64 Cute and Fun Mermaid and Friends Designs by Denyse Klette printed one side of the page

Zendoodle Coloring Presents Mermaids in Paradise: An Artist’s Coloring Book

By: Denyse Klette

Rating: 5 of 5

I admit to being a fan of Denyse Klette’s artwork before finding her coloring books. I loved the first coloring book, Fairies in Dreamland and looked forward to and preordered this book. My only issue with the book (besides wishing the pages were perforated) is that the title might more accurately have been Mermaid and Friends in Paradise. While most of the designs include mermaids or mermaid related items, a good number are of the cute little pig from the prior book, birds, fish and other assorted sea creatures (really cute octopus.) As there are 64 designs in this book, the fact that the designs are not all of mermaids doesn’t trouble me too much.

The book has 64 design pages (including the title and presentation pages which have designs on them as well.) Ms. Klette’s signature style female form is long and thin with beautiful big eyes. Her mermaids such this to perfection (though I did like that a couple of the mermaids were a little more curvy.) Her animal creatures are cute and fun with great expressions.
I love that she worked in a Princess and the Pea image into this book as in the last one (this time a mermaid sleeping in an oversize shell with a kind of large pearl below. I especially like the last design in the book which is of a mermaid holding a cute little fairy in her hand it brings the two coloring books together in a great way.
The designs are detailed and some are quite intricate with lots of tiny details to color. To color some of the tiny detail, I will need to use extra fine nib pens or extremely sharp pointed pencils. Otherwise, regular color medium works great.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium.
64 Cute and Fun Mermaid and Friends Designs by Denyse Klette (includes title and presentation page.)
Printed one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly rough and non-perforated
Glue Bound
Most designs merge into the binding area; however, nothing integral to the design is lost
I can get the book to lay fairly flat with some effort (it is a thick book); however, coloring into the binding area will take some maneuvering (how I wish this book had perforated pages!)
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly
Water-based markers and India ink pens leave shadows (some showing the color) on the back of the page
Gel pens do not bleed through but some larger nib pens required additional drying time. I suggest testing your pens to be sure they won’t accidentally smear.
Colored pencils did well with this paper. I tested various types of oil and wax-based pencils and they all performed well with multiple layers of the same color for deeper pigment, multiple layers of different colors, and blended easily with a blender stick.
I am using and suggest the use of a blotter page under your working page. I use card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper. This will keep seeping ink from getting to the pages below.