The Night Voyage: A Magical Adventure and Coloring Book (Time Adult Coloring Books)
By: Daria Song
Rating: 5 of 5
Original Review from October 2015:
“The Time Chamber” is the second in a series of coloring books by Daria Song. In the first book (“The Time Garden”), a young girl follows a red-haired fairy through a magical clock into a wonderland type adventure. In this book, the red-haired fairy comes to visit the little girl’s land. As she is so very tiny, everything is huge and beautiful for her to visit and see. The story is told in a few short words on a smattering of pages throughout the book. The words do not distract from the illustrations even though they are incorporated into the story this time (unlike the first book where the story was on separate pages.)
Daria Song, the artist/writer of this book, has received advanced degrees in fine arts in her native South Korea. Early in her life, she also spent time in San Francisco and that translates into the art in this book. Both of her books are a real delight to me. Her illustrations create a truly magical land for me to escape into as color each page.
The book is printed on both sides of the good quality paper which seems to be the normal for the “story book” style of coloring book. I generally use my soft color pencils with these to be sure that I don’t have any ink bleed through the book onto the backside of the page. As I go along, if I want to use a gel pen or other medium, I find a title page to test the specific pen. If it is good, then I go ahead and use it.
The designs in this book include a number of intricate details and I am sure I will need to keep my magnifying lamp nearby for those bits and pieces.
I am thoroughly enjoying both of Ms. Song’s color books. I am hoping that Ms. Song will return again with more beautifully illustrated color books – perhaps more about the little girl and the red-haired fairy or perhaps someone new.
Updated Information February 2018:
This is what I found when testing the paper with various coloring media:
Printed on both sides of the page
Paper is bright white, very lightly rough, heavyweight and non-perforated
Binding is both glued and sewn – not the type that is easy to snip threads to remove pages. I don’t recommend this as so many of the designs spread across two pages
Designs merge into the binding area
Most designs spread across two pages
Separate dust cover which has coloring opportunities on the inside and an attached cover which can be colored as well.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers, gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through and do not leave shadows on the back of the page. Some gel pens require additional drying time.
Colored pencils worked very well with this paper. I tested oil and wax based pencils. I was able to get good pigment lay down with both types. Layering the same color for deeper color, multiple colors and blending with a blending stick worked well and easily.
Here are some sample designs from the book:
Original Review from October 2015:
