Jim Shore’s Angel Coloring Book: 50+ Glorious Folk Art Angel Designs for Inspirational Coloring
By: Jim Shore
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a coloring book of Jim Shore’s Angel designs. In addition to the 50 angels, there are also three pages of thin cardstock which has small 3D cut out designs which you can color. The angels are easily recognizable to anyone familiar with Mr. Shore’s art. I’ve been a long time fan and own a number of his sculptures, including some angels. His signature folk art quilt look to the artwork is a major component in the designs and are part of the angels themselves as well as the backgrounds.
The designs are done in both black and gray tones to give different effects in coloring. I found that using markers on the areas where the black lines are predominant and using coloring pencils on the gray areas gave the finished project more of the dimensional effect that the book suggests.
I am really happy to have this coloring book and hope that it is the beginning in a series. I would love to have coloring books which include his many animal designs (including cats, dogs, and farm animals), lighthouses, holidays, and maybe even some of his Disney designs. My husband also likes Mr. Shore’s artwork and is ordering his own copy as well.
This is what I experienced coloring in this book and in testing the paper with my coloring medium:
50 pages of Angel designs plus three pages of cut out designs
Printed on one side of the page
Angels are printed on medium weight white paper with good tooth (slightly rough)
Cut-outs are printed on thin white card stock
Glue bound but the pages are perforated for easy removal
Designs do not merge into the binding area and the Angels all have framing lines around their outer edges
I could not open the pages to a flat position so instead I removed pages from the book at the perforations. I think it is because the book is so thick.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through both types of paper in this book
Water-based markers spot through the Angel paper except Tombow brush end markers which did not bleed through for me at all. No water-based markers bled through on the card stock.
India ink pens leave a colorful shadow on the back of the regular paper but not on the card stock.
Gel pens leave the slightest indistinct shadow on the back of the regular paper but not on the card stock.
Colored pencils worked well for me. I was able to get good color, layering and blending with both oil and wax based pencils. Hard lead pencils did not dent/score through the page using an average touch in coloring.
I suggest using a blotter below your project page if you are leaving the pages in the book and are using markers. I preferred to take my pictures out to color them.