Cute and whimsical designs in a smaller format book printed one side of page

Inky Whimsy: Playful, whimsical adult colouring (Inky colouring books) (Volume 9)

By: Helen Elliston

Rating: 5 of 5

I own a couple of Helen Elliston’s earliest coloring books and decided to pick up her most recent based on the cute cover. Her designs are as cute as ever but I was surprised to see that the book was in the smaller format she used for her mandalas coloring books. It works well and makes the book a little easier to carry around.

What I was happy to see was that the designs are included all on one page. In her earliest books, some of the designs spread slightly across two pages and I much prefer the way the book is put together now. I also like that the designs stop well before the binding area in this book as well.

The designs are a really eclectic mix of what seems to be whatever hit the artist’s fancy that day. I think that is great as it lets me see a little into the world that she sees as well. One of my favorites is the people climbing all over various books. I also chose it for my first project in this book.

This is what I found as I colored in this book and tested my various coloring medium on the paper. I will include, in the comments section below, a list of the coloring medium I used to test this book and which I generally use for completing my projects.

30 Whimsical and Fun Designs in a 8.5 x 8.5 inch format

Printed on one side of the page

Paper is thin, white, slightly rough and non-perforated. It is typical of anything published through CreateSpace.

Glue Bound

Designs do not merge into the binding area

Book can be opened flat with a little effort for coloring

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper readily

Water-based markers bleed through in spots

Gel pens and India Ink artist pens create colorful shadows on the back of the page. India ink pens can spot through if multiple layers are applied.

Colored pencils work well with this paper. I can use either wax or oil based pencils and get good pigment (with multiple layers of the same color), layer multiple colors well and blend well using a pencils style blender stick. My hard lead pencils, such as Verithins, can cause dents through to the back of the page.

I use a piece of card stock or a couple of pieces of heavy weight paper as a blotter when coloring in this book. It keeps ink from seeping through or dents from marring the pages below my project page.