Monthly Archives: May 2018

I own several of Thaneeya McArdle’s coloring books, including one called “Dapper Animals”. In this new book, Ms. McArdle goes to the other end of the fashion spectrum and gives us “Hippie Animals”. While most fall firmly in the category of Hippie, I think a few cross over into the more modern category of Hipsters. In any case, they are cute and are extremely fun to color. It’s time to pull out your psychedelic colors and make a groovy rainbow out of their outfits. There are love beads, bell bottoms, and granny glasses. The peace symbols and the flower headbands remind me of my older sisters during the hippie period.

The designs are detailed with lots of fun doodles to color. The eyes on most of the animals has been done in a shaded grayscale. It makes for a very different eye that what I usually do but it is an unusual and nice change. The back of the page has quotes by famous individuals and unknowns that mostly deal with peace and love (the hippie mantra). I really like that a number of them are quotes from songs. It appears that the publisher has changed from color print on these back pages back to light gray print. I prefer that as sometimes the color could show through to the front of the page depending on which medium I work with.

Once again, I love the designs in this book but I am less pleased with the way that the publisher is printing 8 of the designs in less than full size. They have included a thumbnail color sample, some sample colors used in their design for inspiration and a few words to talk about the colors. It takes up the bottom 2.5 inches of the page. This information could be printed on a separate page or on the actual color sample page rather than on the coloring page.

In this book, it makes less of a difference than in other books. The designs can still be colored as there aren’t tiny elements but I would much rather color a full page designs. As the designs are not difficult to color, I won’t detract any stars from my review.

(more…)

This is a Charles Santore coloring book published by Pomegranate. It is a mix of various fairy tales and story books, including some designs which are included in his coloring books on a specific title, such as “Snow White” and “Aesop’s Fables”. Some of the pictures have darker shading than others and most have elements of grayscale coloring rather than simple line drawings. I treat them as if I were working on a full grayscale design by laying down a foundation of color using alcohol-based markers. Once that I am done with that layer, the gray shading became the shading in my colors. I then add colored pencil details and highlights.

The designs are really elegantly drawn with fine details from the original artwork. Thumbnails of the original watercolors of each design are printed in glossy prints on the inside of the front and back covers. I appreciate this touch as at times I need to look at the pictures to determine which part of the design I was coloring. You can follow the colors in the picture or, as I do, use my own color palette.

(more…)

I really like this coloring book. It’s as if Hannah Lynn and Sherry Baldy illustrations got together and had a child which is Julia Spiri’s designs. It’s not that Ms. Spiri’s artwork is derivative, simply that elements of her designs remind me of both of these artists. Kind of like when someone mentions a child looks like both parents.

The eyes on these girls are big but they are kind of sloe-eyes in the sense that they are every so slightly slanted. Their eyes are where a lot of detail is done. Many of the figures are standalone and if they have a background, it is not extensive. The designs are easy to color and fun as well.

The book is called the Artist’s Edition, which made me wonder if there was an earlier version printed on lesser paper et al. While I could not find an exact name, I did find that Ms. Spiri has an earlier book called “Whimsical Dreams” which also has 50 designs. It is not the same designs but I can’t tell if it is done on the same paper.

Speaking of the paper; this is excellent paper. It is thick and only alcohol markers bleed through. I don’t yet water-color but I would think these heavy of a weight of paper would do well with wet mediums

(more…)

Before I discuss what is in this coloring book, I want to note that the designs are not new. They are taken from several other Dover books by Dot Barlowe. I don’t have any of the previous books but will list them for you so you can check to see if you already own most of these designs: “America the Beautiful to Paint or Color” (2006), “Flower Gardens to Paint or Color” (2007), “Nautical Scenes to Paint or Color” (2007) and “Tropical Paradise Scenes to Pain or Color” (2009).

It is a tad annoying that Dover does not list this information in the product blurb. For many, it appears that new designs are available from an artist they enjoy only to be disappointed. I’ve had this happen with other designers from Dover as well.

The designs in this coloring book are seashore inspired. There are boats, cottages, tropical huts, ocean scenes and more. The designs are quite sketchy in appearance. It’s easy to see that these were done by hand because of the thick and thin pen strokes.

The colored samples included in the book appear to be original artwork from the illustrator and not designs which have been colored from the pages in this book. I generally find when that is done by the publisher, it is because the designs are more intricate and won’t look like the original artwork. When I come across these types of books, I find them a bit more challenging as they include small areas to color. This is a book that my husband will enjoy coloring in more than I as he really loves ocean scenes.

I’ve noticed that the paper quality over the last few months seems to change quite frequently on the Creative Haven line. Because of that, if you buy one of these books, it may be slightly smooth or slightly rough depending on when and where it was printed. I’ve found that coloring medium, including pencils, work similarly with both slightly rough and slightly smooth paper from Creative Haven. In this case, my coloring book pages are slightly rough.

(more…)