Greek Mythology
By: Jade Summer
Rating: 4 of 5
I was really excited to see a Greek Mythology coloring book by Jade Summer as I had really enjoyed the Norse one they released last year. I am also half Greek, so I have grown up with the stories of these myths. I do like the book but nearly as well as the Norse book. The reason is quite simple – the females in the Norse book are featured as quite strong as well as beautiful. The Greek females are lovely but have the look of a pin-up more than a fierce god (with the exception of Athen.) I would have liked to have seen some muscle tone on those arms and some of the striking poses of the Norse women.
The designs have some detail but then again, not as much as the Norse one. The backgrounds are sometimes a few mere lines while others have a little more to them.
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 unique designs (2 copies of each) based on Greek Mythology
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. There is a slight shadowing effect to the framing line which gives the image an almost 3D effect.
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 samples of the designs in this coloring book:
I was really excited to see a Greek Mythology coloring book by Jade Summer as I had really enjoyed the Norse one they released last year. I am also half Greek, so I have grown up with the stories of these myths. I do like the book but nearly as well as the Norse book. The reason is quite simple – the females in the Norse book are featured as quite strong as well as beautiful. The Greek females are lovely but have the look of a pin-up more than a fierce god (with the exception of Athen.) I would have liked to have seen some muscle tone on those arms and some of the striking poses of the Norse women.
