Dazzling Dogs – Coloring Book Review
Dazzling Dogs Coloring Book Review
I love the work of Marjorie Sarnat, the illustrator of the Dazzling Dogs coloring book. She has an artistic style that sometimes reminds me of patchwork or tapestry that I find both comforting and interesting. One of the other things that I like about Marjorie’s work is that it is so easy to enjoy it whether you are a new colorist or an experienced hand at coloring.
I color on my training wheels. Sometimes, by sheer luck I can blend and highlight and color up a storm. More often than not, I’m happy if I can introduce colors between the lines. When the latter occurs I always reach for Marjorie’s books or Thaneeya’s books. Both these artists are able to produce works that look great whether you have skills on training wheels or are highly skilled.
Dazzling Dogs is a lovely soft gloss cover publication. It measures 28cm x 21 cm (approximately 11in x 8.5 in) and is a standard A4 size format. Creative Haven publish a number of books illustrated by Marjorie Sarnat and they all follow the same format as to sizing and presentation. On the front and back inner cover you will find a colored picture from the book to inspire you. The inside cover has a lovely title page with a small image to color.
The single sided illustrations have been printed on white paper which I would class as thin to medium weight (although I am not a paper expert). The paper is perforated making it easy to remove from the book and color on your favorite surface (I love clipboards!) From previous experience with this paper, it holds colored pencils and markers well. Some paper is so smooth that it has no tooth to grab the pencil color, not so with this paper.
There are 31 illustrations within the book all featuring different breeds of dogs. It is really good to see that a variety of dog breeds and poses were included in this book as Creative Cats seemed to be lacking this detail (although still one of my favorite books). The illustrations are all set out well on the page, nicely centered and avoiding the margin area of the book. This makes it easy to use with a clipboard. The majority of illustrations have a thin pixel border around them, some illustrations have a double border. There is only one illustration without a border in the book.
The line work is black, crisp and a fine to medium weight throughout the book. Fortunately, I can see all of the illustrations without my glasses but will resort to them for coloring as these drawings are very detailed.
The illustrations that Marjorie has included in the book tend to fill the page. Whilst the drawings are simple they are extremely detailed with numerous elements on the dog and within the background of the illustration. If you have a visual impairment, you may find that the spaces so filled with detail may be overwhelming if you try and bite off too much at once.
The book lays down flat for easy coloring with just a gentle prod. Personally, as the pages are perforated, I would remove them to color on.
I love the whimsy of the illustrations in Dazzling Dogs. The images make me smile which is the best art therapy that you can get without sharpening a pencil 🙂
As coloring books are evolving it tends to make me slightly more demanding. I would love to see a nameplate page in every coloring book with some elements of the illustrations in the book on it. I would also like to see more information on pictures, either unobtrusively in the margin of the spine or at the footer, or even in grey on the reverse of the image, telling the colorist, in this case, the breed of the dog featured. This type of information is helpful if you are looking for an idea on how to color something but not sure what that something is 🙂
Dazzling Dogs Coloring Book Video Review
Enjoy the video review of Dazzling Dogs illustrated by Marjorie Sarnat below:
Dazzling Dogs Coloring Book Inspiration
See my Pinterest board for completed pages from Dazzllng Dogs.
Where to Buy Dazzling Dogs Coloring Book
Happy coloring x
Lea
