by Ayako Ikeda
on November 2016
Style: single page illustrations
Format: Card cover
Follow Dayan the Cat and his friends on various adventures
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Dayan the Cat – Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the Dayan the Cat Coloring Book Video Review above.
Dayan the Cat – Coloring Book Review
Dayan the Cat looks like a cheeky cat that is hiding a little secret. That’s what appealed to me about Dayan the Cat – the expression on his face! Dayan the Cat is a Japanese Coloring Book that was released in about November, 2016.
Cover & Layout
The cover of Dayan the Cat coloring book features Dayan surrounded by imagery of snow, forests and sea. In the background we can see castles in the air. It strikes you as an imaginative journey from the cover. The cover art is also included in the book to color.
The spine is orange with white text in Japanese on it.
The back cover features small stamped sized drawings of cats predominantly in black and white with a few dashes of blue, green and orange printing. The back cover art has also been included in the book.
I have to say, that the cover art is not an indication of what you will find in the book primarily.
Dayan the Cat measures approximately 26cm x 26cm (approximately 10in x 10in)
Attached to the back page of the book (not cover) is a set of 12 unbranded pencils. This pack of pencils give the illusion that the book is far more packed with art than it is.
Ancillary Pages
Oddly, the ancillary pages in this book have been printed on heavier paper than the coloring pages. The book commences with a text based title page, that is surrounded by small imagery to color, consisting of cats playing among fruit.
A two page visual thumbnail index follows with detail in Japanese text. Over page there are some cute illustrations which are accompanies by text in Japanese. I think, but I’m not certain, that these may be an introduction to Dayan and his various friends.
Layout
There are only 27 pages to color in this book. Dayan the Cat looks like it has been on a massive diet once the bulky pencil packaging has been removed.
All of the images are presented portrait style on one side of the paper only. There are no double page illustrations in the book. The paper is a cool white and a medium quality. You can use the mediums of your choice, provided of course you pop some paper between the pages, to use as a blotter and avoid damaging the page underneath.
The coloring pages have all been positioned well on the page. An allowance has been made of approximately .5 cm near the spine which has not been printed on. Along this edge is a dotted cutting guide line for you to easily remove the image if you wish. The pages are not perforated but there is cutting line.
Dayan the Cat – Coloring Book Images & Illustrations
The illustrations for Dayan the Cat vary throughout the book. You will find lovely sketchy illustrations with a variety of cross hatching and texture on Dayan and his friends. By contrast you will also find a number of pattern pages that are predominantly solid black and feature a variety of cats (that you really need to look for in some).
Although some of the pattern pages are quirky, they seem disconnected in the book from the originality of the sketchy drawings. I would have preferred to just see the drawings that have the hand drawn look to them. The other pages give the feeling that they are being used to “fill” the book.
The line art varies with the sketchy type art featuring a dull black and the pattern based images feature a solid black.
Colorists that have minor visual impairment may find that the sketchy art work is not sharp and dark enough to comfortably enjoy. The pattern based designs are sharp, but quite distracting with the busyness of most of the designs.
On the rear of each illustration there is text in Japanese which presumably, names the drawing.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”5931″]Bonus
Dayan the Cat Coloring Book is packaged with a set of 12 wooden barreled unbranded pencils. The pencils go on quite easily, once you get used to them. I would have much preferred the book to be sold without the pencils and the bulky packaging that came with it. Shipping internationally is expensive enough for me, without the added weight of the pencils that I do not need. Other colorists, may feel differently 🙂
The other negative about the pencils, for me, is that they were attached to a page within the book with heavy glue. This meant that part of the page was damaged when I removed the pencils. In addition, that page, because of the heavy glue, is sticking to the top page. In order to avoid ruining it, I will now have to remove that page from the book 🙁
Where to buy Dayan the Cat – Coloring Book
| Etsy | Amazon Japan | Yes Asia – Free Shipping |
Happy coloring x
Lea
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