bound side.) This makes it difficult to color.
The coloring book has 100 pages and is very well made. I wish most coloring books were made to this level, let alone having so many designs to choose from. It is an extremely well published book (as are all of the spiral bound Lang books.)
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
100 Original Bird and Birdhouse designs by Tim Coffey
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and perforated
Almost all of the designs do cross over the perforations and past the spiral binding. However, if you remove pages from the book, 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 this paper only slightly. 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.

Colour My Sketchbook DRAGONS

By: Bennett Klein

Rating: 5 of 5

I have a number of Bennett Klein’s coloring books and have been hoping that he would do one dedicated to dragons and here it is! It is everything I had hoped for and more. The designs are printed primarily on white backgrounds but a few of them have black printed backgrounds. The dragons have a fierce and very realistic look to them. They are fearsome dragons but seem very gentle with their chosen companions. I am so appreciative of this particular book that I am buying extras for gifts for my friends and family who enjoy coloring fantasy.

As with his other coloring books with black backgrounds, the designs in this format in this book also have wonderful gray tone elements which give the overall look a wonderful accent.
I will be able to use both my markers and my colored pencils while coloring in this book. As that is my preferred coloring method (markers for background and pencils for details), I am very happy with the way the book has been published.
The artist provides a table of contents with the title of each of his pieces of art. I really appreciate that extra touch as many of the titles give context to his intent with the design.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper.
25 Hand-drawn Dragon illustrations with both white and black backgrounds
Designs are printed on one side of thin, slightly rough non-perforated paper typical of CreateSpace. All of the paper is white; if there is a black background, it is printed on white paper.
Glue Binding
Easy to open to flat position for coloring
Designs do not merge into the binding and there is plenty of room to cut pages out if you choose to do so
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page to some degree. Water-based bleed through in spots while alcohol-based bleed through freely
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of page. India ink can bleed through if you use multiple layers or apply heavily.
Colored pencils work well with this paper. Both oil and wax based provide good color when I use multiple layers of the same color. I am easily able to blend (using a pencil style blender stick) and layer multiple colors as well. Hard lead pencils leave dents through the back of the page.
Because of the bleed through and dents, I suggest (and use) a blotter page below my working page no matter what medium I use. I prefer card stock but several sheets of heavyweight paper work as well.

Bless Our Nest Coloring Book:Including Designs for Bible Journaling (Creative Faith)

By: Robin Pickens

Rating: 5 of 5

Bless Our Nest is a Christian inspired set of designs. Some of the designs have Scripture quotes (with cites) and others have inspirational Christian sayings. Some of the words used in the designs can be colored but many are printed in black on white and the coloring is in the design portion rather than the words. I’m not sure which translation the verses come from as there isn’t a copyright statement to that effect.

The back of the design page has questions and suggestions for activities which will lead you in your Christian walk. There are also some smaller coloring elements and journal lines in a very light gray tone.
The designs put the message front and center. The hand-drawn coloring elements support the message either by emphasizing it or bringing the subject of the message to life in illustration. The drawings are detailed and some have intricate areas to color.
There are 32 pages of designs. Twenty one are of full size designs, three are of smaller elements (such as bookmarks, corner illustrations, and gift tags) and eight are of purposefully reduced designs.
The publisher continues to print 8 pages of their books as medium rather than full size (to include information at the bottom which could be printed elsewhere in the book.) As this is something that they are doing with all of their books, I know when I purchase one what to expect.
While it has caused me to buy many less books by this publisher, especially when I know that artist does extremely intricate designs, I won’t detract a star from my rating on this book as I know that the book will contain these smaller than desirable images.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
32 pages of Christian based designs
Printed one side of the page back of page has soft gray design, journal lines and thought provoking questions or activities
Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and perforated
Glue Binding
Designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers leave colorful shadows and bleed through in very noticeable spots.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page and can spot through to the back of the page if applied heavily.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. Both oil and wax based pencils provide good color, layer, and blend well using a blender stick. Hard lead pencils can dent through the page.
I use a blotter page of card stock or heavyweight paper (two sheets) to keep seeping ink and dents from marring the pages below. I recommend using a blotter or that you remove pages before coloring.

Dominion of Giants Coloring Book: Behemoths of the Fantasy World

By: Eric Messinger

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a new fantasy coloring book by Eric Messinger. I wasn’t familiar with his work but took a chance with this book and I am really happy I did so. The designs are wonderfully hand-drawn and show a race of giants who rule over the earth.

Some of the designs have a bit more of a sketch type look to them with heavier black and gray for shading. The subjects of the designs range from elegant and beautiful to slightly macabre. It is a great look at a new (to me) artist’s take on fantasy.
The designs are quite detailed and most have intricate and small parts to color. I would not suggest this book for anyone with fine motor or vision issues because of the intricate areas to color.
The publisher has printed been 8 of the designs in less than full size. They have included a thumbnail color sample and some sample colors used in their design for inspiration. It takes up the bottom 1.5 inches of the page. This information could be printed on a separate page or on the actual color sample page rather than on the coloring page.
As this is something that they are doing with all of their books for about a year now, I know when I purchase one what to expect. While it has caused me to buy many less books by this publisher, I won’t detract a star from my rating as I know that the book will contain these smaller than desirable images.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
32 Fantasy designs based on the artwork of Eric Messinger 24 large and 8 medium size designs.
Printed one side of the page back of page has soft gray design, journal lines, small designs and interesting quotes
Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and perforated
Glue Binding
Designs stop well before the perforations and have framing lines at the outer edges
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers leave colorful shadows and bleed through in very noticeable spots.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page and can spot through to the back of the page if applied heavily.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. Both oil and wax based pencils provide good color, layer, and blend well using a blender stick. Hard lead pencils can dent through the page.
I use a blotter page of card stock or heavyweight paper (two sheets) to keep seeping ink and dents from marring the pages below. I recommend using a blotter or that you remove pages before coloring.

Faith, Hope, and Love Coloring Book (Creative Faith)

By: Robin Pickens

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my second coloring book by Robin Pickens. The first was Christmas inspired and I really enjoyed it. When I saw that Ms. Pickens had come out with a Christian coloring book, I picked it up immediately.

The designs are both from Scripture (with verse cites) and Christian inspirations messages. The back of the design page has questions and suggestions for activities which will lead you in your Christian walk. There are also some smaller coloring elements and journal lines in a very light gray tone.
The designs put the message front and center. The hand-drawn coloring elements support the message either by emphasizing it or bringing the subject of the message to life in illustration. The drawings are detailed and some have intricate areas to color.
There are 32 pages of designs. Twenty one are of full size designs, three are of smaller elements (such as bookmarks, corner illustrations, and gift tags) and eight are of purposefully reduced designs.
The last is the only thing I don’t really like about the book. The publisher has been doing for about a year now. They are printing 8 of the designs in less than full size. They have included a thumbnail color sample, some sample colors used in their design for inspiration and a few words to talk about the colors. It takes up the bottom 2.5 inches of the page. This information could be printed on a separate page or on the actual color sample page rather than on the coloring page.
As this is something that they are doing with all of their books, I know when I purchase one what to expect. While it has caused me to buy many less books by this publisher, I won’t detract a star from my rating as I know that the book will contain these smaller than desirable images.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
32 pages of Christian based designs
Printed one side of the page back of page has soft gray design, journal lines and thought provoking questions or activities
Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and perforated
Glue Binding
Designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers leave colorful shadows and bleed through in very noticeable spots.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page and can spot through to the back of the page if applied heavily.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. Both oil and wax based pencils provide good color, layer, and blend well using a blender stick. Hard lead pencils can dent through the page.
I use a blotter page of card stock or heavyweight paper (two sheets) to keep seeping ink and dents from marring the pages below. I recommend using a blotter or that you remove pages before coloring.

Fantasy Adventure Coloring Book: Dragons, Dwarves, Elves, and Other Extraordinary Creatures

By: Eric Messinger

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a great fantasy coloring book by Eric Messinger. It includes Dragons, Dwarves, Elves and other creatures. The designs are hand-drawn and show the forgotten creatures that (in fantasy world) populated our lands and became the myths that we are familiar with today. The creatures have a fantastic magical quality to them that I find really appealing.

Some of the designs have a bit of gray linear and crosshatch shading but they are mostly line drawing style designs. There is a wide range of fantasy creatures so, for me, it is a really versatile and complete coloring book.
The designs are quite detailed and most have intricate and small parts to color. I would not suggest this book for anyone with fine motor or vision issues because of the intricate areas to color.
Once again, the publisher has printed 8 of the designs in less than full size. They have included a thumbnail color sample and some sample colors used in their design for inspiration. It takes up the bottom 1.5 inches of the page. This information could be printed on a separate page or on the actual color sample page rather than on the coloring page.
As this is something that they are doing with all of their books for about a year now, I know when I purchase one what to expect. While it has caused me to buy many less books by this publisher, I won’t detract a star from my rating as I know that the book will contain these smaller than desirable images.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
32 Fantasy designs in a wide variety of characters 24 large and 8 medium size designs.
Printed one side of the page back of page has soft gray design, journal lines, small designs and interesting quotes
Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and perforated
Glue Binding
Designs stop well before the perforations and have framing lines at the outer edges
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers leave colorful shadows and bleed through in very noticeable spots.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page and can spot through to the back of the page if applied heavily.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. Both oil and wax based pencils provide good color, layer, and blend well using a blender stick. Hard lead pencils can dent through the page.
I use a blotter page of card stock or heavyweight paper (two sheets) to keep seeping ink and dents from marring the pages below. I recommend using a blotter or that you remove pages before coloring.

The Hobbit Movie Trilogy: Heroes and Villains Coloring Book

By: Warner Brothers Studio

Rating: 5 of 5

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

Please note that this coloring book is based on the movie version of The Hobbit. The characters look like those actors or characters rather than any illustrations in this books.
The designs in this coloring book are by Nicolette Caven who also illustrated The Lord of the Rings coloring book. Where that book had two page spread designs, The Hobbit has only one page designs. The designs are split between character illustrations and descriptive pages (with some designs) on the facing page which tell who the character is and a little bit about the character.
The designs with the wording are generally fairly simple to color while the more elaborate character studies are detailed and have some intricate and small spots to color.
I really like the designs in this book. The characters look very much like the movie. The only thing I wish it included were some scenes that showed action but perhaps that will be the basis of another book.
This is what I experienced while coloring and testing this book:
38 Character Designs based on The Hobbit (including Title page)
Designs are printed on one side of the page with text and small amount of design on the back side of the page.
Paper is white, heavyweight, slightly smooth and non-perforated
Glue Bound
Some designs spread into the binding area but usually involve non-essential portions of the design.
Alcohol-based markers bled through the page.
Water-based markers left shadows on the back of the page. Tombow brush end markers did the best but the darker and bright colors still left shadows.
India ink pens left shadows on the back of the page.
Some gel pens left slight and indistinct shadows on the back of the page. It was noticeable with bright and very dark colors.
Coloring pencils worked well with this paper. I was able to get good color from both wax and oil-based pencils. I was able to layer the same and multiple colors and to blend well using a blender stick.

Dream Weaver: A Coloring Adventure to Help You Dream the Night Away

By: Olivia Whitworth

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a storybook coloring book based on the imaginary dreams of a young woman. As she goes to sleep, we see a visual of her dreams as if they were somehow coming out of her ear. Most of the designs show the prospective of being in the dream, though showing the woman in the images. A few include a step back to seeing the woman asleep with her dreams surrounding her.

The designs include a wide variety of subjects and I found that many had a bit of an Asian vibe. There are Koi fish, birds, balloons, oceans, forests, kites, flowers, paper lanterns, peacocks, and even kitties. The designs are quite details and some have smaller and more intricate areas to color.
This is what I found while coloring in the book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
94 pages of dream inspired designs
Printed both sides of page
Paper is white, heavyweight, slightly smooth and non-perforated
Sewn binding
Designs merge into the binding. Many of the designs are two-pages spreads with integral elements at the binding area.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. If you use this medium, it will leak through and mar the design on the back of the page.
Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens did not bleed through. Gel pens take longer than usual to dry.
Although the paper is slightly smooth to the touch, it still has enough tooth to get decent pigment from colored pencils. I tested both oil and wax based and could easily layer the same or different colors and blend using a pencil style blender stick.

My Colorful Town: A Coloring Tour

By: Chiaki Ida

Rating: 4 of 5

This is a really cute coloring book based on the imaginary story of a young girl walking through her town and seeing all of stores and other sights to see. The hand-drawn illustrations are very well done and will provide many hours of coloring fun. While the young girl is present in most designs, in some we get to see her town/shops as she does.

The only slightly odd thing I discovered about the book is that it seems that two types of paper were used. They are both the same color (very light ivory) but the texture is different. Most of the pages have a slightly rough feel when I run my thumb across them. There are a few (less than half) that feel very smooth when I do the same test. I’ve only had this happen once before with a book, so I don’t think this common and I question whether it was planned or not.
As my pencils react slightly differently to both types of paper, I knocked a star off my rating because of this issue. In the comments area below, I will provide a full listing of the various coloring medium I used to test both styles of paper. The only slight difference I noted was with pencils.
Apart from that, I really like the book. It is smaller than many of these style books (at only 9 x 9 inches) but I can still color the detailed drawings fairly easily. There are some area that have intricate and smaller elements to color.
This is what I experienced while coloring and testing this book:
68 pages of designs inspired by imaginary town (not including Title or intro pages)
Designs are both sides of page with many two-page spreads
Paper is light ivory, medium weight, non-perforated and some pages are slightly rough while others are fairly smooth.
Sewn Binding
Many designs spread into the binding area (especially, of course, the two-page spread designs.)
Alcohol-based markers bled through the page.
Water-based markers either left noticeable shadows or bleed through in small spots.
India ink pens and gel pens left colorful shadows on the back of the page. Gel pens took a longer time than normal to dry.
Coloring pencils worked well with this paper. I was able to get good color from both wax and oil-based pencils. I was able to layer the same and multiple colors fairly easily.
The rougher texture paper took the pigment well in light layers while the smoother texture paper took pigment well with one coat. Blending (with a blender stick) worked best with the rougher texture paper. I was able to blend with the smooth paper but it took a lighter touch to keep it from smearing.