Monthly Archives: July 2018

This is a great Entangled coloring book by Dr. Angela Porter. True to her signature style, the designs are quite detailed and a few cross over into intricate and somewhat difficult to color (needing special, smaller nib pens or highly sharpened pencils.)

The designs have a Halloween/Day of the Dead vibe to them. There are lots of skulls and bats and other spooky creatures. At first glance, I don’t see any witches. There are a few jack-o-lanterns that have devilish smiles, though.

Coloring one of Dr. Porter’s designs is always a pleasure and one that can take a lot longer to finish due to the complexity of the designs. Be aware of this high detail. Because of it, I don’t recommend the book for anyone with visual or fine motor skill issues. For the rest of us, be prepared and have fun and remember its just ink and paper and there are no coloring police in real life. Have fun!

I’ve noticed that the paper quality 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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This is my second coloring book by Camilla d’Errico. The coloring book is filled with imaginative and unusual Manga style designs base on the artist original artwork. The main subject are the mermaid girls with their big, pensive eyes. There are other sea creatures, too, sometimes incorporated into the headgear of the girl.

As with the first book, many of the images are simply headshots with unusual looks to them (including the unusual headgear.) There are full and partial body designs as well, most of which are printed on one page but some spread across two pages (more so in this book than in the previous one.)

The designs and how they are printed are consistent with the first book and met my expectations. The artwork is, once again, unusual and inventive and will make coloring in this book fun.

The designs are detailed and some are intricate. Coloring them is definitely akin to coloring artwork rather than simple line drawings. There is also more shading in a few of the designs in this book which border on grayscale.

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I have a number of coloring books by this publisher but only one by artist Emma Raymond. The earlier book I own is based on Christmas and wasn’t indicative of the amount of detail that is included in this book.

I’m pleased with the views of Italy that the designs in this book portray. The designs show scenic design – some of which are easily identified. There is even a design of the map of Italy that is unusual and will be fun to color as well.

The designs have a nice level of detail without being too intricate for the most part. There is a use of shading that borders on grayscale on some of the designs. Not the entire design, but rather just those shaded areas.

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“The Magical Christmas” is a smaller format book (8.5 x 8.5 inches.) The designs are extremely detailed with many small and intricate spots to color. The designs are Christmas in nature with lots of animals as well. There are no Santa Claus or Nativity scenes. The closest is comes is a sled filled with toys drawn by a reindeer and another design of an angelic being.

The designs are highly detailed and due to the smaller format, general intricate to color as well.

While I enjoy coloring in detail, this is not a book I would suggest for anyone who has vision or fine motor issues. It is a book for individuals who like a bit of a challenge in their projects and who like cute Christmas motifs which also include cute animals.

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I own several coloring books by Tatiana Bogema Stolova. They are mostly line drawing books though a few have hints of grayscale shading within them.

This is a very different book as the designs are have more shading by use of lines and cross hatch than any of the others do. While there is a lot of this shading, there are still many areas within the designs which are line drawings. The designs are detailed and some have intricate areas to color.

For some, this type of shading might be too much. For others (like myself), who struggle with adding texture to fur on animals, having the extra lines makes coloring easier. It gives me a pattern to follow with my own color pencils strokes.

The subjects of the designs are also very different as they are both more realistic and more fantasy at the same time. The artist states (in the product blurb) that these are different designs which she was asked (by fans) to release.

I’m so glad that she did – it presents a whole new look at her art. I hope that she gives consideration to new coloring books which explore this type of artwork in more detail.

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This is the second in a series of books about Dreamlings by Edwina McNamee. Just as with the first book, the creatures that inhabit Dreamlings 2 are cute little animals. The focus is on their homes this time around.

There are high heel homes and bee hives houses and so many more. House sprout out of flowers and grow from acorns. There is a house gliding across the ocean and one that is made up a pumpkin. So cute and so much fun to color.

The designs are detailed and fun to color. The designs are not intricate nor difficult to color and do not need speciality pens, pencils in order to do so.

The designs are printed twice – once with black lines on white paper and the second time as white designs printed on black paper. The change in the paper tone gives each design a very different look which I personally appreciate and I love the way that “smoke” appears across the surface of the black page.

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In this second of a series of coloring books by artist Forest Diver, the guardians who are tasked with protecting the creatures of the enchanted forest are explored.

In the first book in the series, we discovered the hidden fantasy creatures who live there. The guardians are stronger and bigger and look more than ready to take on anyone who might wish to cause harm to the hidden spirits.

The book is filled with 32 unique and highly detailed designs based on on the guardians. They are a stronger breed but are every bit as much fun to color. I like strong characters, so having this book rounds out the series for me.

Mr. Diver is a newer artist for me but I am really taken with his style. I have at least one other book that I have purchased with his artwork and look forward to more in the future.

The designs are detailed and, in some cases, have more intricate areas to color. I plan to use highly sharped colored pencils on those areas rather than to find a special nib pen et al.

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