Ocean Wonders | Color Art for Everyone – Leisure Arts (6703)
By: Leisure Arts
Rating: 5 of 5
This is an adult coloring book with a variety of underwater designs as well as collages of ocean related man made items. This makes this book of designs quite different from the other four offerings in the Color Art for Everyone series as those really focus on the natural world. The designs are all supplied by GMC Designs/Shutterstock, Inc. I don’t know if that means there are various designers within those companies or not, but there isn’t a specific artist mentioned.
There are 24 different designs. There are several schools of fish, visions of underwater flora, hermit crabs and other shellfish, shells, a sampler of sailboats, and an interesting collage of nautical items such as lighthouses, schooners, anchors, compass and more. My husband grew up in Camden, Maine on the coast and loves all things nautical. He has claimed first dibs on this book of designs and that will be okay because these are so affordable I can always buy another book if he colors a design I really want to do, too!
The designs are printed on one side of the page (with the back side blank.) The pages are all micro-perforated so removing them from the book will be easy. The print quality of the design is excellent. While there is a lot of detail in the designs, I don’t think I will need my magnifying lamp for most of my coloring.
I have had some bleed through of color with my markers and gel pens. Not as much as with some other brands but certainly enough that I would either remove the page from the book or put some freezer paper or heavy card stock between the pages while I am working.
At the front of the book there is a section on understanding colors. There is a color wheel that explains primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and how they are made. It also explains Warm and Cool colors and gives examples of how they can be used within their family or with a mix (Warm Colors, Cool Colors, Warm Colors with Cool Accent, Cool Colors with Warm Accents, Tints and Shades of Red, Tings and Shades of Blue, Analogous Colors, Complementary Colors, and Split Complementary Colors.) This is a wonderful addition to a coloring book as it gives a lot of information for beginners and gives examples in actual color.
At the back of the book, there is an explanation and illustrations of coloring tips and shading. The examples show Colored Pencil, Marker, and Colored Pencil blended with Marker. The written explanation goes into more detail with suggestions as to other types of drawing tools to use. The shading information shows examples of how you can bring out the various elements of your work by what type of pen/pencil you use and how you use them.
Both the information on the inside front and inside back page seem to be consistent within the various Leisure Arts books that I have seen so far.
I have used Leisure Arts books for many crafts in the past but the five books in the Color Art for Everyone series are the first adult coloring books I have purchased from them. I am very impressed with both the quality and the subject matter. I will certainly be back to purchase more in the future.
This is a fun and unusual set of designs for me. While I get seconds on it, I am sure that I will enjoy it and will enjoy watching my husband have so much fun with his coloring, too. It’s really nice to have a hobby that we can share at the end of the day which helps relieve our stress. It makes it easy to fall asleep once your cares have been lifted for a time.