Daily Archives: July 2, 2017

Creative Haven Creative Kittens Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Marjorie Sarnat

Rating: 5 of 5

I own a number of Marjorie Sarnat’s coloring books the first of which was her cute Creative Cats. I’ve gone through a couple of copies of that book and was longing for more cute cat designs from Ms. Sarnat. Creative Kittens is an adorable follow-on to the Cats book. It shows a variety of kittens in cute and playful poses.

It reminds me of the four kittens my husband and I rescued and adopted (we also caught their feral mama and neutered and released her back around our house. The kittens were so playful and fun and I get the same feeling from this coloring book.
As with all of Ms. Sarnat’s coloring books, there is a high level of detail. While there are some small areas to color, I don’t consider the designs to be intricate and hard to color.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 Cute and fun to color kitten designs by Majorie Sarnat
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly rough and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations and each of the designs has a framing line at the outer edge.
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 and even better than many of the more recent Creative Haven coloring books I have bought. I was able to get good pigment (color) lay down, layer the same color and multiple colors and to 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.

Creative Haven Unicorns Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Marty Noble

Rating: 5 of 5

I really enjoy Marty Noble’s coloring book designs and am pleased that she has come out with one with unicorns. While the coloring book is based on a single subject, her treatment makes for a wide variety of designs. Some are flowing and elegant while others have a more stylized look to them. In most designs there is a single unicorn but there are others which involve a beautiful maiden or several unicorns. There are even rectangular shaped unicorn mandalas. Ms. Nobel’s unique style is recognizable in each of these designs.

The designs are detailed (including backgrounds and/or framing.) A few of the designs have small and intricate areas to color. On the whole, I don’t think it is a difficult book to color in due to small shapes. The designs present a nice challenge and have plenty of room to try blending and shading techniques as well as embellishments to the original design(s).
This is what I experienced when coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper.
31 beautiful and elegant unicorn designs by Marty Noble
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is medium weight, white, lightly rough and perforated
Glue bound but pages can be removed easily at perforations.
Designs stop before the perforations. There is a framing line at the outer edges of each design for a more finished look.
The book opens fairly flat by creasing/breaking the spine.
Alcohol and water based markers bleed through to some degree
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. Both wax and oil based pencils lay down good color, layer (same and different colors) and blend well using a pencil style blending stick. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.
I remove pages or use a blotter page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper to keep ink and dents from marring the pages below.