Ann's Doodles: A Kaleidoscopia Coloring Book: The Magical World of Paperback – October 14, 2015

The media could not be loaded.  This is a wildly interesting group of designs from artist Ann Marie Irvine. They range from fairly simple and easy to color to very intricate with tiny little spaces – really almost pen and ink studies rather than straightforward coloring designs. I've recently invested in some Tombow dual brush pens and these elaborate designs are the perfect place to use these. I simply watercolor with the brush end over wide swathes of the design. Almost like a decade or so back when “colorizing” black and white photos was popular.There is a wide range and that works well because it gives me an opportunity to try different coloring tools with some really fun and imaginative designs. A lot of the designs are heavy on black lines and other elements. Due to the tiny and intricate details, if you have problems with vision or fine motor skills, you might want to take this into consideration as to whether or not to purchase this book.The coloring book is typical of CreateSpace books. It is printed one-sided of thin white paper though there is an advertisement for the designers website printed on the back of the page. The binding is glued and the pages are not perforated. The designs stop well before the bound edge and the artist has “finished” the elements of the designs so you are not left hanging with weird edges.All of my markers bleed through and my gel pens either bleed through or leave a distinct shadow on the back of the page. My coloring pencils work well with the paper. I will use a piece of chipboard or heavy paper behind the page I am working on so I don't ruin the following page with leaking ink.I'm starting to add a note to publishers/artists about how the book could be improved in publishing. We should keep in mind that improvements probably will add to the cost of the book, so it is one of those be careful what you wish for scenarios. In this particular case, the publisher is CreateSpace, which is actually owned by Amazon. As so many independent artists use this publisher, I'm hoping that some improvements can be made without too much additional cost.In this case, the publishing of the book could be improved in two ways: 1) make the pages perforated. Making it easier to remove the page to color makes life easier for many colorists especially lefties who have to color over the “hump” of the binding (I am a righty but someone pointed this out to me recently and it was a light bulb moment); and 2) improve the paper quality so that ink doesn't leak through.

Note: I paid full price for this book and did not receive it for free or at a discount in exchange for my review.This is my all-time favorite adult coloring book! I wish I could give it more than five stars. It has the most amazing, unique designs. There are a lot of super intricate designs in this book, some grayscale designs, and then some designs that won't take more than about an hour to color, because they aren't as intricate and detailed. This book contains super unique smiling fish (my favorite thing in the whole book), rainbows, butterflies, etc. - every picture is unique and is unlike anything I've seen in other books. Ann Marie Irvine is an AMAZING artist. This book is great for beginners or advanced coloring, as there is something for everyone. (See photo of one of the pictures I recently colored - I had so much fun coloring the rainbows with my sparkly gel pens!)The pages in this book are not double-sided, so you can color with pens and markers without worrying about the ink bleeding through. These designs are great for any type of pens, markers or pencils. The pages are not perforated, so you should be careful when removing the pages.I am looking forward to more from Ann Marie Irvine and will be first in line to buy more of her coloring books! And again - I wish I could give this book MORE than five stars!

I really wanted to like this book.. I love her drawings of fantasy and whimsical creatures. And from reading the reviews, it looked like a really fabulous book.PRO:- Gorgeous unique whimsical drawings with a fantasy theme (love the unicorn pages!)- Drawings are on ONE side of the paper (so you could put papers underneath if you decide to color with other media other than colored pencils).CONS:- Very thin quality paper that would suit only colored pencils. All other media would bleed right through, possibly making a hole on the paper (its that thin!)- Most of the drawings were VERY cluttered.- Most of the drawings had way too many black lines and not enough spaces to color. You will need a VERY fine marker or a VERY sharp point on colored pencils.- Pages are NOT perforated but does have about half an inch of white border, so you could easily tear them out.- On the back of each page, is the grey text "More Free Coloring Pages at: KaleidoscopiaColoringBooks.com"Perhaps I am just used to thick papers like the ones in "Tangled Treasures" or "Secret Garden" and "Enchanted Forest", but I like to be able to use different media when I am coloring. I just didn't like the paper quality in this particular coloring book. But I do love her drawings. Ann is a very talented doodler. Just wished her book had more thicker papers.

This book is an absolute joy to color! Ann has done an incredible job putting together a fun adult coloring book with a nice variety of quick easy pages, complex pages, and everything in between. Every page is fun and just makes you feel so happy while you color! Each page is one-sided, which is a definite plus because I want to frame them :) The paper is a bit thin, so if you intend to use markers you may want to tuck a piece of card stock or a sheet or two of paper underneath the page you are working on to avoid bleed through. I love this book so much I am planning on picking a few up for holiday gifts! Can't wait to see what her next book will look like :D

I thought I would love this coloring book but I was a little disappointed when it arrived! The pictures are beautiful and intricate but I didn't like how much black there was to each picture. Paper quality like most coloring books is just so-so. Single sided pictures so you can use multiple mediums. I just colored over the black and it does make the pictures come out nice. I won't get to use it again though cuz my son stole it to give to his girlfriend haha. I may have to re-buy this book later

This is an amazing coloring book. I so appreciate when artists share their gift with us and allows us contribute by coloring their works, for example. However, this is not a ideal coloring book to start coloring because the pictures are so intricate that it could be daunting to some newbies to adult coloring. That aside, it is certainly a great coloring book to have in your collection because coloring is addictive and before you know it, you'll be ready to cherish this stunning challenge!

紙質は薄く日本のものに比べると雑な感じですがとても可愛かったです。ただ虫が苦手な私には蝶々が怖かったです（笑）

Very small pictures in this book..You need some very fine tip markers/pens if you're not using pencil crayons...

The book is awesome. I thought when I first got it, I wasn't going to like it, but I love it. Lots a work, but interesting.

I like Ann's art style. I am using the book for inspiration.