Santa’s Christmas: Grayscale Adult Coloring Book
By: Ruth Sanderson
Rating: 5 of 5
The grayscale in Ms. Sanderson’s books are very well done. She also gives hints on how-to do grayscale at the beginning of her book. While the product description says that this book is not suitable for markers, I have found that I can use alcohol-based markers provided I use a blotter (see below) though some water-based markers if you continue to layer with them.
The story the designs tell follows Santa from his workshop to his visit and to his flying away. You can almost hear him shouting Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night as you flip through the final pages.
There are 24 designs in this book and, as Ms. Sanderson has done in the past, there are 12 bonus pages that are duplicates of half of the original designs in the coloring book. In previous books, the grayscale in the bonus area was done in a darker format; however, in this book, the images appear to be the same as the originals.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
24 Grayscale designs plus 12 bonus designs based mostly on The Night Before Christmas plus designs from Lenox collector’s plates.
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 and can pill the paper if too many layers are attempted.
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.