31 Great Saturday Evening Post inspired designs printed one side of the page

Creative Haven The Saturday Evening Post Americana Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Marty Noble

Rating: 5 of 5

I have collected a number of vintage magazines over the years (both for the covers and for the wonderful advertising contained in them.) I was thrilled to find that Marty Noble had rendered some of famous covers into a coloring book format. With her wonderful attention to detail, I knew it would be done well and it is!

This coloring book has 31 designs from The Saturday Evening Post. The designs are from a variety of artists, but I noticed that Stevan Dohanos and Richard Dick Sargent have many designs in the book. The designs start with some covers from the mid-1940s and carry through the 1950’s and even to 1960. The artists included are: Stevan Dohanos, John Clymer, George Hughes, Mead Schaeffer, John Falter, Amos Sewell, Richard Sargent, Kurt Ard, and Ben Kimberley Prins.
What is great is that on the back of each designs information about the original magazine is listed: the plate number (page in coloring book), title of the artwork, artist’s name, and the publishing date of the original magazine. I like that the information is kept with the design (on the back), so if you remove a page it is kept together.
The designs are detailed and contain intricate and small areas to color. I’ve found that sharp pencils and ultra-fine nib markers and pens work well with the small details.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 beautifully rendered designs derived from great Saturday Evening Post covers
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly rough and has perforated pages.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations and each of the designs has a framing line at the outer edge.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show colorful shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I apply more than one layer of ink.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper and even better than many of the more recent Creative Haven coloring books I have bought. I was able to get good pigment (color) lay down, layer the same color and multiple colors and to blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.
I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.