Imagimorphia: An Extreme Coloring and Search Challenge
By: Kerby Rosanes
Rating: 4 of 5
I will attach a silent flip-through video to this review. The book in the video and in the photos are only of the US version of this book except photos where I show both books. In those cases, the UK version is at the top and the US version is at the bottom.
I purchased both the UK and the US version of this book. I reviewed the UK version on Amazon on April 23rd of this year. As I noted at that time, I really enjoy Kerby Rosanes artwork which includes an unusual look at design and I have a really fun time coloring all the little odds and ends that make up the full design. I found that I actually liked Imagimorphia even more than Animorphia which was difficult to do as I so enjoyed his first book in this series. It still has a good number of animals in it but it expands beyond them into other design concepts as well.
So, the designs are great, as expected, but what about the publishing quality of the US published book? The UK version was published in exactly the same fashion as the UK version of Animorphia. I was dreading that might be the case with the US version as well. What actually arrived was a coloring book printed on a much heavier weight of paper than the US Animorphia book. It actually weighs slightly more than the UK version either a slightly heavier paper or the slightly larger size of book or a combination of both of these. The US version weighs in at 1.07 lbs. and the UK version weighs in at 1.03 lbs. The US version measures at 10 x 10 x 3/8 inches and the UK version is 9 7/8 x 9 7/8 x 3/8 inches.
That is good and a great improvement since the last book but there are some more subtle differences in the publishing that still makes me prefer the UK version. If I didn’t have access to the UK version, I would have been okay with the US one but I still would have been a little bit unhappy with a couple of issues. The two most important of these are the binding and the texture of the paper.
The UK version has a sewn binding and the US is glue bound. The UK version has the design right into the binding and the US has a white strip (when you can get the book to fully open which is impossible for me on some of the pages.) Where this is most evident and least desirable is on two-page spread designs. Right in the middle of the design is a quarter inch strip of nothingness. I have no problem getting the pages to open on the UK version because they are sewn rather than glued. I did have to break the spine with a heavy crease, but I was able to get at all of the design without at white strip.
The texture of the paper is important for me as I use colored pencils for my work (due to the double-sided printing and the leak-through of markers.) The US version of the book is very smooth almost slick. The UK version of the book has a slightly smooth but with enough tooth for colored pencils. My pencils had more of a smeary type of look with the US version.
Other small differences include color of paper and print. The UK is brighter white with darker print. The US is softer white with slightly lighter print. The covers are different in texture and color. The UK is matte black with glossy highlights on the designs and title. The US is a softer matte and there are no glossy highlights.
The designs are all the same though there is a slight switch up of pages in the title and bookplate pages between the two versions.
Here is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my various coloring medium.
43 Different Designs in a variety of subjects
Designs are printed on both sides of heavyweight soft white extremely smooth non-perforated paper
Most designs spread across two pages
Two page designs have a white strip running down both sides of the page at the binding
Glue Binding
Had difficulty getting the book to open flat for coloring
Alcohol-based markers bleed through
Most water-based markers bleed through spotty (exception was the brush end of my Tombows which did not bleed through)
India ink pens left shadows on the back of the page.
Gel pens did not leak through the paper.
Coloring pencils do not do as well with this paper. The paper is extremely smooth and did not provide good tooth (or grip) for the color to adhere evenly. Both my wax and oil-based pencils provided a kind of smeary uneven color.