by Inko Kotoriyama
on 14 November 2017
Style: color inspiration images, double page printing
Pages: 68
Format: Dust Jacket
A beautifully illustrated coloring book featuring adorable animals
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
Ruby’s Sweet Dream Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Ruby’s Sweet Dream Coloring Book.
Subscribe to my You Tube channel and never miss a coloring book review.
Check out our coloring community on Facebook here
Ruby’s Sweet Dream Coloring Book Review
Japanese artist, Inko Kotoriyama is such a talented illustrator. I’ve fallen in love with al of her coloring books whether it is Disney based or animal based like the gorgeous Happy Birthday and Romantic Journey. I’m not sure, because of the problems when using an online translator to translate Japanese text, what the story is about in her latest – Ruby’s Sweet Dream. It may be based on a fairy tale, but to be honest, I’m not 100% sure. It is based on a frog that appears throughout the book but whether that is a reference to the Princess and the Frog, I don’t know as there is no Princess in this story. It doesn’t matter to me anyway, because if it is full of cute animals including bunnies, then I’m in love!
Cover & Layout
The lovely dust jacket on Ruby’s Sweet Dream features a partially colored scene with our gorgeous frog on the cover. The coloring has the effect of color pencils so it is easy to imagine how our own pages could look. A bright red spine shows the title in Japanese and English. On the back of the book are beautifully partly colored flowers against a white background. The front fold out flap features the line art for our frog on a toadstool. You could color the line art on the dust jacket if you wished, however if it is slightly waxy so it may make ordinary pencils a little difficult to penetrate.
The coloring book proper has the cover art printed in purple on it against a kraft card. You could color this if you wished.
Ruby’s Sweet Dream measures approximately 23cm x 23cm.
Ancillary Pages
A plain lilac printed text title page starts the book which is blank on the reverse. Either this or the blank page at the en of the book would be great to test out your mediums or select your color palettes.
Text from the author follows which is in a lilac frame and surrounded by flowers for you to color in. Further text and floral elements are on the reverse. Some lovely color images follows which I presume are instructions for creating water droplets and blending.
An extended decorated title page is also included as well as a decorated double page scene showing the contents of the 5 chapters the book has been divided into.
A double page scene answer key is included at the end of the book. I am not sure what the question/activity is though but presume there is some form of interactivity included in the book.
Layout
Illustrations are printed on both sides of the coloring book. The paper is off white and very sturdy being a light heavy paper or the heavy end of medium. Although it is very sturdy, as always, it is not watercolor paper. If you are planning to use wet mediums you should test it first on an Ancillary Page.
All of the images have been orientated portrait style within the book and are well centered and positioned.
There are 38 double page scenes in the book where the line art does run to the center of the book. At the moment the binding is quite stiff, but just from leafing through it is starting to relax. Once relaxed it should be easy to color in these areas.
One of the pages, near the end of the book has a printing error in my copy of the book. There is a small amount of line art that has been printed incorrectly on the facing page as shown below. This is not enough for me to request a replacement or affect my enjoyment of the book.
A small amount of line art has crossed from the right hand image to the left hand side of the page.
Coloring Book Images and Illustrations
Inko excels at drawing cute animals which she has done again in this gorgeous book. There is a gorgeous frog that features throughout the pages and it also includes owls, peacocks, goats, pigs, elephants and mice. As well as coloring cute animals you will also find other fun things to color like interior scenes, flowers, nature scenes, cute little villages, mushroom houses and musical instruments.
One of the double page scenes has a pre printed black background which looks stunning.
There are two mandala type pages and a double page scene of patterned masks included as well for a bit of a variety.
You will see that Inko’s line art is black, crisp and very easy to see, A medium line weight is used for extra readability which is great for colorists with a minor visual impairment. Some of the elements have finer lines like spots on the frog so that it merges with the background color, giving a painterly look. Some of the frogs as well have grey shadowing or solid color for extra depth.
Inko tends to use the whole of the page with her designs, packing in elements. However, many of those elements have large open spaces for ease of coloring, particularly for colorists with motor skill challenges.
The pages have text in Japanese on them throughout the book. However it is quite unobtrusive and should not interfere with your coloring of the page.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”11454″]Detail Level
Where to buy Ruby’s Sweet Dream Coloring Book
| Amazon JP | Yes Asia – Free Shipping Deals | Etailer |
Happy coloring x
Lea
Leave a Comment