Enchanted Art Grayscale Coloring Book: For Grown-Ups, Adult Relaxation
By: Cheryl Casey
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a really beautiful grayscale coloring book. It features the artwork of Alena Lazareva and is the first book I have by this artist. I do have another quality book by the same design group, Wingfeather Books and have really enjoyed that one as well (Spirit Animals) which was the second grayscale book I had purchased. I’m very impressed by the beautiful of the artwork. Within minutes of receiving my copy, I ordered additional ones for some family members who want to try grayscale coloring.
There are 38 designs in this book plus four preview pages from Mermaids, Fairies & Fantasy giving you a total of 42 pages to color. I think that is a huge bargain considering both the price and the quality of the artwork.
I generally use just coloring pencils on my grayscale (and I am fairly inexperienced at it in general) and recently have done some in just alcohol-based markers. For my first project in this book, I wanted to use both. I used the markers as a basecoat and then went over the entire design with pencils. What was fun about doing it that way was that I could get the coverage I wanted with the markers and then still make pencil stroke marks in the hair like I do with regularly coloring. It was fun and maybe not as successful as it good be but I will keep trying until I learn the technique properly!
This is what I found while coloring and testing this coloring book:
38 Enchanted Fantasy Designs plus 4 bonus pages
Printed on one side of the page.
Paper is typical CreateSpace which is thin, white, slightly rough and non-perforated.
Glue Bound
Designs stop before the binding area
Book can easily open to fairly flat position for coloring
Pages can be cut out without loss of design
Alcohol and water based markers seep through this paper
Gel pens and India ink pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page.
Coloring pencils work well with the paper. Soft lead can be put on thin or heavy, they blend and layer well. Hard lead dents the back of the page.
I recommend a blotter page under your working page to keep ink and dents from messing up the pages below.