Kit of 30 Harry Potter Coloring cards, 10 pencils, and 2 “frames” – printed on one side with high glossy colorful reverse side

I consider it a fun kit for any Harry Potter fan. They remind me of exchangeable cards that have been popular over the years. I used only the included pencils on my first project and I used each one of them at least once. I found that the pencils went on very light. So light, I had to layer multiple coats of light blue and light green for them to show up at all. I think a kid could have fun with the kit as is but for me, I will use other coloring medium for the rest of the cards.

I will provide details about the physical kit below, but here is a quick overview of what I found:

30 Harry Potter designs in playing card size
Printed on one side with high glossy back
Cardboard box holds entire set folds open and closes with magnet
Two folding magnetic “frames” for holding finished artwork
Alcohol and water based markers and India ink pen did not bleed through
Gel pens did not bleed through but some required extra drying time
Coloring pencils did well but no room for blending in minute details

The kit contains 30 design cards which are mostly character cards and measure 3 3/8 x 2 7/16 inches. The cards have the appearance of playing cards with a matte front and a high glossy coated decorated back.

There are ten colored pencils in the kit: medium brown, pink, red, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, and purple. The pencils work and keep a nice sharp point but they are small and the colors are limited. They go on very light as I would expect from an inexpensive set of pencils.

There are two folding magnet frames. Cute but again, inexpensive. They do nicely for holding a picture on the front of the refrigerator or on a locker – anything that a magnet will stick to.

I test my coloring items with various coloring medium (which I will list below.) While I tested them all, I really recommend only mediums that have or can be sharpened to a sharp point (such as Uni-ball Signo gel pens, various ultra-fine markers, and hard lead pencils.

Here are the results of my tests:

None of my coloring mediums bleed through this card. I thought perhaps alcohol-based markers would show on the backside of the card but be held in place by the glossy finish, but no, they did not bleed through. All gel pens with the exception of Uni-ball Signo pens needed extra drying time. Pencils went on well and could blend but honestly, there is very little room for blending on these cards. I like the way my Verithins worked – with good color and sharp lines.

These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. In my tests, I use the medium in a manner that is perhaps more intense than others. I layer multiple coats of water-based makers for blending purposes, color large elements with gel pens, and with coloring pencils, I use multiple layers, multiple colors, as well as blending and burnishing them to see how the paper reacts and if the color moves properly.

If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:

Alcohol-based markers – Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine)

Waater-based markers – Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, and Staedler triplus fineliners

India Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)

Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter

Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D’Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos