24 Grayscale Designs based on The Twelve Dancing Princeses plus bonus pages printed one side of the page

The Twelve Dancing Princesses: Grayscale Adult Coloring Book (Beautiful Fairy Tales) (Volume 1)

By: Ruth Sanderson

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a really lovely grayscale coloring book which is based on the illustrations in Ruth Sanderson’s version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Having seen how beautiful the designs are, I plan on purchasing the story book as well. I will probably use my own color schemes for the coloring book but it will be nice to see the illustrations in their original form. I’m hoping that Ms. Sanderson will be coming out with coloring books (line drawings and grayscale) based on the other story books she has illustrated.

Please note, there is a slight moire pattern in the silent, full book flip-through and the photo samples I will upload. It is not present on the actual designs but rather a by-product of filming and how the images were converted to grayscale.
The designs are extremely detailed and have small and intricate spots to color. Prefacing the coloring book, Ms. Sanderson has given some excellent suggestions for colors and types of pencils to use while coloring in this book.
There are 24 designs in this book and, what is very interesting, is that there are 12 bonus designs (similar to the others.) These were the designs the artist used to test out grayscale techniques. I think it is wonderful she provided those to us to test and try rather than to discard them from the final book.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
24 Grayscale designs plus 12 bonus (experimental) designs based on the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses
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. The designs have a 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; 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.