Mouse Guard: Coloring Book
By: David Petersen
Rating: 5 of 5
My husband and I have both enjoyed the Mouse Guard comic series of books over the years so it was an easy decision to purchase the coloring book based on the artwork of those books. The book is a larger format book and is quite thick as well.
The artwork in the coloring book seems to have been lifted from the books themselves. As a result, there is a fairly large amount of black in the designs. That doesn’t bother me but it is something that should be noted. There are a couple of pages that are extremely heavy with black and I will try to post at least one of those in photos. With books that have this, I incorporate the black as part of my design and figure I will save ink.
The designs are detailed and some have intricate spots to color. They are a really great representation of what I have seen in the book series. The book is printed on ivory color which adds to the ambiance as it gives the designs an type of antique vibe.
While the coloring book is printed on both sides of the page, only the designs that spread across two pages have elements which merge into the binding area. While most of the designs are limited to one page (and most of those have framing lines at the outer edge), there are 14 designs that spread across two pages. In my copy, those pages line up extremely well and I have been able to get the book open flat enough for coloring purposes. It is still a bit difficult to get my pencils into that area but it is do-able.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium:
90 pages of Mouse Guard coloring designs
Printed both sides of the page
Paper is heavyweight, ivory, slightly rough (with good tooth), and non-perforated
Sewn Binding
Only 14 two-page spread designs merge into the binding area, the rest are one page designs that have have space between the edge of the design and the binding.
Pages can be removed in whole (several at a time) by snipping threads but it may prove difficult to line the two-page spreads once they are removed.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper
Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens all leave shadows on the back of the page.
Colored pencils work well with the paper and will be my choice of coloring medium for this book. The paper has a very slight roughness to it and provides a good surface for pigment. I tested both oil ad wax based pencils and found that I could easily layer the same color, multiple colors, and blend using a blending stick.