Daily Archives: February 8, 2017

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.

The Enchanting Fairies Colouring Book

By: Margaret Tarrant

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a really beautiful coloring book of designs based on the outstanding artwork of Margaret Tarrant. Whoever was responsible for the translation of the full color designs to line drawings (brown on white pages) did a wonderful job. The designs are show on the right side of the page and a full color image of the artwork is shown on the left side of the page.

The designs are detailed but not what I call intricate. I am able to use standard sizes of nibs for most of the artwork, though crayons might not be able to be sharpened enough to do some of the more detailed areas.
There is a short history of Ms. Tarrant’s art at the front of the book. There are also title banners on each of the designs which is very helpful in seeing what the artist had in mind originally.
This is what I found while coloring in the book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
45 Line Drawing Fairy designs based on the artwork of Margaret Tarrant
Designs printed right side of page with full color image printed on the left side of page
Paper is white, medium weight, slightly rough and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding. There are framing lines at the outer edge of the designs.
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 show colorful shadows on the back of the page.
Colored pencils worked well with this paper. I tested both oil and wax based and could easily layer the same or different colors and blend using a pencil style blender stick.