This is a beautifully hand-drawn coloring book. There are 39 pages of designs, printed on only one side of each page. There are gorgeous bouquets in beautiful bases, flowers in mandala form, full page designs of feathers, eggs, flowers, butterflies, etc. and there are birds many designs of birds. The designs are detailed and have some intricate spots but nothing extremely tiny.
The designs have a crisp look to them that I find very appealing. I chose to do a mandala which included lots of plants and some insects as my first project. I used soft lead coloring pencils and was very happy with the layering I was able to do on this paper.
Here is an overview of what I found in this physical book:
39 Designs Featuring Birds and other Nature subjects
Printed on one side of medium weight, white perforated paper
Glue Bound
Designs do not merge past the perforations
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through this paper
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well for my use (soft lead blended and layered well but hard lead did leave dents on the back of the page.
While I used pencils for my first project, I am sure to use wet coloring medium in the future. When I do so, plan to either remove the page from the book or put a blotter sheet of card stock under the page I am working on to keep seeping ink or marring dents from damaging the pages below.
Wonderland: A Coloring Book Inspired by Alice’s Adventures
By: Amily Shen
Rating: 5 of 5
I am a big fan of Alice in Wonderland, so I look at all of the various coloring books that have come out with this as their theme and choose my favorites to purchase. Wonderland has a really fun and different take on the illustrations compared to my other books (which are generally much more traditional.) In this book, Alice has an updated and trendy vibe that I find very cute. The artist (Amily Shen) has put her spin on the story.
The book is both a coloring book (in chapters) and an activity book. I generally do not do the activities but I know that many people do. There is writing on a number of pages but the print is so small, for me, it doesn’t distract me from the designs.
The book has 76 pages of coloring and activity (including the front piece and the title page.) The book is broken into 9 chapters and each of the chapter title pages has a decorated china plate for coloring.
For my first project, I chose a design that included Alice, a bird and a cupcake (both of which show up in several other designs.) I used my Derwent Coloursoft Pencils with a very light touch.
The book has a removable dust cover which is nicely decorated with some glossy touches. The dustcover has been printed for coloring as well. The fold-outs (front and back) are black on green and the inside of the cover (from one end to the other) is black on white. The attached cover of the book also has fun coloring opportunities. These designs are black printed on a medium peach and the feel is kind of slick to the touch.
Here is an overview of what I noted about the physical book:
76 Pages of Modern Alice in Wonderland inspired Designs
Printed on both sides of heavyweight, non-perforated white paper
Glue Bound
Some Designs merge into the binding area
Some designs spread across two pages (in my copy, some lined up better than others)
Alcohol-based markers bleed through slightly
Water-based markers and India ink pens did not bleed through
Gel pens did not bleed through but took extra drying time
Coloring pencils worked well in my tests and in my first project as well
I test my coloring books with various medium. My tests are not exhaustive as I spend about half an hour per book with my tests. The tests do give me an idea of how the different medium react to the paper but not the experience of coloring a full design. If you are interested in knowing which types of product I used in my tests, I will post those in the comments section below.
Marjorie Sarnat’s Pampered Pets: New York Times Bestselling Artists’ Adult Coloring Books
By: Marjorie Sarnat
Rating: 5 of 5
Where my other books by Ms. Sarnat focus on a single subject (owls, cats, fashion), Pampered Pets is more generalized over a variety of pets. These include many cats and dogs (singularly and together). There are also a number of pig designs and a reptile, bird, horse, and others especially in designs where there are more than one animals. As you can expect from Ms. Sarnat, the pets are adorable and are in various places with lots of additional fun elements added to them.
This book is published by Skyhorse Publishing. I have two other coloring books by another artist by this publisher in their premium line (New York Times Bestsellilng Artists’ Coloring Books note this is the name of the line and not necessarily indicative of the status of this book as a best-seller.) I currently have three other coloring books by Ms. Sarnat by two other publishers (including Dover) and the art in this coloring book is of the same excellent, fun and cute quality.
I chose to do a cat design for my first one. I used alcohol-based markers and a new (to me) type of coloring pencils (Tombow Irojiten Colorpencils.) Please note that I did not test these pencils with this book. I usually spend a month or more with a new medium learning how to use it properly before adding it to my tests. I will say that I loved the lighter pastel tones for doing the background of this design and that I really enjoyed coloring this cute cat.
I will provide details about what I found in the physical coloring book below, but here is a quick overview:
49 Embellished Pet Designs
Designs are printed on one side of perforated paper
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page
India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page
Gel pens do not bleed through
Coloring pencils work well with this paper
The designs are printed on one side of a good weight white perforated paper. The binding is glued rather than sewn. I was able to get the book to open to a fairly flat position for coloring but if the hump in the middle is an issue for you (I know left-handed people have this problem) it is really easy to remove a page at the perforations.
I always try to mention when a coloring book artist puts a framing line around the designs, as Ms. Sarnat has done with this book. For my use, I like having these lines as it completes any dangling edge elements and saves me time and ink in coloring.
My alcohol and water-based markers all bled through this paper to some degree. The alcohol, typically, bled through quickly. The water-based marks came through a bit spotty. I think it might still be enough to ruin the project below, so I suggest that you use a blotter page if you work on your designs in the book. You can also simply remove the page from the book to color as well.
My India ink artist pens left a shadow at the back of the page. None of my gel pens bled through and they did not require additional drying time. My coloring pencils worked well with the paper for coverage. I found that the soft lead pencils were especially easy to blend. However, the hard lead pencils left slight dents on the back of the page.
I will attach a silent video to this review of a page by page flip-through so you can decide for yourself if it suits your needs. I’ll also attach some of my finished projects and some sample photos of the pages as well.
This is my first coloring book based on Marvel comics (I have a couple of other comic book coloring books from another company.) Unlike my other books, this is not a black and white version of a comic book. It is a coloring book with a lot of touches that I enjoy in my coloring books. The designs are printed on one side and the pages are perforated. Also, unlike other books, there are no words printed on these pages. There is a heavy use of black in the designs but I find it easy to work with those and use the black as a big element in my coloring.
Something that should be noted immediately is that the product description, at the time I am writing this review, mentions 120 pages of all-out costumed warfare. Nope, that is not the case. The book has 120 pages if you count title page and the front and back of each page but there are only 59 pages which you can color. The title page is simply printed and the back of each page is blank. It doesn’t bother me that there are only 59 pages but I wanted to note that the description is wrong.
I am having a lot of fun with this epic battle of superheroes. The ultimate battles between Iron Man and Captain America are where I started my coloring. While I don’t test using these pencils, I decided to try my Marco Raffine Drawing pencils to see how they worked. If you are interested in what I use to test my coloring books and how I do my tests, you can read that info in the comments section below.
Here is an overview of what I found in this coloring book:
59 pages of Marvel Superhero Designs
Printed on one side of medium weight perforated paper
Glue Binding
Some Designs extend past perforations but stop before the binding area for ease of coloring
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page
Gel pens and India Ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well with the paper but hard leads leave dents on the back of the page
As most coloring mediums are seen on the back of the page, I am really glad that the publisher decided to leave it blank. That gives me the ability to use whatever type of marker, pen or pencil I choose. However, I highly suggest that you use a blotter page behind the page you are working on to keep ink and/or dents from marring the next few pages.
At the time that I write this review, there two different Vogue coloring books that have just been released. The other one is based on British Vogue and this book is based on American Vogue magazine. They are quite different in time period, style, and print.
There are 26 designs based on magazine covers from 1912 to 1932. Each one is associated with a letter of the alphabet. For example, the first one I chose to color (using Prismacolor Premier Soft Core pencils) is of a young woman pushing a wheelbarrow of flowers on a windy day. The magazine is from June 15, 1915, and the editors of this book associated the design with W for wheelbarrow. The design is on the front of the back and the letter and stylized illustration (plus W is for wheelbarrow) is on the back of the page.
In addition to the 26 designs, there are coloring opportunities on the fold out flaps of the front and back cover. Better still is a lovely four page fold-out at the back of the book which is printed front and back with a design from each of the years between 1912 and 1932.
All of the designs include some small details that may be a bit difficult to color. The artwork is appears to have been sketched but the lines are a tad squiggly and there are disconnects that make it more difficult to color. I also noted that the title and other print on the designs have been done with a weird wiggly typeface. I think that the point is to make the design appear vintage but, in many cases, it merely makes it look a little odd. This issue would not keep me from buying the book as I really love the designs otherwise but it certainly impacts my enjoyment of it. If I could place a rating of 4.5 on this book, I would do so; however, as I cannot, I always round up to the next highest star.
I will provide more detail about the physical coloring book below but here is a quick overview of what I found:
26 Full page American Vogue Fashion Designs (A to Z)
Great extra coloring including 4 page fold-out
Printed on both sides of heavyweight non-perforated paper
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Hybrid Glue and Sewn Binding
Alcohol-based markers seep through this page slightly
Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens do not seep through the page
Coloring pencils work well with this paper but have blending issues
The designs in this book are printed on both sides of the page. The paper used is really nice heavyweight, white, and non-perforated. The actual fashion designs are on one side of the page while the letter associated is on the back. For me, that equals a waste page if I want to use alcohol-based markers. If I use any other medium, I can also color that back page as well.
The binding is both glued and sewn (with lots of little stitches that are impossible to snip.) The designs do not merge into the binding area. You will have to cut pages out if you want to remove them from the book but you won’t lose any portion of the design in doing so. I would have loved to seen perforations on this coloring book for easy removal for framing, This is a fairly thick book but getting it to open flat was really easy.
There are many extras such as the fashion elements on both the front and back page fold-outs as well as the four-page fold-out printed with 21 fashionable designs one for each of the years represented by the covers. There is also a full color thumbnail of each of the cover designs with a short blurb about it should you wish to follow the original colors. I went my own way for my first project but I certainly had fun looking at the original, seeing the designer, and getting the history of the outfit.
I test my coloring books with various medium (which I will list in the comments area for anyone interested in the list.) My tests are not exhaustive as I spend about half an hour per book with my tests. The tests do give me an idea of how the different medium react to the paper but not the experience of coloring a full design. Here are the results of my tests on this book:
Alcohol-based markers do bleed through but only the tiniest bit. No other wet medium bleed through at all. That includes water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens. Gel pens definitely require more drying time than usual.
Coloring pencils worked well for regular coverage and for layering. My issue arose with blending. My blends were very uneven with a much darker stain in the middle and only slight color to the sides I was blending. This was true of both wax and oil based pencils. I would have liked to have attempted some blending, especially in the backgrounds but, at least at my skill level, I will have to abstain. My hard lead pencils worked well but I don’t attempt to blend those as that is not how I use them. I find that they are good for some detail areas where my soft lead pencil tips cannot fit.
Color the Classics: Alice in Wonderland: A Curiouser Coloring Book
By: Jae-Eun Lee
Rating: 5 of 5
I had previously purchased the Anne of Green Gables coloring book by this artist and was slightly disappointed at how many pages were devoted to story telling versus full page illustrations. In Alice this is not an issue. Of the 70 pages in the book, only 14 are this type of story book page (as compared to the 29 in Anne). Other illustrations also carry text of the story and there are more of these in this book. The straight up story pages are also beautifully illustrated with small, intricate, detailed filigree-style designs.
While much of the story is printed in the book, it does not replace having the actual book. It simply reminds me of the tale as I color along in the book.
Other than the story page illustrations, the designs are open and easy to color. In two of the designs, the characters faces are not quite finished. These fit in with the general tone of each design so it doesn’t bother me.
For my first project in this coloring book, I chose to do a design of Alice with the Red Queen. I used Prismacolor Premier Soft Core pencils to complete the design. While some individuals use coloring pencils with a heavier hand, I find that I need to use a lighter touch otherwise I develop elbow and shoulder pain. When I test books, I test using both a light touch and a heavier hand, especially for layering.
I will provide a detailed description of the physical book below, but here is what I found in a brief overview:
70 pages of Designs and Story Book Illustrations
Printed on both sides of page
Pages are heavyweight and non-perforated
Glue Binding
Some Designs merge into the binding
Some Designs spread across two pages
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers do not bleed through
India ink pens do not bleed through
Gel pens do not bleed through but require extra drying time
Coloring pencils work extremely well with this paper
The designs in this book are printed on both sides of heavyweight, non-perforated white paper. The binding is glued rather than sewn. You will have to cut pages out to remove them from the book. I could get the book to lay fairly flat by pressing really hard to break the spine.
As 14 designs spread across two pages as well as some designs merging into the binding area, if you remove pages from the book, you will probably lose some portion of the design. Depending on the specific page, you may lose important parts of the overall design. Because of this, I will not remove pages from the book and will struggle with trying to color the entire design into the binding area. This is a common issue with these story coloring books versus straight up coloring books, so I have come to expect this though it always disappoints me.
I test my coloring books with a wide variety of coloring medium. I will include this list in the comments section below for anyone interested. These are the results of my tests:
My alcohol-based markers bleed through the coloring page. Water-based markers, India ink pens, and gel pens did not bleed through and did not leave shadows on the back of the page. Most of my gel pens (except the small nib ones) required additional drying time. Coloring pencils worked extremely well with this paper. The soft lead pencils went on heavy with excellent coverage. They blended and layered easily. Hard lead pencils had fairly good color and did not dent the back of the page.
I am attaching a silent flip-through video of the entire color book so you can see the designs for yourself and decide whether or not this coloring book suits your needs.
This is a coloring book of designs hand-sketched from photographs which appeared in British Vogue during the 1950’s. They include fashions from Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Givenchy, and Chanel. Along with each design image is a short description of the fashion which was taken from the original magazine. This is a book which could have easily had perforated pages and it is a real shame that it did not. You can still remove pages from the book (see below) but perforations would have made it that much easier.
The designs are in sketch form with many open areas which will allow colorists to use their blending and shading techniques. I’m fairly new to those techniques with regards to fashion designs, so I think this will be a good opportunity for me to practice. I wish that there had been some views of the pages during the pre-order period so individuals could see what to expect. I wasn’t too surprised given the image on the cover of the book but I think some individuals might be disappointed by the way these designs are rendered compared to other fashion coloring books available.
As usual with hand-drawn designs (especially those which are sketched), there are disconnected lines. I generally keep a small nib black gel pen handy to create my own connections or just color on and leave the disconnect as it.
I really did not like that the artist put weird squiggly lines on the lips of some of the models. He may have thought that it provided highlights but I’d rather do that myself. Now some of the designs look there are caterpillars on the models lips. I’ll have to think of how to disguise those. Because of this, if I could give the book a 4.5 rating, I would but as I cannot, I always round up.
I love the fashions of this period, so coloring in this book will be fun for me. For my first project, I followed the color scheme mentioned in the blurb (navy and white) using a variety of pencils, gel pens, and markers.
I will provide more detail about the physical coloring book below but here is a quick overview:
92 pages of hand-sketched British Vogue Fashions
Printed on both sides of the page
Pages are heavyweight, white and non-perforated
Sewn Binding
Designs do not merge into the binding
Alcohol-based markers bleed through slightly but noticeably
Water-based markers and India ink pens do not bleed through
Gels pens do not bleed through but require additional drying time
Coloring pencils work extremely well with this paper
The designs in this coloring book are printed double-sided on heavyweight, non-perforated, white paper. The quality of the paper is what saved me from giving this a 4 star rating (along with the lip issue above.) The designs do not merge into the binding area. The binding is sewn, so you can remove pages by simply snipping a few threads to remove a few pages at a time. The book can be forced into a fairly flat position for coloring by breaking the spine.
The coloring book has a removable dust cover. While the front and the back of the actual book have designs which you can color, the publisher missed an opportunity to provide coloring designs on the inside of the dust cover itself. Instead, the inside is a slick and glossy bright pink. Pretty but not as much fun as sketches to color.
I test my coloring books with various medium (I will provide a list in the comments section below for any interested.) Here are the results of my tests:
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page but not as quickly or to the same extent as most paper. Water-based markers, India Ink pens, and gel pens did not bleed through the page. Gel pens required additional drying time as compared to other books. Coloring pencils worked extremely well with this paper. The soft lead pencils went on thick with great coverage. They blended and layered easily. The hard lead pencils had good color and did not dent the back of the page.
Color Cool Coloring Book: Perfectly Portable Pages (On-the-Go! Color Bk) (On-The-Go Coloring Book)
By: Thaneeya Mcardle
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a small format coloring book which seems to be a grouping of designs which have been re-printed from other coloring books by Ms. McArdle. It may be that there are new designs in the book as well but I do recognize a number of them from the few books I already own. I wish that the book description would make it clear when the designs are re-prints. I would still have purchased the book because I am looking for books that fit into my handbag. I can either take the whole book or remove a page at a time to take with me.
The designs are all in the fun and simple line drawing style that I think of with this artist. It gives the colorist room to doodle in their own accents or to practice their blending/shading skills. For my first project, I chose a flower mandala in a tile type of style. I used ultra-fine point markers because of the small details.
I will provide more detail about the physical book below but here is an overview of what I found:
28 Coloring Designs with a variety of subjects
Printed on one side of medium weight perforated paper
Designs stop before the perforations
Glue Bound
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page
India Ink pens bleed through the page
Gel pens do not bleed through
Coloring pencils work well with the paper
This is a coloring book published by Design Original books. As usual with their books, this book includes a number of examples of colored artwork. There are also tips from the artist about a variety of items including how various coloring medium looks when used.
The designs in this smaller to-go format book are printed on one side of the perforated medium weight page. On the backside of each page is the a quote or saying and several blank lines. Some people use these to journal; however, I like to note which coloring medium I used on the design.
The binding is glued but if you want to remove pages, I suggest using the perforations. The designs stop before the perforations so you will not lose any portion of the design if you remove it from the book. I was easily able to get the book to lay flat for coloring without much pressure on the spine.
I will list the coloring medium I used to test this book in the comments area of the review. Here are what my various tests discovered:
Alcohol and water-based markers as well as India ink pens bleed through the paper. Gel pens do not but need a little extra drying time. Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to easily blend my soft lead pencils. My hard lead pencils left dents on the back of the page.
I cut out a piece of card stock to carry with this size book for use as a blotter. It keeps ink from seeping further into the book and keeps the hard tipped medium from leaving dents that mar the designs below.
This is a coloring book of 32 designs with hearts as the inspiration. The designs are hand-drawn and have a flowing look to their artistry. There are a number of styles from doodle to angular and geometric. There are a number which have a more whimsical look as well as those which have large areas of different size dots which I used to play with lots of colors. The artist has put her name on the back of every page and I wish she had put to lower and to the side. Because of the thinness of the paper, it sometimes shows through on the design that I am coloring.
I didn’t have a coloring book of hearts something that I noticed around Valentine’s Day, so I was really happy to find one that had artwork that I enjoyed. I had a lot of fun coloring my first few projects in this book. I used a variety of coloring medium but mostly used alcohol and water based markers.
I will provide more detail about the physical book below but here is an overview:
32 Heart Inspired Hand Drawn Designs
Printed on one side of thin white paper
Paper is not perforated
Designs do not merge into the binding area
Glue Binding
Alcohol and water based markers seep through the page
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on the back of the page
Coloring pencils work well with this paper
The designs in this coloring book are printed on one side of the page. The paper is thin, white, and non-perforated. The artist has put her name on the back of each page, centered near the top and it sometimes shows through depending on the design. The designs do not merge into the binding area. The binding is glued and you will have to cut out pages if you wish to remove them from the book. I could get the book to lay fairly flat by breaking the spine.
I test my coloring books with a variety of medium (which I will list in the comments section below.) Here are the results of my tests:
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page. Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows mostly indistinct but with bright colors you can see some of the color through the page. Coloring pencils work well with the paper. The soft lead pencils blend okay (though I noticed a darker area where I first put the color down.) The hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.
I used and recommend that you use a blotter page under the page you are working on. That way you can keep seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the next page or two below.
Seek, Color, Find Garden: A Treasure Hunt and Coloring Adventure
By: Robin Pickens
Rating: 5 of 5
I love to garden so getting a coloring book about gardening is always fun for me. This particular book by Robin Pickens has additional fun in that there is a hidden treasure element on each page. There is a clue about which element is on the page (you find it on the back side of the page.) Before seeing it, I was generally at a loss but once I knew what I was looking for, I could find it fairly easily. There is a key at the back of the book to show you the general area in which to look.
I really like that there are designs which involve more aspects of gardening than just flowers. There are many of flowers as well but there is one of a gardener, gardening tools, a beehive, and more.
Each of the pages is surrounded with a pre-colored border. The borders are in three different colors: lime green, mint green, and pink. I decided to not let the border color influence my color choices and treat them as a neutral. Surprisingly, it worked out well for me. My first project was of flowers and I used both alcohol and water based markers. I enjoyed coloring it but I realized later I should have looked at the pre-colored designs to more fully understand how the artist envisioned her illustrations. My project isn’t stellar but I had a lot of fun coloring it.
I will provide more detail about the physical coloring book below but here is an overview of what I found:
32 Garden Designs with Hidden Treasure Hunt element
Printed on one side of medium weight perforated paper
Design pages have colorful borders
Designs stop before the perforations
Glue Bound
Alcohol and water-based markers bleed through the page
India Ink pens bleed through the page
Gel pens do not bleed through
Coloring pencils work well with the paper
This is a coloring book published by Design Original books. As usual with their books, this book includes many examples of colored artwork. Along with that are some tips from the artist on such things as color combinations and tips on how to embellish the design.
The designs in this book are printed on one side of the perforated medium weight page. Each of the pages has a colorful border. On the backside of each page is the item you can find in the treasure hunt in the design, the title of the design, a fun saying, and several blank lines on which you can journal or simply note information about your project.
The binding is glued but you will want to remove pages at the perforations. The designs stop before the perforations so you will not lose any portion of the design if you remove it from the book. The book can be made to open to a flat position by pressing hard on the inside of the spine.
I test my various coloring books with a variety of coloring mediums. I will list those I used to test this book in the comments area of the review. Here are what my various tests discovered:
Alcohol and water-based markers as well as India ink pens bleed through the paper. Gel pens do not but need a little extra drying time. Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to easily blend my soft lead pencils. My hard lead pencils left dents on the back of the page.
I recommend using a blotter page below the page you are working on to keep ink or dents from marring the design on the next page.
