25 x 2 Gothic and Halloween Inspired Designs by Selina Fenech printed one side of page

Night Magic – Gothic and Halloween Coloring Book (Fantasy Coloring by Selina) (Volume 10)

By: Selina Fenech

Rating: 5 of 5

I own a number of Selina Fenech’s coloring books so I am very familiar with her elegant artwork. I also really enjoy Halloween inspired designs and am always looking for new books to add to my collection (especially as there have been very few published compared to other genres.) In Night Magic, Ms. Fenech has provided a number of lovely witches along with Gothic style designs. I would not categorize the book as a Halloween book but rather one that includes Halloween designs.

The designs are detailed and I find them fairly easy to color. While some designs have small details, the designs are not generally intricate with tiny details that are hard to color. I like to work first with my markers and then with my colored pencils as I find that that is the process that works best for me with Ms. Fenech’s coloring books.

Two things I really appreciate about the book are that you get two copies of each design. That makes it easy to share or to try two different colorways or mediums. The second thing I really like is that almost all of the designs have framing lines around them. It gives me a natural stopping point which gives a more finished look at the end and it also saves me ink/pencil as I dont’ have to color to all the edges.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:

25 x 2 Gothic and Halloween-inspired designs

Printed one side of the page

Paper is white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated

Designs do not merge into the binding and there is plenty of room to cut out pages if you choose to do so. Most designs have a framing line around the outer edge

Glue Binding

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly.

Water-based markers bleed through in spots.

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on back of the page. India ink can bleed through if you apply heavily or multiple coats.

Coloring Pencils work well with this paper. I found that I could layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and I could blend easily using a pencils style blending stick. Both wax and oil based pencils worked well with the paper. Hard lead pencils can leave dents through the page.

I like to use a blotter when working in the book. I use a page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper under my working page. It keeps seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below.