Daily Archives: April 24, 2017

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.