Mouse Guard: Coloring Book

My husband and I have both enjoyed the Mouse Guard comic series of books over the years so it was an easy decision to purchase the coloring book based on the artwork of those books. The book is a larger format book and is quite thick as well. The artwork in the coloring book seems to have been lifted from the books themselves. As a result, there is a fairly large amount of black in the designs. That doesn't bother me but it is something that should be noted. There are a couple of pages that are extremely heavy with black and I will try to post at least one of those in photos. With books that have this, I incorporate the black as part of my design and figure I will save ink. The designs are detailed and some have intricate spots to color. They are a really great representation of what I have seen in the book series. The book is printed on ivory color which adds to the ambiance as it gives the designs an type of antique vibe. While the coloring book is printed on both sides of the page, only the designs that spread across two pages have elements which merge into the binding area. While most of the designs are limited to one page (and most of those have framing lines at the outer edge), there are 14 designs that spread across two pages. In my copy, those pages line up extremely well and I have been able to get the book open flat enough for coloring purposes. It is still a bit difficult to get my pencils into that area but it is do-able. This is what I experienced while coloring in this book and testing it with my coloring medium: 90 pages of Mouse Guard coloring designs Printed both sides of the page Paper is heavyweight, ivory, slightly rough (with good tooth), and non-perforated Sewn Binding Only 14 two-page spread designs merge into the binding area, the rest are one page designs that have have space between the edge of the design and the binding. Pages can be removed in whole (several at a time) by snipping threads but it may prove difficult to line the two-page spreads once they are removed. Alcohol-based markers bleed through the paper Water-based markers, India ink pens and gel pens all leave shadows on the back of the page. Colored pencils work well with the paper and will be my choice of coloring medium for this book. The paper has a very slight roughness to it and provides a good surface for pigment. I tested both oil ad wax based pencils and found that I could easily layer the same color, multiple colors, and blend using a blending stick.

I have been into this adult colouring thing for about 15 months now, and have tired of the plethora of books on the market. It has become harder and harder to find one that ticks all the boxes of a) being a quality product b) has plenty of colouirng to be done and c) is original / different. By chance I saw someone had posted a completed image from this book on a FB colouring group. It hooked me enough to look it up, find YT video links and reviews and immediately place an order. What is not to love about a mouse on a mission. Well, it has arrived and I have to say it has lived up to all expectations and is true to the praise lavished on it to date. First up, the paper quality. It is actually much better than most books I own, and takes pencil BEAUTIFULLY. Very little blending needed, and the colours really do pop. So far I have only used prismacolor and polychromos but I have enough experience to know poor quality paper can suck the quality out of these pencils. Then we come to the amount of colouring available. The book has 96 pages, and only the first and last couple of pages are not actual colouring pages, so you get a lot for your money. I love how there is a variety. Not all single paged images. In fact there are double/single and also comic strip pages. So no reason for boredom to set in. If you have a few days put by you can go for the double page image. Only a couple of hours, or a lunch break to fill? No worries - go for one of the panels or comic strip sections. The images are near to being greyscale, but are not too difficult to work with. Nor do you have huge areas of blank space where inexperienced or those with no artistic training would struggle to get those areas right. The line art is quite thick. I actually like this (thus the fact I own all of Hannah Lynn's books) as it does mean you can have a bit more of a free rein and not worry too much about being careful around the lines. The downsides are what I see with other books, and were not really enough to give it less than 5 stars. Yes, it is double sided (so no using markers - only pencil if you don't want to risk bleed through or shadowing). Bit frustrating, but when you have this many pages, I can understand it is not feasible to create 200 pages of single sided images. I have deconstructed the book so I can get to the double paged images. The artwork goes right into the spine and colouring those pages would be a royal pain. The book is mainly thread bound so cutting through those carefully and removal of the pages is more than possible. However, it is also glue bound and some of the double page images go across the glue binding. If they had all been positioned to be across where the thread was, it would be much easier. So, who is going to like this book? ** Those who enjoy the Mouse Guard books and stories ** Those who want something different to flowers, mandalas, etc ** Those who are intermediate / advanced with adult colouring techniques - others may find them just a little too challenging or intimidating. ** Those who work predominantly with pencil. Thanks to David for creating this. I have hopes one day there is a follow up. It really is a quality book and a refreshing addition to the colouring world.

Wow, this is a beautiful book. The pages are thick and have a nice smooth texture to them. The art, as I would expect from David Petersen, is excellent. There is a ton of detail in the drawings (I wouldn't have minded a book twice the size), but I think this is perfect for coloring in. For the price, this is a bargain. The only thing I would change (and only a minor quibble at that), is that I like the coloring book format where it is a single image per leaf rather than an image on the front and reverse of the page. That way, if there is a little bit of marker bleed through, it won't show through the art on the reverse side. The only other problem is that the book is so nice looking that I hate to defile it with my terrible coloring skills. But that isn't the book's fault, so I can't deduct any points for that. I suppose the solution is to buy a second copy so that I have one to color in, and one with which to admire the black and white art.

I am absolutely in love with this coloring book! I had never heard of this comic series before but I fell in love when I saw some reviews on YouTube. It has great quality paper. The images are gorgeous. I have finished 3 images so far and the paper took multiple layers of colored pencil really well. There are roughly 70 images in the book (I am counting the 2-page spreads as 1 image) - and I honestly love at least 60 of the images. It is well worth the money!

C'est la couverture et un flip-trough visionné sur U-Tube qui m'ont fait craquer sur ces adorables petites souries. Ce livre de coloriage est issu de la célèbre saga BD "Mouse Guard" de David Petersen. Je ne connaissais pas du tout cet auteur, mais cela ne m'a pas empeché de tomber sous le charme de ses dessins. Ils sont magnifiques, très détaillés, crédibles, d'un réalisme frappant! Il n'est pas difficile d'imaginer ces petits guerriers à quatre pattes en action! Les dessins sont recto-verso, donc il faut penser à proteger les pages suivantes à l'aide d'une feuille blanche, afin d'éviter tout transfer. Le papier est vraiment de qualité supérieure, très épaisse, adaptée aux aquarelles, aux feutres (uniquement à base d'eau, ceux à base d'alcohol transperseraient la page), aux crayons de couleurs, à l'essence sans odeur... Le papier n'est pas vraiment blanc, mais presque jaunatre, ce qui lui confère un aspet vieilli très agréable, presque moyenageux, qui lui va si bien ! Je conseille ce livre aux personnes qui aiment les chevaliers servant, les guerriers et les princesses en détresse... si romantique à colorier, mais un véritable chellenge en fait de détails!

El libro llegó en excelentes condiciones, me gustó mucho en realidad, el tamaño me sorprendió pues es bastante grande y muy grueso, trae muchas ilustraciones, las hojas son de un gramaje alto así que no hay problemas para el trabajo de coloreado de las ilustraciones, eso si, la impresión tiene imagenes por los dos lados de la hoja así que requiere algo de proteción extra para evitar que se superpongan los colores (dependiendo de la técnica y material que se use para el coloreado). Lo recomiendo ampliamente.

Wie auch schon einige andere hier erwähnten, sind die Bilder doppelseitig bedruckt. Das ist zwar Schade, aber nicht so gravierend störend. Zumindest ich für meinen Teil hatte sehr viel vergnügen. Der dunkle Druck und die Linienart die gewählt wurden geben fertigen Bildern den besonderen Touch und jedes dieser Bilder ist auf seine Weise besonders. Wobei das in diesem Fall wirklich eine reine Geschmackssache ist. Nicht jeder mag dicke Linien oder schon vorgegebene Schattierungen. Das Bild, welches ich angehängt habe, wurde von mir mit den Prismacolor Premier und den Faber Castell Polychromos coloriert. Die Stifte arbeiten sehr gut auf dem Papier und ich hatte keinerlei Probleme beim Schichten oder beim Blenden der Farben. Kleine Abhilfe kann da auch ein Colorless Blender Stift verschaffen, den ich im übrigen eh für das allgemeine Colorieren immer sehr empfehlen kann. Man sollte sich auf jeden Fall im Vorfeld einen kleinen Einblick verschaffen, bevor man sich dazu entschließt dieses Buch zu kaufen. Weiter unten gibt es Rezensionen (englischsprachige), die im Anhang ein Video mit einem sogenannten Flip trough (einmal durch das gesamte Buch blättern) anbieten. Diese findet man im übrigen auch für diverse andere Malbücher und sind immer sehr zu empfehlen. Meiner Meinung nach ist dieses Buch etwas besonderes. Eines das nicht wie jedes zweite auf dem Markt ist und eine klare Kaufempfehlung meinerseits.

Consigliatissimo sia per bimbi che hanno già dimestichezza coi colori che per noi grandi amanti del genere, vale tutti i soldi spesi, le immagini sono su entrambi i lati ma la carta m ha sorpreso in positivo e' liscia bella spessa e quasi leggermente plastificata al tatto diversa dagli altri libri che ho comprato, da l idea di poter reggere bene un po tutto sia pastelli che pennarelli! I disegni sono dettagliati ma ben definiti, non da cavarsi gli occhi per intenderci,per gli amanti delle pagine doppie ahimè ce ne sono solo un paio mi pare... mi riservo di allegare un paio di foto con dei lavori finiti... Per ora 5 stelle meritate ai topini di Petersen!

This is a beautiful book. The paper is thick and lovely and the pictures are utterly charming. The imagination and detail and charm in each picture; just amazing.... I didn't know about this author before and am really looking forward to embellishing the amazing illustrations with my colours.