The Aquarium: Marine Portraits to Color
By: Richard Merritt
Rating: 5 of 5
While it is a little disappointing, it isn’t out of line with the rest of the series in style and content. I don’t think the intent was to mislead but rather to have a title consistent in form with the first two books (i.e., places where animals, birds, and/or fish are housed.) On, the other hand, both the product description and the back of the book mention a parrot fish and the book does not contain a design of that fish. This was definitely an error on behalf of the publisher/artist that should have been caught.
The initial line drawings are realistically portrayed but then the inside of the fish and other creatures are lots of doodle style intricate elements. The designs are highly intricate and contained many small and hard to color details. It may not be the best book for those who have vision or fine motor skill issues. For those who like intricate work and marine life, it should be a great book to consider. I will include a full list of the designs included in the comments section below.
The attached cover is beautifully illustrated with coloring and light touches of matte fuchsia and turquoise metallic foil on the front artwork. The paper that is used for this book is a very good quality and would work well if you wish to frame your finished work.
Slight elements of the background design are already colored. While I would have preferred they left that blank, I am okay with the small amount they have colored in this instance. The designs do merge into the binding and you will lose portions of some of the designs if you remove a page at the perforations.
This is what I found in coloring and testing in this book:
31 Marine Life Designs which are very detailed and intricate to color
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is white, heavy weight somewhat smooth, has background slightly pre-colored and is perforated.
Sewn Binding
Book can be opened fairly flat for coloring
Designs merge past the perforations and into the binding area
Alcohol and Water based markers bleed through this paper to some extent (with Tombow brush ends did best with only light spotting to the back of the page.)
India ink left shadows on the back of the page.
Gel pens did not bleed through and did not require extra drying time.
Coloring pencils worked well. Both oil and wax based pencils worked well for good color, layering and blending.
If you use a wet medium with this book, I suggest using a blotter page of card stock or several sheets of paper to keep ink from seeping through the ruining the pages below. You can also simply remove a page from the book before coloring as well.