Island Paradise
By: Jade Summer
Rating: 5 of 5
The designs in this coloring book make me think of my various vacations to tropical islands, especially to different islands in Hawaii. In addition to scenes which have a vacation feel, there are designs of flora and fauna (including many fish) that bring up an island feel. The designs are very detailed with lots of additional lines so you can use a huge number of colors if you wish. Coloring in the book makes me yearn to plan another tropical vacation in the near future.
While you can have access to .PDFs when you purchase this book, my review is based on the book as it is received from Amazon. That way you will know what the pages look like and how they accept color. I like that the publisher provides the digital version as well so you can choose the paper you wish to use and/or to color the pictures as many times as you choose.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
25 x 2 each island designs for a total of 50 coloring pages
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated. The back of the page is printed black.
The designs do not merge into the binding. There is a heavy framing line at the outer edges of the design to give the project a more finished look, especially for framing.
Glue Binding (there is room to cut the pages out if you choose to do so.)
Though you cannot see the bleed-through easily due to the back of the page being printed in black, I recommend the use of a blotter page when working in this 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.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly.
Water-based markers bleed through in spots.
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. I tested both oil and wax based pencils. I also found that hard lead pencils leave dents through the paper.
Here are some sample photos from the book:
The designs in this coloring book make me think of my various vacations to tropical islands, especially to different islands in Hawaii. In addition to scenes which have a vacation feel, there are designs of flora and fauna (including many fish) that bring up an island feel. The designs are very detailed with lots of additional lines so you can use a huge number of colors if you wish. Coloring in the book makes me yearn to plan another tropical vacation in the near future.
