A Mix of Fairy and Story book designs based on Charles Santore’s Original Artwork printed on one side of the page

Charles Santore: Illustrations from Classic Tales Coloring Book

By: Charles Santore

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a Charles Santore coloring book published by Pomegranate. It is a mix of various fairy tales and story books, including some designs which are included in his coloring books on a specific title, such as Snow White and Aesop’s Fables. Some of the pictures have darker shading than others and most have elements of grayscale coloring rather than simple line drawings. I treat them as if I were working on a full grayscale design by laying down a foundation of color using alcohol-based markers. Once that I am done with that layer, the gray shading became the shading in my colors. I then add colored pencil details and highlights.

The designs are really elegantly drawn with fine details from the original artwork. Thumbnails of the original watercolors of each design are printed in glossy prints on the inside of the front and back covers. I appreciate this touch as at times I need to look at the pictures to determine which part of the design I was coloring. You can follow the colors in the picture or, as I do, use my own color palette.
This is what I experienced in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper.
22 Fairy Tale and Story book designs based on the original artwork by Charles Santore with lots of gray shading
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, slightly off-white, slightly rough to the touch and non-perforated
The designs are bound by two heavyweight staples which can be removed to release all of the page from the book without any loss of design.
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Pages can be cut out if you wish without losing any design elements.
Book easily opens to a flat position for coloring.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper easily.
Water-based markers leave shadows and slight spots of color bleed through on the back of the page
If I use markers while coloring in this book, I use a blotter of card stock or heavy weight paper below my working page. It keeps seeping ink from marring the design on the page below.
Gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the page.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. It has a slight roughness to it that allows good pigment coverage from both oil and wax based pencils. I was able to layer and blend easily with both as well.