iiiiReader Book Reviews

This is one of the more recent releases in the series of “Make Your Own Art Masterpiece” coloring books from Flame Tree. The designs in this book are based on actual artwork and illustrations from the Art Deco period. The illustrations are top notch and, while some are detailed, they are not overly intricate and hard to color

The Art Deco period is one that I really appreciate for fashions and for showing that women of the time were breaking free of the molds that they had been placed in. Gone were the head to toe fashions with outlandish bustles and cinched in waists. The clothing showed women in free and easy poses. They were involved in sports and other activities and dressed for what made it easy for them. There were also beautiful and elegant fashions, especially for evening wear. I can only imagine how the women of the day felt in their new styles of clothes – breathing free and alive to what would come next.

There are 45 line drawing designs to color. The designs were chosen by Daisy Seal and were illustrated by David Jones. The original artists are varied and, when possible, attribution is given to them for their original work. This information is on the opposite facing page of each design, and included the name of the original artist, the date and in which magazine et al it was originally published. There is a thumbnail of a small portion of the design with some color showing.

The inside flaps at the front and back of the book have black and white line drawings which can be colored as well. The cover is quite smooth but will accept various forms of color medium.

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This is a really lovely grayscale coloring book. It is actually a storybook as well. The story has to do with how a baker’s dozen (13 instead of 12) came into being.

The story is sweet and the illustrations are really beautiful and done well. Not only with regards to the actual linework but with regards to the shading from light to deep which is imperative for a well-done grayscale book.

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I’ve been a fan of Angela Porter coloring books for a few years. I was first introduced to her designs in the Color Me books she did with with Lacy Mucklow. I then found some of her books in the Creative Have line. Now, with Doodleworlds, Ms. Porter has ventured into the world of the independent artist using CreateSpace for self-publishing.

In this book, she has created many, many doodle creatures. I am also a fan of this genre and have a number of books (including all by Kerby Rosanes.) I’m always pleased to find a well done doodle book to add to my collection.

The mashup of doodle creature and Ms. Porter’s backdrops makes this an especially interesting and fun coloring book. There are so many creatures and other elements to each designs that it will takes hours of fun to color each design.

The designs are detailed and some have intricate and small areas to color. While I don’t consider the book to be intricate and hard to color, the designs are very detailed.

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“The Princess Bride” is a movie that my family and I watch over and over again. We’ve bought it repeatedly as it came out in different formats from VHS to Blu-Ray. The quotes from this movie have become part of the lexicon of our everday speech. “Have fun storming the Castle!” is a way of merely saying have a good trip. Being mostly dead merely means that we’re having a rough day (though this past year, it really meant I was almost dead when I fell quite ill with pneumonia last November.

Where the first book in this series seemed to focus on scenes in the movie, this coloring book looks at the quotes that we, who watch this show incessantly, recognize in a heartbeat.

The characters are also recognizable – even Buttercup fares better this time around than last (not perfect for at least a little more feminine looking than before.)

The coloring book has a detachable dustcover. The outside of the smooth cover is black on white line drawings with gold metallic accents. The inside of it has repeated symbols from the movie in a wild jumble of coloring opportunity. While it is very smooth, I still found that I could color on both sides of it. The inside attached cover is the same design with a black with golden roses and swords in a repeat pattern.

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I am a real fan of Jane Davenport. I own her two “how-to” books (“Fabulous Figures” and “Beautiful Faces”.) I like her design style and have enjoyed learning how to draw with her.

When I saw that she had a coloring book (though it’s really much more than that), I pre-ordered it and, when it came in, was even more happy with it than I thought I would be.

The book contains high quality paper in a number of finishes: coloring, marker, watercolor, and kraft paper. They each have a different look and feel. By including the various paper, it allows the colorist to experiment with different medium and to branch into other areas of the art form.

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By this time, I would think I would have learned my lesson about Disney’s Art of Coloring books et al. I’ve bought most of them and, with only a few exceptions, have been mostly unhappy with them.

However, I loved going to Disneyland with my kids when they were little, so the idea of having postcards to color that commemorated the rides, etc. was too strong to deny. So I bought the cards.

The designs are simply too small. As a coloring medium, it is almost impossible to color the larger ones and, for the life of me, I can’t figure out what to do with the majority of them. I own very expensive Japanese gel pens with teeny tiny scratchy nibs and even those are too big for most of the designs. Take a gander at the design for Adventureland to see one of the worst examples of small print.

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This is a really fun coloring book of Ocean Fantasy Designs. It includes much more than I generally expect in such a book. There are not only mermaids (and a lot of them) but also mythological sea gods, sea monsters, sunken ships with treasure as well as dolphins, shells and other sea creatures. Even Neptune, in several designs, is shown riding around protecting his kingdom.

The artist, Aaron Pocock, is able to bring life to his creatures. The mermaids have a beautiful feminine quality and grace while the avenging Neptune is a definite masculine force with aggressive movement held in check only by the frame of the page. Usually, I expect one or the other in a coloring book. However, with this book, I get both a feminine and a masculine touch in a variety of illustrations.

The drawings in this book are detailed with backgrounds included. Some of the designs (especially those of mermaids tails) have intricate and smaller areas to color. I don’t think I will need special small nibs for drawing but will take care to keep my pencils sharp for the areas of intricate detail.

I’ve noticed that the paper quality over the last few months 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.

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