Mermaid in Dress
By: Ikuko
Rating: 4 of 5
This is a very different style of art from the previous coloring book I have by Ikuka. The Japanese Girls book is in grayscale while Mermaid in Dress is line drawings. The mermaids in the book are young girls rather than adults. They are, as the title infers, mostly in a variety of dresses. It is an unusual concept but fun at the same time. The designs are provided as two copies – one with white on the back of the page; one with black on the back of the page.
In addition to the design pages, there are a couple of pages that seem to be placed for testing medium. Rather than provide a blank page with squares, the artist has included a cute mermaid line drawing. Also, this was done for both the white backed and black backed pages.
The only issue I have with this coloring book has to do with the print quality. While hand-drawn design books, such as this one, will have lines that are thick/thin and light/dark, my copy of the book has spotty lines where some of the line was printed and some was not. This is a small issue and one that I can remedy while coloring but it should not have been necessary to do so.
This is what I found in this coloring book:
20 unique mermaid inspired line art designs. Two copies of each, one with white on back of page and one with black on back of page
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical inexpensive quality used by CreateSpace: thin, slightly rough and non-perforated. One set of designs is printed on white paper while the second set is printed on black backed paper.
Some designs extend into the binding but most do not.
Glue Binding
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and can pill the paper if too many layers are attempted.
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 blending stick; however, some of the darker areas of the designs had a tendency to smear using this type of blender. I found that liquid forms (Gamsol or mineral spirits) did a better job. This doesn’t bother me as I generally do not use a blender on grayscale designs. I tested both oil and wax based pencils. I also found that hard lead pencils (like Verithins) leave dents through the paper.
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.
I was provided a copy of this book by the artist.
Here are some samples from the book:
This is a very different style of art from the previous coloring book I have by Ikuka. The Japanese Girls book is in grayscale while Mermaid in Dress is line drawings. The mermaids in the book are young girls rather than adults. They are, as the title infers, mostly in a variety of dresses. It is an unusual concept but fun at the same time. The designs are provided as two copies – one with white on the back of the page; one with black on the back of the page.
