iiiiReader Book Reviews

This is my second grayscale coloring book by Molly Harrison. While I usually use coloring pencils, I used alcohol-based markers with my first project in this book and I enjoyed it so much, I will continue with it. The designs are grayscale versions of Ms. Harrison’s actual artwork. The designs are of young women’s faces with beautiful elements, such as the night sky or flowers twisted throughout their hair.

My first project was almost an abstract of a young woman though her face is shown realistically. I was able to use a wide choice of grays and purples for the sky and and for parts of her face. It was beautiful in a very understated way. The designs themselves are printed in a medium grayscale which allows for blending with pencils (which I used for her eye) as well as the translucent look of markers.

This is what I found when while coloring and testing this book:

25 Grayscale Designs from Molly Harrison’s actual artwork
Printed on one side of CreateSpace typical white, thin non-perforated paper
Glue Bound
Designs do not merge into the binding area. There is a framing line around the outside of each design so you can cut the page out without any design loss.
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper (use a blotter page below the page you are working on if you use these.)
Gel pens and India ink pens leave color shadows on the back of the page.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. You can put down light to heavy color, it blends and layers well. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page. I also suggest a blotter page when working with hard lead pencils as they can dent the next page as well.

I have all three of Sherri Baldy’s previous coloring books and am really enjoying coloring in them. I enjoy Steampunk as well, so when I saw that Ms. Baldy had just released a My Besties in Steampunk coloring book, I knew that it was for me. The My Besties girls are all adorable with huge eyes. Ms. Baldy’s vision of Steampunk is fun and whimsical rather than overly mechanical. I love that she has little teddy bears in the book as well as a few other friends. There are 25 different designs but you get two copies of each for a total of 50 coloring pages.

These designs are so cute. I find them rather like potato chips it’s hard to stop at one. When I sat down to color this afternoon, I colored a number of them using a variety of markers and pencils for shading. The projects are quick and fun to color and don’t require any special or small coloring medium.

Here is what I found within this book:

25 x 2 (50) My Besties in Steampunk Designs
Printed on one side of the page
Page is white, slightly rough, and is non-perforated
Glue Bound
Designs do not merge into the binding
Room enough to cut pages out if you wish to do so
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave color shadows on back of the page
Coloring pencils work well: soft lead lay down color, layer, and blend well; hard lead dent the back of the page but lay down good color