Romantic Country: A Fantasy Coloring Book

This book is so darling. The pages are detailed, but not overwhelming. I use simple Crayola Color Pencils and the paper works great with them. The pictures are all SO cute. I’ve ordered Volume 2! This is a perfect stress-reliever for me.

The media could not be loaded. “Romantic Country” is the imaginary country that artist Eriy created in her childhood. Based on these designs, it is a charming and whimsical land to visit. The artist named this land Cocot.What is interesting about the designs is the back story on how the artist created them. Apparently, these were the first ink studies she had done and while she remembered to buy ink, she forgot to buy a pen! Being resourceful, she used what was on hand – a toothpick. Approximately 700 toothpicks were used to create the designs in the book. The unusual drawing tool gives the lines in the book a faded appearance and provides lines that vary in thickness. These add to the charm of the designs rather than detract from them.The artist tells the story about the town at the front of the book and then follows up with a detailed description the subject matter of each design at the back of the book. The fantasy land (and the book) are separated by their areas. There are several maps and five chapters. In all, the story adds an event more delightful layer to the coloring book. It makes it a story book of coloring designs rather than simply a coloring book.The book has a removable dust cover. While there are no elements to color on the inside of the dust cover (a missed opportunity), there are areas to color on the actual brown cover which is attached to the book. The designs are printed on both sides of non-perforated cream colored paper. The ink tones seem almost sepia in nature but it may be because of the toothpick tool.The binding of the book is sewn rather than glued, so you can remove a few pages at a time by snipping a few threads. Eleven of the designs spread across two pages and, in my book, align very well. Fifty-eight designs are printed on one page. Many of the designs merge into the binding but if you remove pages by snipping threads, you should be able to remove them without loss of any of the design. I was able to get the book to lay flat by breaking the spine. There is a bonus fold-out poster included at the back of the book. My copy was fairly bent up. It appears to have been done in manufacturing as the cover of my book and the package it arrived in was pristine.I tested this coloring book with a wide range of coloring medium (though, I must admit, I did not try a toothpick!) Here are the results of my tests and a listing of the coloring medium I used in testing:All of my alcohol-based markers bled through the page immediately. My water-based markers and my India ink artist pens left shadows of color on the backside of the page. My gel pens did not bleed through but required a little extra drying time than ordinary. My coloring pencils worked exceptionally well with this paper. The soft lead pencils went on thick and creamy with little effort. They blended exceptionally well. My hard lead pencils went on distinctly and did not leave indents on the back of the page. I plan to use primarily coloring pencils and some gel pens with this coloring book. If you use any form of ink, be sure to use a blotter page below the page you are working on. The ink will certainly mar the design on the back of the page but the blotter page will keep the ink from seeping further into the book.These are the coloring medium that I use for testing. If there is something else you feel I should be testing, please let me know and I will see if I can add it to my growing pile:Markers: 1) alcohol-based – Copic Sketch, Prismacolor double ended markers (brush and fine point), Sharpies (fine and ultra-fine) Bic Mark-its (fine and ultra-fine) and 2) water-based – Tombows dual end markers (brush and fine point), Stabilo 88, and Staedler triplus finelinersIndia Ink: Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (brush tip)Gel Pens: Sakura, Fiskars, Uni-ball Signo in the following sizes - 0.28/0.38/0.5/1.0 and TekwriterColoring Pencils: Prismacolor Premier Soft Core, Derwent Colorsoft, Prismacolor Verithins, Caran D'Ache Pablo Colored Pencils and Faber-Castell Polychromos

I saw this in stores, but purchased here. As always, Amazon has the best prices on coloring books!This book is absolutely adorable if you like quaint images to color. The thing that really drew me to this book was the quality of lineart in it. The lines are unlike any other book I've found. Most books have crisp black lines and more and more I'm finding have a crisp, generic feel to them. It's hard to find a book that still has the feeling of being hand-drawn (like Color Me Your Way, Sommernatt, and Dagdrommar). This book takes it a step further. Not only do the lines retain the sense of being drawn by hand, the lines are a grey color. The color of the lines is a great feature in this book because it makes these pages look stunning with soft, subtle colored pencil and even better with watercolor.I've been using Inktense and Albrect Durer watercolor pencils in mine and have had great results. The pages handle the water well, despite being printed on both sides, as long as you don't overdo it with the water. (I use a water brush for more controlled water flow.) They handle layering and blending of colors well, both dry and wet. The only flaw with the book is that they are printed double sided, which limits the use of markers. However, I think this line style lends itself better to softer colors than bright, bold markers anyway. Bottom line: If you're looking for a new coloring book to use with colored pencil or watercolor, buy this!

I have heard about her books for years now and have always wanted one. I'm so glad I finally bought it. Her illustrations are so whimsical and beautiful and the quality of paper is definitely worth the price as paper is everything. I love how there's a little story to her book and the poster in the back is such a clever idea. Highly recommend supporting this unique and talented artist.

Fantastic coloring book! It has really detailed pages and then others that are not so detailed so not every page has to take you 6 hours to complete. Hahaha! This book didn't have fairies or witches so I like the lack of those (as she has those in some of her other books). It did have a couple of holiday pages but I just took those out as I didn't want to color those ones.The paper quality is awesome and not all of the pages have tiny details to color which is good if you have trouble seeing tiny stuff. This book is so dreamy and the pictures are so relaxing to color. Hope she comes out with more like this.A couple of things I wished for... I wished she would have had single sided pages and I wish it was spiral bound as it would have been easier to color some of the stuff that is toward the inside seam, but those things are not so much a bother that I wouldn't be happy with the book.Attached are some pictures I've colored thus far (I used PrismaColor pencil crayons which I also bought off Amazon). I think when I finish coloring this book I'll probably just buy it a second time as there are so many color combos I could have fun trying out on the pictures in this book.Hope this review helps!

The media could not be loaded. Lindo do início ao fim !!! 💓 Encantada com as ilustrações

Amor este libro, de mis favoritos de Eiry, super recomendado, buen precio

wat een lelijke druk..Inkt is erg vaag en lelijk afgedrukt. Alsof halverwege de toner leeg is gegaan. verder hele eenvoudige kinderachtige platen. direct teruggestuurd

Beautiful illustrations and details one of my favourite artists. The paper quality is amazing and an absolute joy to colour in.

Ich habe inzwischen schon eine recht große Sammlung an Malbüchern, aber dieses ist mir im Moment das liebste. Die Motive sind sehr abwechslungsreich und ganz bezaubernd ohne von vornherein zu kitschig zu sein. Es gibt Motive mit Menschen und ohne, Natur, Dorfleben, Gebäude, Tiere, Landleben und Landschaft.Das Buch hat eine angenehme Größe und für Buntstifte sehr gut geeignetes Papier. Das man die Seiten nicht herausnehmen kann stört mich nicht, es ist halt ein Buch und keine Blattsammlung.Ich habe bisher eine Seite (Bild anbei) coloriert und habe mich dabei mit den Farben und der Vorgehensweise an einem Video von Chris Cheng orientiert, die eine echte Künstlerin ist, wenn es um die Coloration von Malbüchern geht. Bei den verwendeten Stiften handelt es sich umd die "Prismacolors".Nun freue ich mich schon auf die nächste Seite und werde wohl auch sehr bald den zweiten und den dritten Band kaufen.