Fantasy Nouveau Coloring Boo
By: Herb Leonhard
Rating: 5 of 5
I really enjoy Herb Leonhard’s style of design. Art Nouveau (and Art Deco) are periods of style in art as well as textiles and jewelry, etc. that really appeal to me. In this coloring book, Mr. Leonhard has mixed the world of fantasy into Art Nouveau type style. While the designs are all Mr. Leonhard’s, I can’t help but think of some of the great artists of that period, most especially Alphonse Mucha, when I see the lovely and intricate arches and borders. Most of the designs are limited to one page; however, there are two designs that span across two pages.
The designs include many dragons, medieval maidens, unicorns, and castles. There’s even a knight, a sailing ship and a fairy mermaid thrown in for good measures. The only drawback to the book is that it is printed on both sides of the page, so using certain coloring medium will ruin the back of the page. However, for my use, the price is really reasonable and I decided to purchase a second copy of the book so I can use whatever type of medium I want and still be able to color all of the pages.
For my first two projects, I chose two dragon projects to color. The red dragon is colored using a variety of alcohol-based markers and the blue dragon is colored using wax-based colored pencils.
This is what I experienced when coloring and testing my coloring medium with this book:
23 Fantasy Designs in Art Nouveau Style (plus title page that can be colored.
Printed on both sides of the page.
Paper is thin, white, slightly rough and non-perforated.
Two designs spread across two pages
All other designs stop well before the binding area
Staple bound with only two staples so that it is really easy to take the book apart if you choose to do so.
Opens easily to flat position for coloring
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page
India ink pens spot through the page
Gel pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Colored pencils work really well with this paper. I was easily able to get good color from wax and oil based pencils whether they were hard lead or soft. I could layer and blend easily as well.