40 Hand drawn Designs of Swirling Vignettes of Animals and Women printed one side of the page

My Fantastic Journey – Adult Coloring Book: Find Inspiration and Relaxation on a Journey to Another World

By: Okami Books

Rating: 5 of 5

This is my first coloring book by artist Alina Marchenko. I own several other books by Okami Books which seems to be a publisher for a variety of artists. I’m pleased to find such a diverse publisher and will be looking for new releases by this company in the future.

The designs in this book are quite detailed and, at times, even intricate, with small areas to color. The designs all have a swirling quality to them as if the ink were flowing in a perpetual motion. Because of the intricacy of the designs, I don’t suggest this book for anyone with fine motor or vision issues. It will be a bit of a challenge for everyone else.
The subject of the designs are generally women, animals, or women with animals (though I did glimpse a gnome as well.) The cover is very indicative of the designs in the book so I was not surprised by the style of the designs. What I was surprised by was the number of designs in this book. It is a very good value to receive 40 different designs and it will provide many hours of coloring enjoyment.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
40 Hand-drawn illustrations of animals and women
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
The designs do not merge into the binding and have an unusual form of framing line at the outer edges.
Glue Binding
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.
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.