Hidden Paradise: Artist Edition
By: Cris Lopez
Rating: 5 of 5
T
his is my first coloring book by artist Cris Lopez. I’m very impressed with the skill with which the designs have been drawn and look forward to many happy hours with this book.
There are lovely maidens, handsome men, fairies, animals, mermaids, fun creatures and even a dwelling place. It is all about the variety of fantasy in this land that the artist calls “hidden paradise”. The level of detail varies by design with some slightly less detailed, most what I consider a good amount of detail and a few that have smaller and/or more intricate areas to color.
Once again, Phoenix Amulet (the publisher) has set a high bar for other publishers to emulate. Not only is the paper a good heavy weight, it also has great tooth, is printed one-sided, has excellent perforations and, best of all, has a covered spiral binding that makes opening and laying this book flat a breeze.
This is what I found in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper
45 Fantasy/Magical inspired designs
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is white, medium/heavy weight, rough with excellent tooth and perforated pages
Binding is spiral with the cover protecting the spiral.
The book lays flat in the open position for ease of coloring.
The designs stop short of the perforations and removing pages is very easy if you wish to do so. There are unfinished elements at most if not all edges of the page
Alcohol based markers bleed through this paper. If you use this coloring medium, I highly suggest that you either remove pages before coloring, or as I do, use card stock or several sheets of paper as a blotter below the working page. That will keep the pages or the surface below from being marred. My copy of the book included a piece of chipboard that could be used for this purpose.
Water based markers, India ink pens and gel pens do not bleed through the paper though some left the slight shadow of the back of the page.
Coloring pencils extremely worked well. The paper is definitely rough to the touch and has excellent tooth for pencils. Both oil and wax based pencils worked very well for providing good pigment. I was able to layer the same color for deeper tones, layer multiple colors and to blend easily using a pencil style blending stick as well as wet blending medium for excellent results.
