Daily Archives: May 2, 2017

Romantic Country: The Third Tale: A Fantasy Coloring Book

By: Eriy

Rating: 5 of 5

I so enjoy this series of coloring books. I love that it is the continuing story of a fantasy land (Cocot) and Elena (the little girl) and her duck Joset. Each of the books is better than the last. In this story, along with illustrations of the land, some holidays (such as Christmas and Halloween) are represented. The book expands the nature of the fantasy land and makes for a cohesive series. That the artist’s work is beautiful and imaginative adds even more.

The artist, Eriy, has created her beautiful artwork using ink and a toothpick (lovely story in the first book explains she forgot to get a pen and made do with what she had on hand toothpicks!) Because of this technique, the lines of the drawings have a varying thickness and the print is lighter in tone than in other coloring books.
Once again, there is a map at the front of the book which shows all of the landmarks. There are thumbnails at the end of the book which explain each of the designs and what and where they are in Cocot. There is also a 3D pop-up card at the end of the book. You have to cut it out and color it but thankfully, there are good instructions for the how-to end of it.
The book is divided into five chapters: Chapter 1: Peaceful days in the North, Chapter 2: Peaceful days in the South, Chapter 3: Beautiful island scenes, Chapter 4: Good times for Elena and Joset, and Chapter 5: The passage of time in the Secret Forest. There are 64 designs (not including chapter heading illustrations, front pages and maps.) Of these, 16 are spread across two pages. The illustrations within each chapter relates to the subject matter of that chapter.
Each of the chapter heading pages includes a lovely two-page spread designs. There are a couple of designs at the front of the book which sit outside of the chapters. These designs are not included in the thumbnails at the back of the book.
The book has a brown kraft paper style attached cover. This cover has line drawings on front and back covers which you can color if you wish. The detached dustcover is beautifully illustrated with colorful designs of Cocot. The inside of the dustcover is white.
This is what I found when I was coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
64 Beautiful designs set in the fantasy land of Cocot. There are 16 two-page designs spreads. There are additional map and chapter heading illustrations and other bonus images to color.
Designs are printed on both sides of the page
Paper is cream colored, heavyweight, smooth and non-perforated.
Sewn Binding
Designs merge into the binding area and two-page spreads cross over the binding as well.
The book opens fairly flat for coloring but a little effort is needed to color into the binding edge
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper. I don’t suggest this medium as it will ruin the design on the back of the page. If you decide to use this style of markers, I suggest a blotter page of card stock or a couple of pages of heavyweight paper under your working page to keep ink from seeping further in to the book.
Water-based markers and India ink pens left slight shadows on the back of the page. I could see them and it bothered me enough not to want to use these for coloring my designs.
Gel pens did not bleed through but required additional drying time.
Colored pencils worked fairly well with this paper. I tested both oil and wax based pencils and had a little trouble blending with both. Due to the smooth texture of the paper, when I used a blending stick, there was a slight amount of smear versus blend. I found that wet blending medium worked better for me. Otherwise, colored pencils worked well. Pigment went on deep and thick and I was able to easily layer multiple colors.

Doug the Pug: The Coloring and Activity Book

By: Leslie Mosier

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book of Doug the Pug designs and activity pages. Doug starts off with a whirlwind trip around the United States and then takes it to the next level by traveling around the world. The designs hark back to famous locations or items for which each locale is famous (coffee in Seattle, poutine in Canada, the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, etc.) Front and center, though, is the star of the book Doug and Pug.

Some of the designs are detailed but not intricate and hard to color. The activity pages (word search, mazes, etc.) are all fairly easy and could be done fairly easily by an older child.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium.
90 Doug the Pug design and activity pages (75 line drawing pages and 15 activity pages.)
Printed on both sides of the page; no two-page spread designs
Paper is heavyweight, white, somewhat smooth, and non-perforated.
The binding is a hybrid of glue and sewn (many little stitches.) You cannot snip a few threads to remove pages but would have to cut pages out if you wish to remove them from the book.
The designs merge into the binding area and spread to the edges of all sides. I can open the book fairly flat for coloring by breaking the spine.
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; however, they do leave the slightly shadow on the backside of the page.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. I was able to blend, layer the same and multiple colors using both oil and wax-based pencils with ease.