Animorphia: An Extreme Coloring and Search Challenge
By: Kerby Rosanes
Rating: 4 of 5
The photos and video I refer to in this review can be seen on my review of the product on Amazon.
I am updating my original review of this book as of 01/07/16. I loved the artwork by Kerby Rosanes but really disliked a good number of things about the printing of the book. I became curious about the UK printing once Amazon merged the books into one item number and reviews for the UK book were consistently higher than those for the US book. I purchased a copy of the UK book to do a side-by-side comparison. I also purchased a second copy of the US version to have a “clean” copy to compare as I had already colored in my first book. I am including a silent video which shows a flip-through of first the UK and then the US version of the book. You may notice that I have some problems paging through the second, US version. It is because the pages are so thin, it is hard to just turn one page instead of several. Also, my photos will show a comparison of the books. The UK book is to the left or to the top of the photo as applicable.
This is a series that I have read out of order over the years. I missed a few of the more recent books and so the personal life of forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver has advanced and changed a bit since the last book I read. However, I read the book for the mystery and Mr. Elkins ability to write a great and cerebral murder mystery has not changed at all. It is arguable that Mr. Elkins started the genre of forensic anthropology murder mysteries with his Gideon Oliver books.
This is the first Dean Koontz novel I have read in a very long time. It was interestingly written but in some ways a tad confusing for me. The characters jumped around a bit and I was never quite sure of where I was in the story.
This is a beautifully designed book of 31 head studies of various animals. The animals are drawn first realistically and then are filled with intricate details that can be colored to mimic reality or to take the designs on a wild ride of color. The brown bear design on the cover is included in the book; however, the design has more of the bear’s body and is not as up-close as the cover. This is not a coloring book that is friendly for those who like to do a lot of shadow and blend work. The spots for coloring are simply too small to support much of that kind of work. It may also not be the best book for those who have vision or fine motor skill issues. For those who like intricate work, it is absolutely the best general animal book I have come across as yet. The animals included are: Bengal tiger, gorilla, badger, impala, English bulldog, black rhinoceros, red fox, bighorn sheep, giant panda, ring-tailed lemur, llama, hippopotamus, rabbit, African elephant, Arabian horse, Koala, brown bear, Highland cow, kangaroo, red panda, deer, Main Coon cat, giraffe, African leopard, otter, mandrill, zebra, gray wolf, sheep, moose, and Masai lion.
In case it is noticeable in the video and/or photos (if either post successful), the copy I receive was bent in half. While that is usually done by the carrier, in this case, the book was folded in half and mailed in much too small a padded envelope by Amazon themselves. They are sending a replacement and I am hopeful that no one else with have this issue. If you do, just call Amazon to get it replaced. They have also graciously allowed me to test the designs in the damaged copy so I can complete this review.
The designs are printed on one side of a good weight white perforated paper. The paper is a good enough quality for framing. The attached cover is beautifully illustrated with coloring and light touches of matte silver and copper metallic foil on the front artwork. Slight elements of the background design are already colored. While I would have preferred they left that blank, I am okay with the small amount they have colored in this instance. The designs do merge into the binding and you will lose portions of the design if you remove a page at the perforations. You can remove the entire page by snipping threads but you will have the perforation line.
The coloring medium I tested was a mixed result. All markers, both alcohol and water based, fine, ultra-fine, and even brush ends, bled through this paper to some degree. Gel pens worked great regardless of brand or point size. They did not require extra drying time as compared to other books. My coloring pencils worked well and behaved as they should depending on the type of lead used. I did check my soft lead for blending and they worked well but, as I noted above, there is not much opportunity for blending unless you do so in the backgrounds or, perhaps, across a number of the intricate elements. I suggest using a blotter sheet under the page you are working on with this book. I prefer chipboard but you can use card stock, a file folder, or a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper as well.
These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:
Markers: 1) alcohol-based Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine) and 2) water-based Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, and Pentel markers
Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes – 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and Tekwriter
Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castel Polychromos
This is a smaller format coloring book of 24 owl designs. Most of these designs have appeared in other books that I own. I surmise from this that the designs are available for licensing via the Internet. I’m not sure if this book has been put together by the artists or if it is another curated book of designs. There are a couple of intricate and more detailed designs in the book but for the most part, the design are more on the simplistic side. They are not designs that appeal to me due to lack of challenge but there are members of my family and friends who will enjoy coloring these. They work really well for individuals who have vision or fine motor skill issues.
The blurb for this book mentions 50 pages to color. The designs make up 24 of those pages, there are an additional couple of pages with more intricate designs on the title page, etc. Finally, the back of each design page has an imprint of flowers and the title which can be colored. I consider those to be waste pages due to the leak through issues I discuss below.
All of the designs stop well before the binding. The designs are printed on one side of thin white non-perforated paper that is typical for books published by CreateSpace. The binding is glued but there is plenty of room for you to cut a page out if you choose to do so.
All of my markers bleed through and my gel pens either bleed through or leave a distinct shadow on the back of the page. My coloring pencils work well with the paper. I will use a piece of chipboard or heavy paper behind the page I am working on so I don’t ruin the following page with leaking ink. I will include, in the comments section of this review, a list of the coloring medium that I used to test this book.
This is a lovely set of dog designs by Amanda Neel. I already own her two previous books for specific animal types Lovely Cats and Beautiful Horses and have been enjoying coloring in that book. This book of various dog breeds is just as beautiful and, as with the horse book, has an added advantage of having the designs in the standard size as well as a smaller 5 x 7 inches as well. That way, you can use the smaller design to test colors or simply to have another copy of the design in a smaller format to color or to share. I like the smaller designs for use with cards. I can cut them out, color them, and add them to the front of my home-made card.
The dogs are set in various scenes so you get a real picture of where the dog may be rather than just a head shot or full body of the animal. These are realistic drawings of dogs rather than the more common doodle style artwork. The breed types are printed on the smaller designs but not on the full page version, which is nice so you don’t have to deal with print obscuring part of the design. I’ll list those breeds at the end of this review for anyone interested. I like Ms. Neel’s drawing style. She adds a really nice level of detail.
The designs are printed on thin white non-perforated paper which is typical of CreateSpace publications. The binding of this book is glued rather than sewn or stapled. There is plenty of room to cut the page out if you wish though the space is a little tight on the smaller size designs and you will need to be careful when cutting those out. All designs stop well before the margin. The artist has placed a framing line around each design which helps me tremendously as a colorist. It gives me a natural stopping point which saves me time and ink.
Coloring pencils work well on this paper and behave as expected for their lead type (soft or hard.) The hard lead can leave indents on the back of the page if you are a tad heavy handed as I am. Both alcohol and water based markers bleed through. My gel pens all leave a color shadow on the back of the page. As these designs are printed on only one side of the paper, these issues are not a problem I am now using a piece of chipboard under my work to keep ink from leaking through to ruin the design below. You can use heavyweight paper or card stock but be sure to check to see how many layers you need to keep it from leaking through. The reason I like chipboard is it can be reused over and over again and is available at office supply stores or on-line. I’ll include, in the comments section of this review, a list of the coloring medium I used to test this book.
The breeds listed are as follows: German Shepherd, Afghan Hound, American Cocker Spaniel, Golden Retriever, Yorkshire Terrier, Gordon Setter (puppy), Shetland Sheepdog, Australian Shepherd, Bernese Mountain Dog, Pembroke Corgi, Beagle, Poodle, German Shepherd (second design), Dalmatian, Labrador, West Highland White Terrier, Gordon Setter (adult), Russel Terrier, Doberman, Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute (second design), Papillon, and Chihuahua.
Motif Magic: Amazing Designs from Around the World to Color (Color Magic)
By: ArsEdition
Rating: 5 of 5
This is my second book in Barron’s Magic coloring book line, so I was not surprised to see that the designs are printed on both sides of the page. The designs are a mix of cultural based images that can be found throughout the world. The only truly strange one for me was the two page of designs representing England. I think that the publisher could have found designs that were better done and more in line with what we think of when we think of England than what they ended up with.
Apart from those two pages, I really liked the artwork in this book. There are a number of designs that include small and intricate detail that might be a little difficult for anyone with vision or fine motor issues. A number of the designs are white images imposed on black backgrounds.
The designs are printed on one side of a good weight non-perforated paper. The designs stop well before the margin and are not spread across two pages. The binding is sewn rather than glued, so removing a few pages at a time can be done with a few snips of thread. The designs all have frames around them which I appreciate as it gives a finished look to my projects.
For a book with designs on both sides, this paper worked really well with a variety of my coloring mediums. All alcohol-based markers bled through the paper immediately. All ultra-fine and brush end water-based markers worked great and did not bleed through (essentially my Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, and the brush end of my Tom Bows.) The fine tip of my Pentel and Tom Bows bled through in spots. All of my gel pens (all sizes and brands) and coloring pencils worked well with the paper though my gel pens needed extra drying time.
These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:
Markers: 1) alcohol-based Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine) and 2) water-based Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, Staedler triplus fineliners, and Pentel markers
Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes 0.28/0.38/0.5/0.7/1.0 and Tekwriter
Coloring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, and Faber-Castel Polychromos
This is a crochet book with projects from five different Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. They are: Hansel and Gretel, The Hare and the Hedgehog, Jack and the Beanstalk, Tom Thumb, and Rapunzel. The projects include some different and interesting items such as the cottage from Hansel and Gretel and the Beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk.
The Rise of the Red Queen (A Red Solaris Mystery Book 2)
By: Bourne Morris
Rating: 4 of 5
While this is the second book in this cozy mystery series, it is the first book I have read by this author. The focus of the series is on University life in general and on the interim dean of Journalism, Meredith Solaris, in particular.
Dr. Solaris, known to family and friends simply as “Red” is applying for the full time position of Dean of Journalism at Mountain West University. This is a university which is located in Nevada. Prior to this book (and presumably in the first book in the series), Red has saved the university’s “bacon” by solving a crime and by getting the school back on track. While that should make her odds on favorite for the full-time position, it turns out that two other outstanding individuals are also looking for the job.
Minka’s Journey: A Coloring Story Book (Coloring Journeys) (Volume 1)
By: Catherine M. Benante
Rating: 5 of 5
There are 37 pages of coloring fun in this book about Minka, the Cat. The book begins as her day begins with the sun coming up. We follow her through a forest, down a stream, to the ocean, across a prairie, to a farm, then to a garden party, to a natural aviary, back to the forest and to home. Along the way, we are treated to the many types of animals, fish, birds, and flowers that live and grow in the various places.
It is a beautifully drawn book with lots of fun and interesting coloring opportunities. I love that Minka is a Tuxedo Cat and looks similar to my beautiful Mittens who I lost this year to very old age (almost 19). I will think lovingly of her as I color in this book and I’m sure the artist won’t mind if I think of the cat in this book as my sweet Mittens rather than Minka. The end of the coloring book is almost a promise of more to come with Minka. I hope so as it is a lovely book
The designs in this book are printed on one side of the page; however, the way in which they are printed is interesting. The artist has chosen to print her designs across two pages with a gap in between the pages. She then leaves the backside of both of the pages blank purposefully so you can avoid bleed through issues (see my recommendations below.) Thus, you have two pages of a design, then two blank pages, two pages of a design, etc. All of the designs stop before the margin; however, as they are a continuance of the prior page, there is a large white line in the middle of the design. For the most part, the artist has made sure that no essential elements are lost in the blank area (though there are three pages where I found items split in half or with portions of a tree or blank missing. Because of the way the book is published, I would not consider it suitable for framing but it makes for a wonderful book to color in.
Both alcohol and water based markers bleed through this paper. My gel pens (of all nib size and brands) leave color shadows on the back of the page. My hard coloring pencils leave indents on the backside of the page. Because of all of these issues, I put a chipboard, card stock, or a file folder as a blotter page behind the page I am working on and that saves the rest of the book from any damage done while I am coloring. I will list the coloring mediums that I tested with this book in the comments section below.
The paper on which CreateSpace prints these coloring book is less than optimal. It is thin and doesn’t stand up to repeated blending with pencils or watercolors. They are the venue through which independent artists are publishing their art. Because of this, I am willing to put up with the less than stellar paper to get the huge variety of coloring designs that are made available through this publisher. This book is exactly the interesting and beautiful coloring book that I am so pleased to get through this publisher.
The photos and video I refer to in this review can be seen on my review of the product on Amazon.
