61 Beautiful and Imaginative Fantasy Designs new edition is outstanding with designs printed on both sides of the page

Fantasia Adult Coloring Book – Second US Edition

By: Nicholas F. Chandrawienata

Rating: 5 of 5

I purchased both the first and second edition of the US printing of Fantasia. While I wish the second edition had been printed with designs on one side of the page, in all other ways, the second edition is vastly superior to the first.

The paper quality is superior (heavyweight with good tooth), the spiral binding is wonderful for ease of coloring, the size is increased and there are micro-perforations for easy removal of pages from the book. As I love using markers along with pencils, I will be buying a second copy of this book as markers definitely bleed through to the back of the page (see below for my coloring medium tests.)
The designs are beautiful with outstanding printing on the better quality paper. The black is true and deep and has a slightly glossy look to it.
The artist has a wonderful imagination and superior skill in illustrations. The earlier version was one of my favorites but this book is now at the top of my list of must-color designs. The designs are detailed and intricate with many small areas to color. The artist still allowed plenty of room for blending and shading.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
61 beautiful fantasy designs by Nicholas F. Chandrawienata
Designs printed on both sides of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly rough and perforated
Spiral Binding for easy open to flat position for coloring.
Designs stop short of the perforations.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page and will disfigure the designs on the back of the page.
Most water-based markers bleed through in spots to the back of the page. Tombow’s brush end dual markers did not bleed through. The spots that bled through would mar the design on the back of the page.
India ink pens and gel pens did not bleed through. Some gel pens require additional drying time.
Colored pencils worked well with this paper. It has good tooth and allowed for applying layers of the same color to get rich pigment. I could also layer multiple colors well and I could blend both oil and wax based pencils easily with a pencil style blending stick.

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