Daily Archives: April 4, 2018

This is my first coloring book by Grazia Salvo. I’m very impressed by how beautifully she draws, both the figures and the accents. The women in her drawings have expressive eyes that hint at what they might be thinking. Most of the designs are three-quarter frames with some being mainly headshots.

The designs are detailed but not what I would consider intricate. They are an unusual mix of line drawing and almost a light form of grayscale. While I like the book, I could almost have wished for two – one with straight line drawings and another which was full grayscale.

My only one small nit about the designs are that because there is a blend of both line drawing and grayscale, some of the lines, especially around the mouth appear to be overdrawn with a heavier line. I find this a bit distracting and will have to find a way to minimize it when coloring in the book.

As my husband is already eyeing my copy of this book, I will have to hide it until he gives up and gets his own.

Phoenix Amulet (the publisher) has developed one of the best styles of publishing coloring books that I have found to date. Not only is the paper a good medium/heavy weight, it also has great tooth, is printed one-sided, has excellent perforations and, best of all, has a covered spiral binding that makes opening and laying this book flat and keeping it flat, simple to do.

I wish more designers turned to this publisher instead of CreateSpace. I would gladly pay more for this quality of coloring book.

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I am really pleased with this Pomegranate coloring book. I’ve purchased some that seemed more geared towards children but “The Fairy Tale Art of Walter Crane” is definitely for the adult or older child.

The artwork of Walter Crane is interpreted in line drawings. The individual(s) responsible for the conversion did, in my opinion, an excellent job. The designs are detailed and most have intricate and small areas to color.

The book is based on storybooks but is not, itself, a storybook. It has quotes from the story that apply to the design (and has a list of the included designs at the front of the book.) There are also full color thumbnails of the original artwork on the inside of the front and back cover pages.

I hope that Pomegranate continues with this style of coloring book. I’ve purchased a few of their grayscale interpretations of famous artists and, with a few noted exceptions (Intricate Ink), I have not been as happy with that style. While line drawings take more time and trouble to adapt to, the end result is much more colorist friendly.

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