49 Fantastically Tangled Doodle Designs by Angela Porter printed on one side of the page

Angela Porter’s Zen Doodle Designs: New York Times Bestselling Artists’ Adult Coloring Books

By: Angela Porter

Rating: 5 of 5

I have a number of Angela Porter’s coloring book designs from other publishers and enjoy her work tremendously. She has a distinctive style that really appeals to me. This is the first of her books to be carried by Racehorse Publishing under their line, New York Times Bestselling Artists’ Coloring Books.

Please note that, at this time at least, this doesn’t mean that this book is a NY Times best-seller, merely that the artist has had books in that category previously. Frankly, I won’t be surprised if this one joins the others as it is filled to the brim with the type of designs I look for in a book by Dr. Porter.

There are 49 doodle designs mostly in a rectangular format. While the designs incorporate some real life and recognizable elements, for the most part, the designs are tangled doodles that are simply fun to color. Also note that, unlike Dr. Porter’s other books, there are no colored samples (other than the cover) in the book.

The designs are detailed and in some cases rather intricate. I don’t consider the elements to be small and hard to color. I find that I like to practice my blending skills with these designs. They just seem to inherently lend themselves to color changes and changes in intensity of a color as well. I also like to use a bunch of colors and just see where I end up as well. This sometimes works out well and sometimes it ends up being a project from which I learn what not to do (again) in the future.

This is what I discovered about the book while coloring in it and testing my coloring mediums on the paper:

49 Tangled Zen Doodle Designs

Designs printed on one side of the page

Paper is medium weight, white, somewhat smooth, and perforated

Glue bound but you can remove pages at the perforations

There are either frames, framing lines, or finished elements at the outer edges of the designs

Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper though the water-based were more spotty than a full bleed through. I recommend using a blotter page below your working page if you are using markers. It will keep ink from seeping into the lower pages of the book.

India ink pens left a shadow on the back of the page.

Gel pens did not bleed through or require additional drying time.

Colored pencils worked well with this paper. While it is somewhat smooth, it still had enough tooth to allow good pigment coverage. I was able to lay down color, layer, and blend with both oil and wax based pencils.