iiiiReader Book Reviews

I first came across Denyse Klette’s artwork in her funny and quirky quilt fabrics and panels. I enjoyed her artwork so much, I have purchased all three of her coloring books.

This is the first of the three that has a disappointing issue for me. Otherwise, the book is just as fun and wacky and cute as the two previous ones. The problem I have is the nose on the female gnomes. From the side, they are fine but full face-on, they resemble duck bills.

I’ve looked carefully and found that it is because their noses are portrayed quite large. Much larger than the males both in proportion to their faces and in actual size. The noses on the male gnomes are just fine.

I’m hoping that as I color, I can diminish the look of the duck face. Perhaps using the same color without any shading can lessen it. Too bad the artist didn’t give some consideration to this slight issue. I did notice that the cover image of the book only includes male gnomes so there was no way to see this before purchasing the book.

I still like the rest of the book and will enjoy coloring in it. It just won’t be one of my favorites and there will probably be pages I will pass on.

The designs are detailed and some are quite intricate with lots of tiny details to color. To color some of the tiny detail, I will need to use extra fine nib pens or extremely sharp pointed pencils. For most of the designs, my regular coloring medium will work well.

Continue reading →

This is a second in a series of the Serene Little Village. I like little village coloring books and purchased the first one in this series as well. While that book was devoted to cute animals, this book is focused on fairies. Having said that, there are still little cute animals on almost every page.

The designs are detailed with lots of fun elements to color. The fairies are cute and are busy at work and play. The animals are represented more as animals rather than dressed in human clothes. There are friends of the fairies.

There are some areas with smaller than average elements to color but not what I would consider too difficult or hard to color.

This book is published under the imprint name of Julia Rivers but unlike many of their other books though as with the first of the book in this series, this one does not contain the name of the actual artist(s) responsible for the book. I can only hope that the publisher will encourage that the person(s) responsible for it and we will see new books in the future.

Continue reading →

This is my second Susie Scott coloring book (the first being her Christmas book I reviewed last year.) Her designs are fun and innovative and very cute as well. I hadn’t found what I considered a great Halloween coloring book this year until I came across this one. This is not a scary book and could be fun for a younger colorer to work on. It is also great for adults as well.

I see that she released both of these books last year and, at this point, doesn’t seem to have released any more. I enjoy her designs so much, I hope she does do more books as I would certainly buy them.

The designs have detail but are not difficult to color. Each of the designs have a framing line though a few have finished elements that extend slightly further over the line. It gives the design a dimensional look that is cute and different.

Continue reading →

“Creative Christmas” is the first Christmas theme coloring book by Marjorie Sarnat. I enjoy her design work and I really enjoy Christmas coloring designs, so I am very happy with the book. While I do like Christian theme images to color, this coloring book does not really contain much that I would consider religious.

There are a couple of angel designs and a possible one of the three wise men that reads a little more like three Green Men to me.

Apart from that, the designs are fun to color and evoke the festive time of year. There are Santas and sleigh rides and snowmen, and of course, Ms. Sarnat’s signature cat and dog designs.

The designs are detailed but not really intricate or too difficult to color. There are full backgrounds and framing lines for a nice, fully finished look.

I’ve noticed that the paper quality seems to change quite frequently on the Creative Haven line. Because of that, if you buy one of these books, it may be slightly smooth or slightly rough depending on when and where it was printed. I’ve found that coloring medium, including pencils, work similarly with both slightly rough and slightly smooth paper from Creative Haven. In this case, my coloring book pages are slightly rough.

Continue reading →

This is Kerby Rosanes latest and, perhaps according to the buzz, his last coloring book. It is another thinner book, like Fantomorphia. This time, when I pre-ordered this book, I was aware of the number of pages it included. Thus, the fact that it was only one quarter the number of designs as in, for instance, Mythomorphia, didn’t surprise me.

The designs are full images (no animals cut in half in this one!) They are what I have come to expect from Mr. Rosanes: beautiful and imaginative. One of my favorites is of giraffes with trees sprouting out of their heads.

I really like the book but wish it were bigger. I must say, having pre-ordered it, I got it for under $10. If I had to pay the printed list of $16.00, I would not necessarily think it worth that much. However, I have purchased CreateSpace books with fairly mediocre paper for around the same price as what I paid for this book and for the same number of images, so I can’t complain about that.

Continue reading →