Daily Archives: July 11, 2017

Umberto Brunelleschi Coloring Book

By: Umberto Brunelleschi

Rating: 5 of 5

The line drawings in this coloring book are based on artwork by Umberto Brunelleschi which were originally included in Contes du temps jadis (stories from once upon a time.) The book was published in France in 1912. There is a table of contents for the illustrations which provides the name of the story from which each illustration is derived. The stories are not familiar to me but there is a line at the bottom of the page which puts context to the illustrations.

Brunelleschi was Italian born but moved to Paris at age 21 (1900) to pursue his art career. His work became some of the best known European book illustrations from the art deco period. There is a beauty and a grace to the work which has been captured beautifully by the line drawings in this coloring book. Included (on the inside of the front a back covers) are full color thumbnail reproductions of all of the original artwork.
The designs are open and easy to color. There is a good level of detail but they have left a lot of open area to allow you to color and add your own shading and details.
This is what I experienced in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper.
20 line drawing designs derived by Umberto Brunelleschi from his illustrations in Contes du temps jadis
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly rough to the touch and non-perforated
The designs are bound by two heavyweight staples which can be removed to release all of the page from the book without any loss of design.
Designs do not merge into the binding area. There are framing lines at the outer edges of each design with a caption below the bottom framing line.
Pages can be cut out if you wish without losing any design elements.
Book easily opens to a flat position for coloring.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper easily.
Water-based markers leave shadows and slight spots of color bleed through on the back of the page
If I use any style of marker, I also make sure to use a blotter under my working page. I like card stock but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works well, too.
Gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the page. Some gel pens require slightly more drying time than usual.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. It has a slight roughness to it that allows good pigment coverage from both oil and wax based pencils. I was able to layer the same and multiple colors well and could blend easily using a pencil style blending stick.