Daily Archives: June 20, 2017

Alphonse Mucha (Art Colouring Book): Make Your Own Art Masterpiece (Colouring Books)

By: Daisy Seal

Rating: 5 of 5

This is one of a new series of Make Your Own Art Masterpiece coloring books from Flame Tree. In this book, the artwork of Alphonse Mucha is explored. Some of the line drawings are details rather than a full reproduction of the artwork. This allows the illustrator to reproduce much of the fine detail work of the piece. I have other coloring books which show full body reproductions, so I am really pleased to have this as something new and different.

There are 45 line drawing designs to color. The designs were chosen by Daisy Seal and were illustrated by David Jones. While today, we accept Alphonse Mucha as one of the most notable Art Nouveau artists, he did not agree. There is a one page discussion about the artist, his influences, works and life, at the beginning of the book.
The designs have a very nice level of detail but are not intricate and difficult to color. On the opposite facing page of each design, is the name of the work, when it was created and how it was published. There is a thumbnail of a small portion of the design with some color showing.
The inside flaps at the front and back of the book have black and white line drawings which can be colored as well. The cover is quite smooth but will accept various forms of color medium.
This is what I found in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper
45 Designs based on the artwork of artist Alphonse Mucha.
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is light ivory, heavy weight, slightly rough and is perforated.
Sewn Binding. You can remove pages at the perforations if you wish but it will separate the designs from the describing thumbnails.
Book fairly easy to lay flat in the open position.
The designs do not merge into the binding area. The designs have framing lines at their outer edges so you don’t have to color up to and over the edges.
Alcohol based markers bleed through this paper.
India ink pens can leave slight shadows of color on the back of the page.
Water based markers and gel pens do not bleed through the paper.
Coloring pencils worked well. Both oil and wax based pencils worked well for providing good pigment. Though the paper is slightly smooth, I was able to layer the same color for deeper tones, layer multiple colors and to blend easily using a pencil style blending stick.
If you use a medium that bleeds through the paper, I suggest using a blotter page under your working page. I use card stock but heavy weight paper works well, too. This will keep ink from seeping through and marring the pages below.