37 Fairy Tale Grayscale Designs based on the artwork of Warwick Goble printed one side of the page

Warwick Goble’s Fairy Tales: A Vintage Grayscale Adult Coloring Book (Vintage Grayscale Adult Coloring Books) (Volume 2)

By: Ligia Ortega

Rating: 5 of 5

This coloring book contains 37 grayscale designs based on Warwick Goble’s Fairy Tales illustrations. The artist’s original designs have been converted and restored in grayscale format by Ligia Ortega. This is my first coloring book by Ms. Oretga and I am very impressed with how well the grayscale has been presented.

The artwork is beautiful and delicate in nature. The figures of the females are elegant and their clothing, for the most part, is richly ornamented. Each design speaks beautifully to the story it represents and should be wonderful to color.
The designs are done in lighter tones which allows more ability to add my own shading but is generally a slightly more advanced form of grayscale coloring. My preferred method is to use a base coat of alcohol-based markers with colored pencil over for details and shading.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
37 Grayscale designs based on the artwork of Warwick Goble plus bonus designs from other coloring books by Ligia Ortega.
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical inexpensive quality used by CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
The designs do not extend into the binding area.
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.