Monthly Archives: April 2017

Horses: An Adult Coloring Book with Beautiful Wild Horses, Romantic Country Scenes, and Relaxing Western Landscapes

By: Jade Summer

Rating: 5 of 5

The designs in this coloring book are of horses in many different scenarios. There are horses running free, horses with their female owners, racing horses and a good number of designs based on cowboys and the wild west. The designs are lovely and detailed with elaborate settings as well as beautifully drawn horses.

The designs are extremely detailed and have many intricate and small areas to color. There is a lot of shading by way of delicate crosshatch (lines) rather than a heavy use of black. Because of the intricacy of most designs, I don’t recommend this book for anyone with fine motor or vision issues.
While you can have access to .PDFs when you purchase this book, my review is based on the book as it is received from Amazon. That way you will know what the pages look like and how they accept color. I like that the publisher provides the digital version as well so you can choose the paper you wish to use and/or to color the pictures as many times as you choose.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
20 Horse designs with two copies each for a total of 40 coloring pages
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated. The back of the page is printed black.
The designs do not merge into the binding. There is a heavy framing line at the outer edges of the design to give the project a more finished look, especially for framing.
Glue Binding (there is room to cut the pages out if you choose to do so.)
Though you cannot see the bleed-through easily due to the back of the page being printed in black, I recommend the use of a blotter page when working in this 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.
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.

Dragon Adventure 2: A Kaleidoscopia Coloring Book: The Adventure Continues (Volume 2)

By: Rachael Mayo

Rating: 5 of 5

This is the second book in a series of dragon designs by Rachael Mayo. It is my first and I will certainly be picking up her earlier coloring book now that I have seen both the imaginative drawing and the quality of her work.

There are dragons in many poses. Most are of a single dragon but there are designs which include other dragons and other fantasy creatures. The dragons are set on backgrounds which range from simple to detailed. It is a great all-around coloring book for those who enjoy dragons and fantasy subject matter.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
52 intricate and detailed dragon designs
Printed 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 area. There is a framing line at the outer edges of all four sides of the design.
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.

Desert Dreams: Coloring a Land of Enchantment

By: Geninne D Zlatkis

Rating: 5 of 5

The designs in this coloring book remind me of the years that I spent living in a small desert town. There is an abundance of unusual animals and plants which are beautiful in their stark surroundings. For instance, when one thinks of cactus, the first thought is of the dangerous spikes that cover them. Having lived around them, I always think of their beautiful and colorful flowers which stand out against the desert setting. The book has wonderful drawings of cactus with flowers and without. There are also many animals, including wolves, owls, birds of all sorts, lizards, jack rabbits and more.

The designs range from open and flowing to more detailed ones with intricate parts to color. While most of the animals are represented more realistically than not, there are a few which have doodle elements within their outlines. It makes for a nice change of pace in the coloring book.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
40 Hand-drawn designs inspired by desert flora and fauna
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly rough, and micro-perforated
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge past the perforations and most have a frame line or frame of sorts around the outside edge
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page and some bleed through the page in spots
I use a blotter page below my working page when using these wet mediums. It keeps the ink from seeping through. You can also remove pages before coloring to keep the rest of the book from being damaged.
Gel pens leave a slight shadow on the back of the page but do not bleed through. Some pens require additional drying time.
Colored pencils work well with this slightly rough paper. I was able to get good pigment with light layers. I was also able to layer multiple colors well and blend easily with a pencil style blending stick. I tested both oil and wax based pencils with equally good results.

Dinosaurs: A Coloring Book by William Stout

By: William Stout

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book packed with more than 80 dinosaurs featured in designs. There is a heavy use of black for shading on most of the designs. The dinosaurs are part of a design which includes the background it is not just the dinosaur by itself. Each of the designs has a framing line at the outer edges. The designs are detailed and intricate and small areas to color.

The dinosaurs in the designs range from very realistic to slightly cartoon-like in nature. At the back of the book, there is an index of sorts which provides details about some of the dinosaurs. It provides the name and other information including, in some cases, where a specimen has been found.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium.
Wonderful dinosaur designs based on the artwork of William Stout
Printed on both sides of the page; no two-page spread designs
Paper is medium weight, white, somewhat smooth, and non-perforated.
Sewn binding which can easily be snipped to remove a number of pages at a time.
The designs do not merge into the binding area and have a framing line at their outer edges.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. If you use these, you will have ink seep through and mar the design on the back of the page.
Water-based markers, gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the page.
Colored pencils work okay with the paper. I was able to blend, layer the same and multiple colors using both oil and wax-based pencils. Blending was done better with wet blending medium versus a pencil style blending stick as the stick had a tendency to smear rather than blend the colors.

Creative Haven Fantastical Dragons Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Aaron Pocock

Rating: 5 of 5

I have two other coloring book by artist Aaron Pocock and enjoy his artwork. In Fantastical Dragons the subject is, of course, dragons. There are touches of other fantasy in some of the designs but you will see dragons in every one. The dragons range from rather menacing to gentle (especially those with the maidens nearby.)

The designs themselves are quite detailed. Some of the designs have a heavier use of crosshatch shading than the majority of the designs. Most of the designs contain intricate spots to color which might require very small nib pens/markers or extremely sharp pencils. Because of that, it might not be for those who have fine motor or vision issues.
This is what I saw while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 Dragon designs with touches of other fantasy by Aaron Pocock
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages. I’ve noticed that some Creative Haven books have slightly rougher paper than others. This is one of the ones that is slightly more smooth.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show colorful shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I apply more than one layer of ink.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.
I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.

Women of the Ukiyo-e (Dover Fashion Coloring Book)

By: Ming-Ju Sun

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a lovely book of designs based on the Edo period of Japanese history and Ukiyo-e artwork (1615 through 1868.) Each of the designs in the book has the information about the original artist (from whose woodblock prints the line drawings in this book are derived.) It gives the name, date and information about what the design represents. The designs are detailed and some have intricate and small areas to color.

Many of my coloring books by Ming-Ju Sun are in the Creative Haven line. This book is older and is currently out of print. It was released as a standard Dover Coloring book. The difference is distinctive as this book is printed on both sides of the page, has a slightly different feel to the paper, and is not perforated.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium.
30 Japanese art inspired designs based on the Edo period of Ukiyo-e artwork.
Printed on both sides of the page
Paper is medium weight, lightly rough, white and non-perforated
Staple bound with three heavy duty staples
Designs stop well before the binding area and can be removed in whole from the book by removing the three staples at the binding.
All designs have a framing line around the outer edge to give a natural stopping point for the design and all of the elements within it. I really appreciate this feature in coloring books.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers spot through and/or leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through in spots if you apply heavily or use multiple coats.
Colored pencils worked well with this paper. Both oil and wax-based pencils provided good pigment, layered well with the same or multiple colors and blended well using a blending stick. Hard lead pencils did not dent through the page.
If you choose to use any medium other than colored pencils on the pages of this book, you will probably find bleed through or colorful shadows on the design at the back of your working page.

Color Your Own Guardians of the Galaxy

By: Marvel Comics

Rating: 5 of 5

I will attach a silent video to this review of a page by page flip-through so you can decide for yourself if it suits your needs. I’ll also attach some sample photos of the pages as well.

This is the latest coloring book release based on Marvel comics. The designs in this book are based on the characters of Guardians of the Galaxy comics. As with other coloring books in this series, the designs are printed on one side and the pages are perforated. Also, unlike other comic book coloring books (which are merely black and white versions of actual comics), there are no words printed on these pages. I really like all of the Color Your Own books and this one especially. The characters are the ones that I wanted to see and will be happy to color.
The designs are highly detailed with small and intricate areas to color. The designs are done by a large group of individuals. Interestingly, though there are many different styles represented, the book is still a great cohesive presentation of the series. There is a heavy use of black in the designs which doesn’t bother me but may be an issue for others.
This is what I found while coloring in the book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
60 designs based on the Guardians of the Galaxy comic series characters
Printed one side of the page
Paper is white, medium weight, slightly rough and perforated
Glue Binding
The designs stop at the perforations
Alcohol and water based markers bleed through the paper to some degree
Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Colored pencils work well with the paper. I tested both oil and wax based with good results. I could get good pigment due to the rough tooth of the paper. I could layer the same and multiple colors easily and blend well using a pencil style blending stick. Hard lead pencils can leave dents through the paper.
I use and suggest others use a blotter page behind the working page (if you don’t remove pages from the book to color.) I use card stock but a couple of sheets of heavy weight paper work well, too.