Island Escape: My Caribbean Coloring Book
By: Jade Gedeon
Rating: 5 of 5
I originally purchased this coloring book to use to learn watercolor techniques. As soon as it arrived, I knew I wanted to color the book as well, so I immediately ordered a second copy. The designs are wonderful; they take me back to my own Caribbean vacations. I see the beautiful colors and the bright blue skies in my mind’s eye.
The lovely designs are only one of the reasons why this coloring book is so fantastic. The quality of the paper and the way the book has been published is just about as good as it can get. All of my coloring mediums worked well (though my juicy Copic markers did have a tendency to feather as the ink was so quickly pulled into the page.)
The paper is a cream tone and is heavyweight watercolor paper. There are ten double page fold-out designs. All of the pages are perforated for easy removal from the book. While the book is sewn binding (a general hint that the book is higher quality), none of the designs cross over the perforations. If you want to remove pages to frame them, you won’t lose any portion of the design in taking the page out via the perforations.
I am having fun with my first copy with my standard coloring medium. My second copy will be exclusively for learning watercolor and watercolor pencil techniques. I’m thrilled to have found such a beautiful book with which to learn and practice. I will happily purchase any book by this author and/or publisher if they have this quality of book materials. This is one of the books that other publishers should take note of and attempt to measure up to.
This is what I experienced in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I didn’t text any form of watercolor medium as I am just learning how to use it. Because of that, I shy away from saying how it worked for me as any issues I come across are sure to be because of my inexperience rather than any issue with the book.
Beautiful Caribbean Inspired Artwork Designs
Printed on one side of the page with ten double page fold-out designs
Paper is thick watercolor paper in cream, rough texture and all pages are perforated for easy removal.
Sewn Binding
Designs stop short of perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page and can feather side-to-side if the marker is juicy
Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens do not bleed through the paper. Gel pens dry exceptionally quick with this paper.
Colored pencils work well with the page though, due to the texture, it takes several layers to get a deep pigment. As I personally prefer a lighter look to my coloring, this was a non-issue for me. Both oil and wax based pencils worked equally well. I was able to get good color, layer different colors easily and blend extremely easily using a pencil style blender stick.