iiiiReader Book Reviews

Doug the Pug: The Coloring and Activity Book

By: Leslie Mosier

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book of Doug the Pug designs and activity pages. Doug starts off with a whirlwind trip around the United States and then takes it to the next level by traveling around the world. The designs hark back to famous locations or items for which each locale is famous (coffee in Seattle, poutine in Canada, the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, etc.) Front and center, though, is the star of the book Doug and Pug.

Some of the designs are detailed but not intricate and hard to color. The activity pages (word search, mazes, etc.) are all fairly easy and could be done fairly easily by an older child.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium.
90 Doug the Pug design and activity pages (75 line drawing pages and 15 activity pages.)
Printed on both sides of the page; no two-page spread designs
Paper is heavyweight, white, somewhat smooth, and non-perforated.
The binding is a hybrid of glue and sewn (many little stitches.) You cannot snip a few threads to remove pages but would have to cut pages out if you wish to remove them from the book.
The designs merge into the binding area and spread to the edges of all sides. I can open the book fairly flat for coloring by breaking the spine.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. If you use these, you will have ink seep through and mar the design on the back of the page.
Water-based markers, gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the page; however, they do leave the slightly shadow on the backside of the page.
Colored pencils work well with the paper. I was able to blend, layer the same and multiple colors using both oil and wax-based pencils with ease.

Adult Coloring Book: Great Lions

By: Tatiana Bogema (Stolova)

Rating: 5 of 5

This coloring book has a great range of doodle style lion designs. There are both male and female lions included. The lions expressions range from pensive to ferocious which is fun for coloring. The designs are detailed with a lot of background detail and doodle elements both on the lions and on the backgrounds. I don’t consider the designs to be intricate and small to color.

This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
23 detailed doodle style lion designs, including title and preface pages. There are also a couple of other sample pages from the artist’s other books.
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
The designs do not merge into the binding area.
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.
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.

Horses: An Adult Coloring Book with Beautiful Wild Horses, Romantic Country Scenes, and Relaxing Western Landscapes

By: Jade Summer

Rating: 5 of 5

The designs in this coloring book are of horses in many different scenarios. There are horses running free, horses with their female owners, racing horses and a good number of designs based on cowboys and the wild west. The designs are lovely and detailed with elaborate settings as well as beautifully drawn horses.

The designs are extremely detailed and have many intricate and small areas to color. There is a lot of shading by way of delicate crosshatch (lines) rather than a heavy use of black. Because of the intricacy of most designs, I don’t recommend this book for anyone with fine motor or vision issues.
While you can have access to .PDFs when you purchase this book, my review is based on the book as it is received from Amazon. That way you will know what the pages look like and how they accept color. I like that the publisher provides the digital version as well so you can choose the paper you wish to use and/or to color the pictures as many times as you choose.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium:
20 Horse designs with two copies each for a total of 40 coloring pages
Designs are printed on one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated. The back of the page is printed black.
The designs do not merge into the binding. There is a heavy framing line at the outer edges of the design to give the project a more finished look, especially for framing.
Glue Binding (there is room to cut the pages out if you choose to do so.)
Though you cannot see the bleed-through easily due to the back of the page being printed in black, I recommend the use of a blotter page when working in this 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.
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.

Dragon Adventure 2: A Kaleidoscopia Coloring Book: The Adventure Continues (Volume 2)

By: Rachael Mayo

Rating: 5 of 5

This is the second book in a series of dragon designs by Rachael Mayo. It is my first and I will certainly be picking up her earlier coloring book now that I have seen both the imaginative drawing and the quality of her work.

There are dragons in many poses. Most are of a single dragon but there are designs which include other dragons and other fantasy creatures. The dragons are set on backgrounds which range from simple to detailed. It is a great all-around coloring book for those who enjoy dragons and fantasy subject matter.
This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:
52 intricate and detailed dragon designs
Printed one side of the page
Paper is typical of CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.
The designs do not merge into the binding area. There is a framing line at the outer edges of all four sides of the design.
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.
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.

Desert Dreams: Coloring a Land of Enchantment

By: Geninne D Zlatkis

Rating: 5 of 5

The designs in this coloring book remind me of the years that I spent living in a small desert town. There is an abundance of unusual animals and plants which are beautiful in their stark surroundings. For instance, when one thinks of cactus, the first thought is of the dangerous spikes that cover them. Having lived around them, I always think of their beautiful and colorful flowers which stand out against the desert setting. The book has wonderful drawings of cactus with flowers and without. There are also many animals, including wolves, owls, birds of all sorts, lizards, jack rabbits and more.

The designs range from open and flowing to more detailed ones with intricate parts to color. While most of the animals are represented more realistically than not, there are a few which have doodle elements within their outlines. It makes for a nice change of pace in the coloring book.
This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
40 Hand-drawn designs inspired by desert flora and fauna
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, white, slightly rough, and micro-perforated
Glue Binding
Designs do not merge past the perforations and most have a frame line or frame of sorts around the outside edge
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page
Water-based markers and India ink pens leave shadows of color on the back of the page and some bleed through the page in spots
I use a blotter page below my working page when using these wet mediums. It keeps the ink from seeping through. You can also remove pages before coloring to keep the rest of the book from being damaged.
Gel pens leave a slight shadow on the back of the page but do not bleed through. Some pens require additional drying time.
Colored pencils work well with this slightly rough paper. I was able to get good pigment with light layers. I was also able to layer multiple colors well and blend easily with a pencil style blending stick. I tested both oil and wax based pencils with equally good results.

Dinosaurs: A Coloring Book by William Stout

By: William Stout

Rating: 5 of 5

This is a coloring book packed with more than 80 dinosaurs featured in designs. There is a heavy use of black for shading on most of the designs. The dinosaurs are part of a design which includes the background it is not just the dinosaur by itself. Each of the designs has a framing line at the outer edges. The designs are detailed and intricate and small areas to color.

The dinosaurs in the designs range from very realistic to slightly cartoon-like in nature. At the back of the book, there is an index of sorts which provides details about some of the dinosaurs. It provides the name and other information including, in some cases, where a specimen has been found.
This is what I found while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium.
Wonderful dinosaur designs based on the artwork of William Stout
Printed on both sides of the page; no two-page spread designs
Paper is medium weight, white, somewhat smooth, and non-perforated.
Sewn binding which can easily be snipped to remove a number of pages at a time.
The designs do not merge into the binding area and have a framing line at their outer edges.
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. If you use these, you will have ink seep through and mar the design on the back of the page.
Water-based markers, gel pens and India ink pens do not bleed through the page.
Colored pencils work okay with the paper. I was able to blend, layer the same and multiple colors using both oil and wax-based pencils. Blending was done better with wet blending medium versus a pencil style blending stick as the stick had a tendency to smear rather than blend the colors.

Creative Haven Fantastical Dragons Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

By: Aaron Pocock

Rating: 5 of 5

I have two other coloring book by artist Aaron Pocock and enjoy his artwork. In Fantastical Dragons the subject is, of course, dragons. There are touches of other fantasy in some of the designs but you will see dragons in every one. The dragons range from rather menacing to gentle (especially those with the maidens nearby.)

The designs themselves are quite detailed. Some of the designs have a heavier use of crosshatch shading than the majority of the designs. Most of the designs contain intricate spots to color which might require very small nib pens/markers or extremely sharp pencils. Because of that, it might not be for those who have fine motor or vision issues.
This is what I saw while coloring in this book and testing the paper with my coloring medium.
31 Dragon designs with touches of other fantasy by Aaron Pocock
The designs are printed one side of the page
Paper is the usual Creative Haven quality: white, medium weight, slightly smooth and has perforated pages. I’ve noticed that some Creative Haven books have slightly rougher paper than others. This is one of the ones that is slightly more smooth.
Glue Binding but with perforated pages so removing a page is fairly simple.
The designs stop well before the perforations
Alcohol-based markers bleed through this paper
Water-based markers bleed through in spots and show colorful shadows 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 apply more than one layer of ink.
Coloring pencils work well with this paper. I was able to get good color, layer the same color and multiple colors and blend easily using a pencil style blender. I tested both oil and wax-based pencils with similar results. Hard lead pencils, like Verithins, leave dents on the back of the page.
I suggest either removing pages from the book to color or using a blotter page under your working page. I like card stock as it keeps ink from seeping through and damaging the pages below.