by Mina Kawai
on 11 January 2017
Style: color inspiration images, Instructions - Tips
Pages: 96
Format: Dust Jacket
This beautifully illustrated Japanese coloring book combines an introduction to watercolor mediums, watercolor painting techniques and lessons to practice on.
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the product. If you buy a book using that link, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the price that you pay. Your support is very much appreciated x
Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson.
Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson Coloring Book Review
Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson was released on 17 January 2017 on Amazon Japan and stocks quickly sold out. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long for the stock to be replenished, and this cute coloring book to wing its way to me.
Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson is different from other coloring books that we have seen, as it is an instructional coloring book with lessons for you to practice what you have learnt.
Cover & Layout
A glossy dust jacket protects the book which has a partially colored image of a flower shop on it. On the back cover girls with broomsticks have been colored in. When you look at the coloring, it has the pencil marks and brush strokes look to it, that indicate watercolors.
The cover art has been included in the book for you to color in as well.
The card cover on the coloring book proper is white matte and the dust jacket art has been replicated here in line art for you to color, if you wish. The inner card is green and the same color has been used for a protective sheet both front and back.
Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson Coloring Book is slightly smaller than most coloring books measuring in at 24cm x 21cm ( 9.6 x 8.3 in)
Ancillary Pages
Unusually, for a coloring book, a colored title page opens the book featuring children giving a musical concert in the open air. A table of contents follows which includes a visual index of both colored and uncolored pictures.
Layout
Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson has been divided into three chapters. All of the text is in Japanese.
Chapter 1 – outlines the watercolor tools that you will need. There are blending charts and color charts. Although the text is in Japanese, the colored pictures make it easy to follow along and understand the content.
Chapter 2 – in this section the lessons begin. The artist starts off with a simple image of easter eggs and then provides 3 pages of visual instructions with text to replicate her rendering of this picture. Another simple picture follows and then slowly the art work becomes more detailed as the lessons become more advanced. In total there are 10 lessons in watercolors.
Even though I cannot read the text accompanying each lesson, it is actually easy to follow. Each lesson starts with a completed image of the project and breaks down the elements in the image into steps. Visual thumbnails of the steps guide you through completing the picture. While it is a great guide, I still would not mind an English version at some stage, so I could double check my understanding.
Chapter 3 – contains all the line art for the lessons. The line art is printed on both sides of the white, medium quality paper and the book was designed for watercolor lessons. However, I would still test your watercolors on the ancillary pages and the amount of water you are using in order to avoid buckling the page.
My niggle with the lessons is that I really would need to remove the pages from the book (something that breaks my heart) in order to follow along. It’s a shame that the line art was not printed on perforated pages to ensure ease of removal. Personally, because I’m new to watercolors and can’t bear the thought of breaking the book, I would be inclined to copy the lessons to watercolor paper.
There are 12 pages of double page scenes within the book. The book lays down beautifully so colorists will not experience difficulties coloring in the spine area.
Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson Images and Illustrations
There is a lovely variety of illustrations included in this book that really gives the colorist opportunity to practice coloring different types of things from fruit, food, people, nature and buildings. The artist has really thought of everything to help us learn to color the common things that we may see in our coloring books.
This book has been presented and laid out in such a way, that it makes me think the artist is involved in education or teaches watercolors. It is not easy choosing images to guide a learner watercolorist through an art form and challenge them as they progress.
Mina Kawai’s line art has a dull black appearance to it and has varying line weights throughout the book. The art work does not have the refined and crisp look of most coloring books, but rather a hand drawn sketchy feel. Usually, this is not something I care for, but in this case it would give the finished art a lovely look that doesn’t overpower the watercolors.
Colorists that have visual impairment should breeze through the first two images. As the book progresses, so does the detail, and the amount of line art on the page which may present challenges.
At the end of the book there are 6 pieces of line art (including the cover images) that do not have accompanying lessons. Presumably, this is where you can practice what you have learned as you have progressed through the book.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”7121″]Where to buy Nurie no Nurikata Jotatsu Lesson Coloring Book
| etailer | Amazon Japan | Yes Asia – Free shipping |
Happy coloring x
Lea
Leave a Comment