So to start us off some details about Dover Publication's Carousel Animals Colouring Book:
Available: Yes
Price: $8+ AUD
Size: A slim - 128 pages at 204mm x 274mm x 8mm, weighing 140g with 32 pages. Listed as hardcover, but it's not - it's paperback.
Paper: Standard printer paper style. Not tested for bleeding with ink-based pens, however gel pens were fine to use. Printing and pencil does transfer to other side.
Tools: So far I have only used gel pens and primarily Prismacolor pencils.
So this book has been featured in a few other posts. It's a favourite of mine for a few reasons:
Cost
The book is cheap, I paid less than $10 from book Depository and it has free shipping.
Designs
The designs cover a variety of animals in a simplistic carousel style. The animals are garnished with assorted saddles, bridles, prints, accessories and materials. You can even add in your own prints and saddlery, which is a fun activity especially for younger artists or adults who like adding their own touch to their pieces.
Time-Effective
The big areas of blank space and non-overwhelming amount of fine detail are just PERFECT for me. I love that I can still have a lot of fun and creativity, but the finer details are just the right amount - so I'm not caught up in several hours of colouring in tiny lines or flowers. One of these animals can be finished easily in a few hours of the evening, and I like the sense of achievement that comes with completing each piece too.
Variety
As above, we see a great variety within these 32 pages. The carousel animals aren't just strictly horses - though there are a few - but we also get to enjoy a cat, giraffe, lion, zebra, frog, lion and more. Some of the horses are decorated under different 'themes'; but I was sad to see a Native Indian cultural appropriation of a horse wearing traditional garb, which many will find inappropriate and offensive.
The center of the book reveals a ful carousel double page piece, I'm saving this for last and am excited to see how it ends up looking :)
So while there are many positive things about this book, I won't gloss over the negative aspects. Unfortunately the paper is standard, and while this is good to help show off colours brightly, I feel it's mediocre with ink based pens (you WILL see them on the other side, so just avoid using them and stick to gels or pencil).
I also feel it's a shame that each page is double sided. This means that you can't use ink pens as it will bleed through; AND when you press too firmly on one side, the design transfers off the opposite of the page onto the OTHER page. For this reason you MUST use a small stack of paper under your page to protect the other pages.
Considering this is a colouring book, I feel this is a big fundamental flaw. It's manageable, but I don't think it should ever have to be a requirement of using a colouring book...
In regards to the designs, aside the issue with the Indian garb, I found most of the animals to have oddly disturbing expressions. A lot of the horse faces had a lot of eye emotion which appeared rather sad. I found this an odd trend in the book.
My other disappointment is rather selfish - there isn't a volume 2 of this book, and it's sadly only 32 pages long (which is too short for me).
I'm about halfway through the available images in this book, and I want to do more after this one is finished (I just know it)... but I don't want to buy another of the same book and colour designs I've already completed, it's just a little boring for me.
If they came out with a volume 2, or even re-released this one with an extra lot of designs - I would be all over that in a heartbeat.
Overall while I feel this book has some key flaws both with design and paper choice; I really did love completely these pieces and I look forward to finishing the rest. Again, I would love to see a volume 2 come out with additional designs, or even some other books with a similar aesthetic. However, that said, Dover Publications has a BIG variety of colouring books for all ages, and tons of different themes and educational ones as well. Check out their range here.
I would also absolutely recommend quality pencils, due to the paper type cheap ones aren't going to show up or blend well. I've used the Prismacolor range and definitely recommend it for this book.
Thank you for reading!
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