by Wendy Edelson
on December 2017
Style: Digital PDF
Pages: 12
Format: Digital download
Twelve pages filled with animals representing letters from the alphabet.
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
Coloring Book Video Review
I hope you enjoyed the video review of Wendy Edelson’s Animal ABC’s coloring book
Subscribe to my You Tube channel and never miss a coloring book review.
Coloring Book Review
I was over the moon with excitement when I found out that well known children’s book illustrator, Wendy Edelson was releasing her first coloring book. Checking out her art work made my little heart ache pining for all of those adorable animal illustrations that she draws and colors so well. In fact, I was so keen on Wendy’s book that I am pretty sure that I was her very first sale, as soon as it was released 🙂
When I seen these illustrations pre release I immediately wished that I had a child to give them to. Looking at the adorable animals with the educational experience of learning the alphabet melts my heart. I could imagine these colored and decorating a wall of a child’s nursery.
Cover & Layout
This coloring book is a digital download. You will receive a pdf of the illustrations which you can either print out on your home printer or take to a library or stationery store for printing. The advantage of a digital download is that you avoid the delay and cost of shipping. More importantly, you can choose the paper that you print on. This can broaden your choice of mediums to use as well. If you are like me, one of the real bonuses is that you can print the book, or individual pages, as many times as you fancy. If you make a mistake or want to change the look of the illustration. I do not print the cover of the book as I hate to use my color print ink.
There are 12 illustrations in the download to color in. Each illustration measures approximately 18cm x 18cm when printed on an A4 page. Because the image is smaller than full page, it may be challenging for colorists with a minor visual impairment and you may need to haul the magnifying lamp out for some finer details. Each illustration has been framed in a decorative border. At the foot of the art work you will find the text noting the items featured in the illustration.
Wendy Edelson has also added her logo, in color at the foot of each image. I was so keen to print out the illustration that I forgot to change my printer settings from color to black and white only to avoid using up the color ink.
At the time of writing, the book is only available as a pdf download. Wendy is just starting out creating coloring books and in due course may release physical books as well as stock her store with more gorgeous pages to color.
With digital books, if you have an inkjet printer, you may want to print out well before you color. This will give the ink time to set and avoid muddiness when you color. One of the members of my coloring group also suggested spraying with a fixative prior to coloring to avoid the smudges. I have purchased the fixative but as yet haven’t tried it to confirm whether that would avoid the muddiness. If you are using a laser printer you won’t have this issue.
Coloring Book Images and Illustrations
Wendy has a knack of drawing adorable, whimsical and realistic animals. She is a dab hand at coloring as her long career as a children’s illustrator bears out. These illustrations are based on her previous work and have been greyscaled into coloring pages. Greyscale is a tricky thing and it’s often difficult to get the saturation levels right to keep all colorists happy. Personally, I’m happy with the level of saturation as it has produced a soft and delicate coloring page, but that may be challenging for visually impaired colorists.
Some pages feature just one letter of the alphabet making it perfect for a gift for a child or room decor while others feature two or three letters.
As the art work is hand drawn you will notice that there are are line weight variations and variations in color depth. Personally I love the organic look on these pictures. You can see in the illustrations that they have a real affinity with watercolors. You could imagine some of those backgrounds that are lighter colored beautifully blended with watercolors. You will also notice that the foreground elements are all in a darker shade of ink so the background blends and produces a painterly effect.
Now, of course, I wanted bunnies badly. My bunny desired was fueled by seeing Wendy’s colored pages of bunnies from her portfolio. I had hoped that there would be a bunny like that in this book (in fact I would dream of it). However it was not to be 🙁 Not only that I couldn’t find the bunny on the page as I had anticipated that it would be as per previous colored images of bunnies. Luckily, a you tube viewer pointed me in the right direction (in the clouds). Wendy is releasing other coloring pages in her store so I can still hope for my beloved bunnies to make their appearance in all their glory.
Please click on an image to view more detail
[foogallery id=”11730″]Detail Level
Where to buy Wendy Edelson’s Animal ABCs
| Artist site |
Happy coloring x
Lea
Leave a Comment