24 Detailed and Intricate Science Fiction Designs and short story designs printed one side of the page

John Byrne’s Stowaway to the Stars: A Graphic Album to Color

By: John Byrne

Rating: 5 of 5

Stowaway to the Stars is an interesting and different type of coloring book. It is more rightly considered a color-able graphic short story. There are 25 design pages which are intricate and detailed to color. There is also a short story which coordinated with the designs. The portion of the story pertaining to a design is on the facing page to the design (i.e., on the back of the prior design page.)

The story is about a 14 year old girl who lives on an Earth colonized planet but who dreams of adventuring into space. She realizes her dream as a stowaway and the story (and designs) continue her adventures. Really an excellent story and the designs are equally great.
The designs are very intricate and will, for the most part, take special small nib pens/markers and very sharp point pencils to color. It is a book that would be of interest to colorists who enjoy a project which takes time and attention to finish. I would not recommend it (as a coloring book) to anyone who has fine motor or vision issues. As a story, it can be enjoyed by all.
This is what I experienced when I colored in this book and tested the paper with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I used for testing and which I generally use for my coloring projects.
24 Science Fiction designs and a great short story
Designs are printed on one side of the page (with the story printed on the back of the pages.)
Paper is heavyweight, white, lightly rough (good tooth), and perforated
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding area. The designs have a framing line at the outer edge for a natural stopping point.
Pages can be removed at the perforation if you choose to do so. I won’t as it will destroy the continuity of the story.
Alcohol-based markers lightly seep through this paper. I like to use a blotter when working with this medium. I use a page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper under my working page. It keeps ink from seeping through to the next design page and ruining it.
Water-based makers, India ink gens, and gel pens do not seep through or leave shadows on the back of the page. Gel pens take a longer time than normal to dry.
Colored Pencils work well with this paper as it has a bit of tooth to it. I found that I could layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and I could blend easily using a pencil style blending stick. Both wax and oil based pencils worked well with the paper.