Daily Archives: June 8, 2018

This is a really fun coloring book of Ocean Fantasy Designs. It includes much more than I generally expect in such a book. There are not only mermaids (and a lot of them) but also mythological sea gods, sea monsters, sunken ships with treasure as well as dolphins, shells and other sea creatures. Even Neptune, in several designs, is shown riding around protecting his kingdom.

The artist, Aaron Pocock, is able to bring life to his creatures. The mermaids have a beautiful feminine quality and grace while the avenging Neptune is a definite masculine force with aggressive movement held in check only by the frame of the page. Usually, I expect one or the other in a coloring book. However, with this book, I get both a feminine and a masculine touch in a variety of illustrations.

The drawings in this book are detailed with backgrounds included. Some of the designs (especially those of mermaids tails) have intricate and smaller areas to color. I don’t think I will need special small nibs for drawing but will take care to keep my pencils sharp for the areas of intricate detail.

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.

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