Keep Calm and Color — Tranquil Trees Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)
By: Marica Zottino
Rating: 4 of 5
I was very surprised to see that this new book by Dover Publishing was printed on both sides of the page. Further, the pages are not perforated. Given the success of their Creative Haven and Sparks lines and their new Escapes line, I would have thought they would understand that printing on one side of the page with perforated pages is generally thought to be a good thing. For me, the publishing aspect of this line of books (Keep Calm & Color) is a huge step back. I purchased only one of three new books in this line and will probably not purchase the other two based on how they were printed.
The designs are actually a reprint of a French book from 2015, Ma Pause Nature A Colrier Arbres de Vie by Rustica Editions. That doesn’t bother me as many international artists are now finding US publishing groups to make their books available in the US. For me, that’s a great thing and I have a number of coloring books that fall into that category.
The designs are tree-related but with imaginative twists. Most of the designs are single page designs but there are a number which spread across two pages. Some of the two-page designs don’t line up extremely well in my book. Be prepared there are a lot of leaves in this book. That makes sense as it is about trees but there are lot of them and I wanted to mention it specifically.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the page:
62 pages of tree-inspired designs
Designs are printed on both sides of the page
10 Designs spread across two pages
Paper is medium weight, white, slightly rough and non-perforated
Glue Bound
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based makers bleed through in spots with this paper
Gel pens and India ink artist pens leave colorful shadows on the back of the page
Colored pencils work well with this paper. It has a decent amount of texture to it and both wax and oil based pencils lay good nice pigment, layer and blend well. Hard lead pencils can dent/score through to the back of the page.