Daily Archives: April 11, 2017

Mythomorphia: An Extreme Coloring and Search Challenge

By: Kerby Rosanes

Rating: 5 of 5

I will attach a silent full book flip-through video to this review so you can see if it will work for you. I will also post a few photos of designs in the book.

I own both of Kerby Rosanes earlier books (Animorphia and Imagimorphia) and really like both books. I thought it might be difficult for the artist to reach the same level with his new book. I was wrong. This is absolutely my favorite Rosanes coloring book yet. The designs are beautiful and odd at the same time just what I want from this artist. The subject matter is cohesive and presents a great story of mythological creatures and stories.
What was different and made the book more unique, is that there is less of the doodle creatures in the designs. While I love the doodle style, it made for a wonderful change of pace to have less in this book. It really provided a fantastic view of the artist’s wide range of skill. I hope to see more coloring books in both styles in the future.
As soon as I held and saw the physical book in my hands, I immediately ordered a second copy. I want to be able to use whatever coloring medium I wish on these fantastic designs. I’ll probably pick up the UK version (in several months when it comes out) for pencil coloring as my experience is that the UK paper is best for that medium.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my various coloring medium on the paper.
53 Designs based on Mythological creatures and stories as interpreted in a refined form of Kerby Rosanes doodle style artwork.
Designs are printed on both sides of heavyweight soft white slightly smooth non-perforated paper
Many designs spread across two pages
Two page designs have a white strip running down both sides of the page at the binding
Hybrid Glued and Sewn Binding (lots of little stitches rather than the few in a sewn binding.) I don’t suggest cutting pages out as you will lose important parts of designs.
Had difficulty getting the book to open flat for coloring
Alcohol-based markers bleed through
Most water-based markers bleed through spotty (my only exception was the brush end of my Tombows which did not bleed through)
India ink pens left shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens did not leak through the paper
Coloring pencils did well with this paper. While it is slightly smooth, it still has enough tooth to grip pigment fairly well. I tested both oil and wax based pencils with similar results. I was able to layer the same color, multiple colors and also to blend fairly easily with a blending stick.