iiiiReader Book Reviews

Color My Art: Japanese Girl: Grayscale & Underpainting Coloring Book

By: Ikuko

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a lovely set of designs based on the artwork of Ikuko. The designs are grayscale images of young Japanese girls. The girls are mostly dressed in traditional costumes though there are a couple which have modern outfits. I had never seen this artist’s work before so the beauty of the designs was new to me.

There are 22 unique designs in this book and there is a duplicate set of 22. While the images are the same, the first set of designs are printed grayscale on white paper and the second set is printed grayscale on black paper. The designs are moderately detailed and should be fairly easy for anyone who is familiar with coloring grayscale images.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
22 Unique and original Grayscale designs of Japanese girls based on the artwork of Ikuko. There are two sets of the designs for a total of 44 coloring pages.
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical inexpensive quality used by CreateSpace: thin, slightly rough and non-perforated. One set of designs is printed on white paper while the second set is printed on black paper.
Some designs extend into the binding but most do not.
Glue Binding
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and can pill the paper if too many layers are attempted.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on back of the page. India ink can bleed through if you apply heavily or multiple coats.
Coloring Pencils work well with this paper. I found that I could layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and I could blend easily using a blending stick; however, some of the darker areas of the designs had a tendency to smear using this type of blender. I found that liquid forms (Gamsol or mineral spirits) did a better job. This doesn’t bother me as I generally do not use a blender on grayscale designs. I tested both oil and wax based pencils. I also found that hard lead pencils (like Verithins) leave dents through the paper.
I like to use a blotter when working in the book. I use a page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper under my working page. It keeps seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below.

Creative Haven An Old-Fashioned Christmas Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Ted Menten

Rating: 5 of 5

Christmas coloring books are something that I am always looking for. I like to find ones that have a different look and An Old-Fashioned Christmas is one that I really enjoy. I like the vintage and nostalgic look to the designs with many of them having a Victorian age vibe to them. The designs in the book are detailed but without type of intricate or hard to color areas. There is plenty of room in most of the elements to add blending and special embellishment touches.

For my first project, I chose to do a design based on the Twelve Months of Christmas. It reminded me of a sampler I had cross stitched years ago. I’ll post a photo of my first project as well as samples from the book.

The designs range from Victorian characters to Santa to bells and poinsettias and much more. There are ornaments, wreathes, angels and even a partridge in a pear tree. I think it is a great all-around Christmas coloring book for anyone who enjoys an old-fashioned look and feel.

This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

31 Old-fashioned Christmas inspired designs with lots of variety in subject matter

Designs are printed one side of the page

Paper is typical for Creative Haven: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages.

Glue Binding with perforations so you can remove them one at a time.

The designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper

Water-based markers bleed through with colorful spots on the back of the page

Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page. India ink pens can bleed through when I use more than one layer of color.

Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to use both wax and oil based pencils equally well. I was able to get good color and to get deeper pigment by layering the same color. I found that I could layer multiple colors and blend easily using a blending stick. Hard lead pencils leave dents on the back of the page.

I usually use a blotter page under my working page to keep ink from seeping through but you can also remove pages from the book to color. I like card stock for my blotter page but a couple of sheets of heavyweight paper works as well.

Carousel: a Coloring Jones coloring book for adults: featuring the horses, menagerie animals and design motifs of classic American merry-go-rounds (Coloring Jones coloring books)

By: David Palmer

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a lovely little carousel inspired coloring book. While most of the line art designs in the book are of carousel animals, some are highlights of other parts of a carousel. I grew up near the Santa Monica Pier and was delighted to find that it was featured in this book.

The designs are open and fairly easy to color with lots of room for blending. An unusual feature of the coloring book is that there is a blotter page behind each design page. I’ve found that while it is enough to stop most water-based markers from leaking through (two pages), it is not enough to stop alcohol-based markers. I suggest using extra pages or a heavy duty page such as card stock behind your working page. The extra page is still very nice to use for testing color schemes, etc.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
20 carousel inspired designs in a smaller format book (8.5 x 8 inches)
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
Designs do not merge into the binding and there is plenty of room to cut out pages if you choose to do so. A cutting line is provided as a guide
Glue Binding
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly.
Water-based markers bleed through in spots.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on back of the page. India ink can bleed through if you apply heavily or multiple coats.
Coloring Pencils work well with this paper. I found that I could layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and I could blend easily using a blending stick. I tested both oil and wax based pencils. I also found that hard lead pencils leave dents through the paper.

Adult Coloring Book: Dragon Life: Dragons and Dragon Masters in Fantasy Realms 35+ Original Illustrations

By: Nathaniel Wake

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a revised version of the Nathaniel Wake Dragon Life coloring book. From what I understand, the original version coloring book may have included illustrations which, unknowing to the publishers of Nathaniel Wake) were copyright infringing.

My review is also newly revised though the date may point to the original book. Any images I include in this review are from the newly revised book. I discarded my originals and contacted Amazon receive the purchase price back which I promptly invested in the new books. It may be a bit confusing as some of the earlier reviews will still reference 50 designs and/or show fully colored images from them. I do wish the publisher had made the original listing out of print and started fresh with a new page with new reviews to avoid this type of confusion.
This is a great book of Dragon illustrations. The dragons are shown in their terrible glory. Sometimes by themselves and sometimes with a friend (especially those ladies who seem to love them some dragons!) The designs are definitely detailed and some have intricate and smaller areas to color. Some designs have heavier black use than others.
A word about companies like Nathaniel Wake. This is a publishing company and not an artist. They contract artists from outside sources but present it under an umbrella name that infers a single artist. As such, the real artist of any book with content and style may differ wildly from any others under the same Nathaniel Wake name.
This is what I found in this coloring book:
35 new Dragon Designs are included with some fun samples from other books
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical inexpensive quality by CreateSpace printing: white front with black back, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated. With the newly revised books, the publishers have chosen to use black on the back of the page to prevent bleed-though. It does not prevent it but it does mask it see more about this under tested media below.
The designs do not merge into the binding. None of the designs have frame so all edges are left open with unfinished elements
Glue Binding
CreateSpace Print Paper with tested Media.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page quickly to blotter page though not noticeable on the back backing.
Water-based markers bleed through in spots to the blotter page.
Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows shadows cannot be seen on the back of the page as it is black. India ink can bleed through to the blotter page if you apply heavily or multiple coats.
As I mentioned earlier, the black on the page merely masks the bleed through. If you do not use a blotter with media that bleeds through, you run the risk of ruining the design pages below. I use a page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper under my working page. It keeps seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below. Also, remember to change the card stock from design to design so you don’t accidentally start pulling up an old color through the page of the new design.
Coloring Pencils work fairly well with this publisher’s paper provided you don’t press extremely hard while coloring. I find that I can layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and I could blend easily using a blending stick. This is true of both oil and wax based pencils. I have also found that hard lead pencils leave dents through the paper.

Mary Engelbreit’s Color ME Christmas Coloring Book

By: Mary Engelbreit

Rating: 5 of 5

I own both of Mary Engelbreit’s previous coloring books in the Color ME line and am really pleased to now have the newest one, Color Me Christmas. I’ve been a fan of Ms. Engelbreit’s artwork for much of my life. Many of the iconic designs I associate with her Christmas artwork are included in this book especially the Believe Santa (which is the last page in the book and had me worried that it was not going to be in the book.)

There are 48 Christmas inspired designs in this book which includes the title page. There are so many designs that I will want to color in this book. I noticed that there are less of the simple style pages that were included in the last two books. For those few pages, I plan on having my grandchildren color them once they are old enough. My grandson does color in books already but not to the level of detail in even the simplest of these designs.)

This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the pages with my coloring medium. I will list, in the comments section below, the coloring medium I use for testing and for most of my coloring projects.

48 Christmas inspired designs (includes title page)based on iconic Mary Engelbreit artwork.

Designs are printed on one side of the page

The paper are white, fairly smooth to the touch, heavyweight and perforated

Glue Bound

Designs stop well before the perforations

Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper

Most water-based markers leave spots of color on the back of the page. The exception I had was that while Stabilo triplus finerliners left colorful shadows on the back of the page, they did not spot through the paper.

India Ink pens bleed through the page in spots.

Gel pens do not bleed through but larger nib pens need a little extra drying time.

Coloring pencils did well except for blending. Both wax and oil based pencils provided good color with both a light and a firm touch. They layered well with both the same color or multiple colors. I found that blending was a little smeary. Hard lead pencils such as Verithins provided good color and crisp lines and did not dent the back of the page.

I suggest either removing pages for coloring or using a blotter page below your working page if you are using a wet medium. That will keep seeping ink from marring the pages below.

Sirena : Colorful Dream of Mermaids and Seashells – Artist Edition Adult Coloring Book + 1 mini poster, spiral bound, single sided, perforated pages, toothy paper

By: Mardel Rubio

Rating: 5 of 5

I will include both a silent flip-through video of the entire book as well as some sample photos so you can see if this coloring book will suit your needs.

I am a fan of Mardel Rubio’s coloring designs. In this coloring book, he has left behind his doodle creatures and presents beautiful mermaids as Sirens of the sea. His mermaids has a slight Asian flair to them, not only in looks but in the clothing and accoutrements which surround them. The designs are detailed and some have intricate and small areas to color.
While most of the designs are of mermaids, there are some merman designs included as well. Most of the pages are black line designs on white; however, some have black printed backgrounds. There is a fairly heavy use of black on some designs (especially on the hair of the mermaids). You are still able to color the hair as you wish; however the accent color will be black.
This coloring book has been published in a format that sets a high bar for other publishers to emulate. Not only is the paper a good heavy weight, it also has great tooth, is printed one-sided, has excellent perforations and, best of all, has a covered spiral binding that makes opening and laying this book flat a breeze.
This is what I found in coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper
41 Mermaid designs including one poster page that is a double size fold-out page.
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is white, medium/heavy weight, rough with excellent tooth and perforated pages
Binding is spiral with the cover protecting the spiral.
The book lays flat in the open position for ease of coloring.
The designs stop short of the perforations and removing pages is very easy if you wish to do so. There are unfinished elements at all edges of the page
Alcohol based markers bleed through this paper. If you use this coloring medium, I highly suggest that you either remove pages before coloring, or as I do, use card stock or several sheets of paper as a blotter below the working page. That will keep the pages or the surface below from being marred.
Water based markers, India ink pens and gel pens do not bleed through the paper though some left the slight shadow of the back of the page.
Coloring pencils extremely worked well. The paper is definitely rough to the touch and has excellent tooth for pencils. Both oil and wax based pencils worked very well for providing good pigment. I was able to layer the same color for deeper tones, layer multiple colors and to blend easily using a pencil style blending stick as well as wet blending medium for excellent results.