Do A Dot Art Markers Rainbow 6-Pack and Activity Book Set
By: Do A Dot Art
Rating: 5 of 5
A free sample of the Do-A-Dot Art Markers and coloring books were provided to me for test and review purposes.
The Do-A-Dot system is new to me and I really like it for my grandson. He is a little younger than the recommended age but he had a lot of fun playing with it while I monitored him closely. I also had some neighbors over with their slightly older children and they also had a fun playing with the paints.
In the pack, you receive six colors which are essentially the rainbow. These are the colors that children would use most (though I wish there was a brown and black but maybe that is available separately. You simply uncap the paints and the child can start playing. When they are done, cap it back up and you are done – no messy brushes to have to clean!
You can get coloring books with this set – both of which are gender neutral. From the back of the books, I can see that there are a number of other coloring books available that work with the paints. These are great quality books. The pages are thick enough that the paint doesn’t seep through making a mess and the pages are perforated so you can remove a page at a time for a child to color.
I will certainly be looking at adding onto what seems a basic starter set as the kids had so much fun. We are a family that likes our coloring books (from the kids through adults), so adding paint to the mix is a fun addition for us.
Peace on Earth – Adult Coloring Book: Color and Contemplate the Spirit of the Season
By: Passio
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a lovely and elegant book for the Christian colorist who wants to experience the story of the birth of Christ in their coloring book. The designs are very well chosen most are Christian in theme but some celebrate Christmas as a holiday (tree, etc.) while others are simply beautiful designs to color. Most of the designs are black lines on white but a few have black backgrounds with white design lines.
The backside of each of the designs has a quote from the Bible (both Old and New Testament from the Holy Bible, Modern English Version) which tells the story of the birth of Christ or which serves as a witness to what Christ came to Earth to accomplish. The telling of the story through the layout of these particular verses in this order was especially moving to me. I know that as I color in this book, I will be thinking mostly about the words on the opposite page and how special they are. While that is so important, it is also important to know that the designs are very well done and that some have intricate as well as elegant elements.
The designs in the book are printed on one side of white non-perforated paper. The backside of the page has the previously mentioned Bible quotes. The binding is glued versus sewn so you will have to cut the pages out if you wish to remove them. Only three of the designs merge into the binding and, unfortunately, the one with the Dove loses some of the bird into the binding. Cutting it out with cause more loss. The rest of the designs stop well before the binding and give you plenty of room for cutting. All designs but the three mentioned above either have a framing line around the design or have fully finished elements so I don’t have to guess at where to stop coloring and helps make my final product looks more finished.
All of my markers (both alcohol and water based) bled through the paper to varying degrees. My gel pens did not and did not need extra drying time. My coloring pencils worked well and as expected for their brand and type. You should always double check your markers and pens before starting a project to check for ink leaking through. I plan to put a heavyweight paper under the page I am working on to keep ink from seeping through. As the book is a non-standard size (around 8.5 x 9 inches), I will cut down a piece of chipboard and keep it with the book.
Escape to Christmas Past: A Colouring Book Adventure
By: Good Wives and Warriors
Rating: 5 of 5
Escape to Christmas Past is the first coloring book I have by Good Wives and Warriors (artists Becky Bolton and Louise Chappell.) It is a lovely little book (at approximately 7.5 x 7.25 inches) which packs a lot into its smaller format. It has 56 pages of coloring opportunities and the style is of a very elegant and old-fashioned English Christmas as envisioned in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The designs are imaginative and have intricate elements which will be a lot of fun to color. While the title mentions Christmas Past, the book seems to focus more on Christmas Present and Christmas Future. It is simply a wonderful Christmas coloring experience and I am really pleased with the designs in the book.
The designs are printed on both sides of heavyweight cream colored non-perforated paper. Twenty-six of the designs spread across two pages. In my book, these two page designs line up very well.
The attached cover of the book is well made and has gold foil, black, and red touches. You can color the remainder of the cover (front and back) if you wish. The inside of the cover has fold-outs (front and back) and a white on red line print which you can also color. The rest of the pages are designs, so you can literally color this book on every page, if you choose to do so. The binding is sewn rather than glued, so removing pages will require a few snips of threads every few pages. I won’t be taking mine apart as I think it is a lovely little book that tells a story that I want to keep together.
My alcohol-based markers bled through immediately. None of my ultra-fine point water-based markers bled through but you could see the fainest of shadows on the backside of the page when I used really dark colors (both Stabilo 88 and Staedler triplus fineliners.) My gel pens did not bleed through and did not need extra drying time. All of my coloring pencils did well and performed as I would expect for the brand and type.
This is one of the prettiest of small coloring books I have in my collection. It is extremely portable and fits in my purse well. I think it is a fantastic gift (along with some coloring pencils and a manual inexpensive sharpener) for anyone who likes to color or who wants to start. It has intricate details but nothing that should prove frustrating.
Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and I purchased this specific book because it showed a Nativity image on the front cover. I was hoping for religious designs and I was not disappointed. Not all of the designs are Christian in nature as there are a number that are more holiday and even seasonally directed (such as birds.) There are a number of angels and nativities as well as a lovely drawing of Jerusalem. My husband and I will have a lot of fun coloring this book this year. I like it for a Secret Santa gift along with some inexpensive coloring pencils especially if the recipient is known to be Christian.
In addition to the designs, the artist has included some basic color theory as well as holiday color combinations, color moods, and color stories at the front of the book, along with some great color examples (some of which I will show in my attached photos and video.) The lessons are somewhat generic to the line but have been keyed to the holiday designs and the colored samples are specific to this book. I’ve also included a photo of my first finished project in the book.
The pages are white and are perforated for easy removal. The designs are printed on one side only with holiday and inspiration quotes on the back side. The quotes range from quotes from the Bible (Old and New Testament) to Thomas Kinkade to Greg Laurie to holiday songs and hymns. Below the quotes are lines which the colorist can use to journal their own thoughts and feelings. The binding is glued but because of the great perforations to make removal easier, it almost doesn’t matter what type of binding the book has.
All of my markers (both water and alcohol-based) as well as my various gel pens bleed through these pages. My soft core coloring pencils (both Prismacolor and Derwent) work fantastic and go on thick and creamy. If I use anything other than pencils, I will put a piece of thicker paper or card stock under the page I am working on to keep the following page from getting ink on it.
Attached to this review will be a silent flip-through of the entire coloring book so you can make an informed decision as to whether or not it will work for you.
Rather than discuss how this is like or different from the books and/or the various movies, I will discuss only how I feel about it as an adult coloring book.
The illustrations and designs show that a number of artists have been involved with the coloring book (according to the book, there are six artists.) There are a variety of styles and it is easy to see which designs are by the same artist. I mention illustrations because a number of the drawings appear to be almost finished ink and pen studies rather than designs that a colorist can easily finish and interpret in their own unique way. I had this same issue with the recent Game of Thrones coloring book and I ended up using Tombow water-based markers (brush end only) to put larger swathes of color on many areas. It worked okay but it was not ideal. Something I really like about the book is that at the bottom of each page, there is a notation which tells which book the design is from and who the character is or which location is being shown.
There are still many designs which I feel that I can, as a moderately experienced colorist and artist, be able to color and enjoy. Some have intricate details but others have are mostly outline drawings that I will give me opportunities to try various blending techniques.
Physically, the book is put together better than some but missed the mark in a couple of ways. The designs are printed on both sides of the page with many of the images spanning across two pages. The non-perforated pages are white and medium weight. There is a removable cover but it is very thin and the artists could have put some coloring opportunities on the inside but did not. The binding is sewn rather than glued, so removing pages will require a few snips of thread throughout the book but you will be removing more than one page at a time Many of the designs merge into the binding and in my copy, about half of the two-page designs do not line up well. That gives me pause on removing pages because it will be very difficult deal with misaligned pages outside of the book.
Blooms, Birds, and Butterflies Adult Coloring Book (31 stress-relieving designs) (Studio Series Artist’s Coloring Book)
By: Peter Pauper Press
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a well made and illustrated adult coloring book filled with 31 really lovely and whimsical designs which concentrate on exactly what the title of the book says: Blooms, Birds, and Butterflies. I am enjoying the artwork by Andie Hanna. It has a modern take on type of stylized design that I equate with the Arts and Crafts movement. Where it is different is that the artist uses flowing lines within the design rather than the very straight lines I generally associate with the earlier art movement. The designs are all quite intricate but not to the point of having areas that are too small to color. There are many details to color and that makes it all the more fun.
Some of the earlier Peter Pauper coloring books were by a variety of artists but this book focuses on only Ms. Hanna’s work a change in focus that I am really enjoying. It appears that the publisher is moving into the area of having books focused on a single designer, so I will be looking for more of their books in general and by Ms. Hanna in particular.
The pages are a heavyweight bright white paper that is micro perforated. The designs are printed on one side of the page only. A good portion of the designs do merge into the binding but the parts that will be lost are not essential to the design. On each of these, the designs extend to all sides of the paper and leave elements unfinished at the edge (something that is a pet peeve of mine. I wish that the artist would instead make the picture slightly smaller and put a framing line around it so I am not trying to color unfinished elements on the edge of the paper.) The paper is also acid-free which means that it will not turn colors with age and all the work you put into coloring the designs should be safe. Additionally, the binding can be pushed into lying flat to give you access to make coloring in this book if you prefer that over taking pages out.
The only markers that I own that bleed through this paper are my Sharpies and Copics so it is probably safe to assume that all alcohol-based markers will have the same problem. None of my gel pens or water-based ultra fine markers bleed through. If you are using alcohol based markers or just for general safety, you can put an extra page of heavyweight paper under the page you are working on just in case some color leaches through. Be sure to check your particular markers/pens to see if there is any leaking for that brand.
Magical Minis: Pocket Sized Fairy Fantasy Art Coloring Book (Fantasy Art Coloring by Selina) (Volume 5)
By: Selina Fenech
Rating: 5 of 5
This is a very pretty set of 50 mini designs which, in larger versions, are part of artist Selina Fenech’s larger format books. I own two of those coloring books and I see that there are a number of designs which have been scaled down to fit into the smaller format. I am really happy to have them again in the smaller format because the book fits really well in my purse and I can easily carry it and a small set of coloring pencils as well. It also makes me want to buy the two books that I don’t already own as the designs are so well done.
The designs are quite elegant and have a great deal of detail in them. There are several nudes (especially the topless mermaids) where hair and whatnot cover up the strategic areas so that the individuals are not technically nude. I love the addition of the mermaids and the children designs. The artist’s style is very flowing and I have a lot of fun with this type of fantasy (which includes a few companions such as dragons, etc.)
The designs are printed on one side of the page with the back left blank. The paper is white and is not perforated. Many of the design go right into the binding, so removing the page might be a tad difficult without losing some portion of it. The paper is fairly thin and all markers and gel pens leak through. As the back of each page is blank, you can put a piece of card stock or really heavyweight paper under the page you are working on to keep ink from ruining the rest of the book. I’ve cut down a piece of chipboard to keep in the book but I am mostly planning on using coloring pencils and saving my markers, etc. for the larger versions of the designs in my other books. The binding is glued rather than sewn in.
Portable Color Me Calm: 70 Coloring Templates for Meditation and Relaxation (A Zen Coloring Book)
By: Lacy Mucklow
Rating: 5 of 5
This is appears to be a Portable version of Color Me Calm by Lacy Mucklow and Angela Porter. I don’t have the larger version as yet (but will be purchasing it in the future), so I can’t confirm that 100% of the designs in this book are also in the larger book. However, I looked at images from the larger book and I do see that a number of those images are also present in this book. If you have the prior book and you are looking for something new, please watch my video to be able to make an informed decision as to whether this book will work for you. I count 70 designs if you include the half-finished designs at the beginning of five of the chapters (the first one is fully colored.) There are only 65 designs which are not colored at all.
It is a smaller sized book that is actually quite nice for taking on-the-go. The designs cover a wide range of subjects and are well printed for making coloring easy. There are many intricate and small details on these designs (perhaps from being sized down from the larger book), so I think that a steady hand and good eye are helpful when coloring in this book. The author and artist give information about coloring therapy and how colors effect us. There are also two colored samples at the beginning of each chapter. The last page of each chapter is a blank page in which we are encouraged to draw and color ourselves.
The six themed chapters in this book are: Mandalas, Water Scenes, Wooded Scenes, Geometric Patterns, Flora and Fauna, and Natural Patterns. Each chapter has a number of designs that correspond with the title. I like that as some days I am in a mood to color a specific type of design and this makes it easier for me to find it. The product description currently mentions Spirituality but I could not find a chapter with that heading. Hopefully, this will be corrected sooner than later. If so, my apologies but I don’t seem able to edit my reviews once my photos are attached, so this warning will remain regardless of corrections to the product description.
The book is approximately 7.5 x 6 inches and is a full half inch thick. That makes for a tall book to color in but I found it doable if I positioned myself properly. I could not get the book to lay flat but as the designs were well away from the binding, I didn’t have any problems getting into all corners for coloring.
The designs are actually printed on one side of the page. The reverse side has a colorful line design that is the same for each page of the chapter. I consider that to be a very pretty page for possible waste. The pages are not perforated. The binding is sewn rather than glued, so pages can be removed (a number at a time) by snipping the threads. Unless I want to frame or give a design away, I will probably not be cutting these. I will be using the book as a carry around coloring book and I don’t want it cut in pieces.
All of my markers (both water and alcohol-based) bled through the page. My gel pens (Fiskars and Tek Writer) did not and didn’t need more than average time to dry on the surface of the page. My various coloring pencils (both soft and hard leads) worked well on the paper. If you are using markers, you will need to protect the rest of the book from leaking ink as it went all the way through the page (even my trusty Staedler triplus fineliners.) I cut down a piece of chipboard to the size of the book and am keeping it in the book to carry around with me. That way, I can use whatever coloring medium I choose with it. I’m inclined towards ultra-fine markers and coloring pencils because of the small details.
The Gift Wrapping Book: Over 150 Ideas for All Occasions (Dover Craft Books)
By: Caroline Birkett
Rating: 5 of 5
After wrapping Christmas presents for three children for many years, I had lost my technique for nicely wrapped presents and instead had learned a quick dash assembly line kind of wrapping. Now that I have more time, I wanted to re-learn my old skills and so I was happy to try this book out. Turns out, I not only picked up my old skills but learned a few new techniques as well.
Christmas Coloring Book for Grownups Santa and Rudolphs Classic Christmas Delights Coloring Books Designed for Artists, Adults, Teens and Older Children (Volume 2)
By: Grace Sure
Rating: 5 of 5
This Christmas coloring book has a number of very elegant designs. I own and have reviewed this artist’s earlier Christmas coloring book and have been pleased with both. The style of the designs range from whimsical to elegant but with more of an emphasis on elegant in this book. It includes Christmas trees, nutcrackers, reindeer, ornaments and even a Nativity as well as other items associated with the holidays. The designs range from intricate with small details to open and fairly easy to color. As with her earlier book, I like that some of the designs have a heavy black background as it will save me a lot of time and ink not having to color it all in. I like to use colors that will pop against all of that black.
The pages are printed on thin white paper which is not perforated. The designs are printed on one side of the page with the back left blank. The designs stop well short of the glued binding and can easily be removed with a pen knife if you so choose. Almost all of the designs either have a frame around the design or have finished elements, so I don’t have to guess at where the picture ends. This gives my final project a much more finished look. I wish this was something that more artists did with their coloring book designs.
My gel pens and markers all leaked through this paper. My coloring pencils went on well but left a shadow at the back of the page, too. Not a problem, though, as I can put a piece of chipboard or a couple of heavy weight pieces of paper under the page I am working on to keep the ink from leaking through.
What is really quite nice about this line of books by Grace Sure is that she is also making them available for you to print additional copies if you purchase the book. You can either purchase the book and get the access to the on-line version. If you prefer, you buy the Kindle version of the book or, at the time I am writing this review, you can use your Kindle Unlimited to borrow it, too. You can decide to print the designs on whatever paper can use in your printer. When I have this option, I use my laser printer on chipboard. It keeps it safe from my water-based markers and water colors and gives me a good surface to color on. I may do this for a couple of prints but I am happy with the quality of the printed book for most of my coloring needs.
