I saw so many negative reviews about this book starting with paper quality and criticism towards her style, saying the images are not really rooms, but bunch of random little things. I personally love the book. I have all her other books and will get Rooms of wonder for xmas, just because I want it to be something special. I love the fact this book has some of the elements of her previous books. Because I like colouring leafs and flowers from Magical Jungle but dont want to buy exactly the same book to colour it again. Same with fish and butterflies amd birds. I take it as an advantage not the downside. Also I would be overwhelmed if every page was a full size room with tiny objects. I have German, UK, US, Bulgarian, Russian versions of her books. Russian ones come with hard cover amd bright white paper. My favourite is German. I find it is thicker and nicer texture paper. Thank you for the video! Enjoy your new book !
After all the negative I've read, it is nice to see all these wonderful positive points. I agree with all of this and absolutely love the book. I also love how it implements some of the artwork I've seen in Magical Jungle and World of Flowers, but also has "Rooms of Wonder". What a fantastic idea this book was. Happy Coloring!
I have just purchased this book and I am in love with it. I have quite a few colouring books of which some of their papers are quite thin and not of great quality. I find this book is top quality and the images are all so beautifully thought out. I have now gone and bought 'Worlds of Wonder' which also is stunning with the cover beautifully illustrated in purple/gold with a flip cover. The illustrations are great. Very impressed.
Your review has convinced me to get this one! Just recently got her Worlds of Wonder which is my fave of her books so far. Thanks again, Pamela, world-class review yet again!
Thank you for your take on Johannas new book. I am in love with it. I've been wanting a book like this with all the different rooms forever. I think this my new favorite. 😊
Thank you so much for this post I am a very new adult coloring book person and just learning about the different papers so this explanation for me is very very important thank you so much for doing such a very good job and what you do and helping us newbies realize a better quality paper I love Johanna Basford as she is a new coloring artist to me thank you so much🎃
I have the UK version no problem with the spine or paper on the whole its not got too many her usual cut and paste flower or motif repetitions which is a plus
I have moved on to mostly creating my own fine art, but adult coloring was what got me into more seriously pursuing my own art. But recently I was in a mood to just do some coloring. I completed another of the Secret Garden postcards with Tombow dual brush pen wc markers (many are getting kind of dry.) The Tombow wc markers look very much like regular watercolors when used on wc paper, which the post cards are…but they are not lightfast at all, so best for personal coloring. I really enjoyed doing this postcard, but it took me forever to complete it…with all the tiny leaves and things. But the exercise of completing it was really good for me. 😊
I too began my re-entry into making my own drawings and paintings by coloring first. I had stopped my art decades ago due to the usual reasons: raising kids/jobs/etc. Life! But now that I FINALLY have more time for ME? Art art and more Art! I like Basford’s books in general and actually like this one A LOT. It’s different than her other ones(as is the excellent Worlds of Wonder, my favorite of hers so far)…and personally I prefer different!
I had this on pre-order but canceled a few days before it was released due to going over budget and buying too much in the weeks leading up to its release. LOL I had no idea anything about the paper when canceling my order as it has not been released yet. I then saw a review of the book on another channel mentioning the debacle with the paper. I will admit I am a huge fan of the cream colored paper and not sure I would have liked the white paper choice, but my main concern is the smooth texture and little tooth. My coloring style is a lot of layering so I am not sure this paper would work for me. However, comparing it to the Kerby books I would have to ask if all his books use the same paper or not? I have Mythomorphia and that is the only one I have. The paper in that one seems toothy though. Has he used a different paper in his later books by chance? If you are comparing it to the Eriy books it will definitely not be for me. I have one of her books and do not color in it because the paper is too smooth and slick for my coloring style. To be safe I will probably just go with the UK version at some point. It is a bit pricey at the moment, hoping it comes down a bit. Thank you for your detailed review and paper comparison, and thanks for sharing!
I bought this book, and I think it's beautiful. I love the little details. I'm really new to coloring and haven't fully dived in yet because I've been a little overwhelmed. I appreciate your reviews and their positivity. 😊 PS Not sure if you noticed but some of the pages have a tiny door hidden in the picture. I had fun finding them.
Yes - I love that she added these "hidden objects" to this book. What a creative and fun idea. I am loving this book and think it's now my new favorite. More videos to come using this book.
Thank you for making this video. It made me sad to see the negative reviews just because of the paper. I would love to see you test pencils in here to see which works best
I was thinking about doing this in a next video. I had a lot to do today so I haven't had a chance to color in this book yet. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to spend some time with it.
Great great job Pamela. I love how you addressed the paper change. I know there is a difference but not enough that I would send back my book. I read also that the UK version is different than the US version so that might be a consideration for those that do not care for the US paper. Great job as always. Love how positive you are !!!!
Thanks for this thorough and level-headed review. Change is hard but some of the reviews seem a little overboard in their negativity. I have the UK edition but saw the US edition next to the new Kerby Rosanes book in Target and did the same paper comparison. They seemed identical. I’m one who likes a smoother, whiter paper, so it’s all good for me.
I will probably get this book. I like white paper but I heard the quality of the US version books is not as good. Thinner paper and there are some marks which has everything to do with the printer and not Johanna. Not a fan of smooth paper either and will often use water mediums as a base to bring out more of the tooth. Not sure if the US version will stand up to Inktense, Albrecht Durers, Tombow, etc. So, I'm on the fence on whether to get the UK version or get the US version. Thank you for your review and hope that you will do a review on how various colored and water based pencils stand up to the US version.
I’m going to take mine to Staples and have the spine cut and rebound to spiral. I’m sad her publisher changed the paper and not see the cover folds. It would have been nice to keep the same style and paper as the Worlds of Wonder.
Well I can't say anything about the english version of johannas books, because I have the german version :) Well I'm from germany so... Maybe I will get the english version of magical jungle.
If you read Johanna's Instagram post, you would know she faced a dilemma and had to choose new paper for this USA edition from Penguin. She made the best decision possible while avoiding a price increase. She said it's the same paper Kerby uses. It is bright white, so what? Okay, it's smoother and some worry about wax pencil layering. It seems harder pencils and oil pencils will layer better. Yet, a lot of greatly detailed pages where you won't be able to layer.
Johanna also posted about the paper dilemma on her Facebook page. I did talk all about it in the video and even linked her post in the description box for those that didn't know about it. I love how my Prismacolors lay down in my Kerby books and will most likely start with those. I am sure the Polychromos work wonderfully as well since they tend to work beautifully on smoother paper.
My only problem with the book is that a lot of them are being printed with random black likes in the middle of the pages , that’s some thing i except from from a cheap amazon book not a $14 to $20 book.
Hi Pamela I just watched this video and I have a quesiton. I used color like crazy when I was younger and I'm getting back into it and my question is this. I keep hearing you and other color book artists talk about the tooth of coloring pages. What does it mean?
It has to do with the texture of the paper. The paper feels a bit rougher and those small "teeth" that you can feel as you rub your fingers over the paper hold onto the color from the pencil. It makes it much easier to lay down more layers and for the colors to blend easily. If you use a very smooth paper, a lot of times it doesn't give you the same results or the color from the pencil will just slide around. Smoother paper is better for markers or gel pens.
I am at Target all the time and always in the app. My son also works there. I just always keep track of all the Target sales. I also saw some people mentioning they were able to take advantage of the Target sale as well.
I saw so many negative reviews about this book starting with paper quality and criticism towards her style, saying the images are not really rooms, but bunch of random little things. I personally love the book. I have all her other books and will get Rooms of wonder for xmas, just because I want it to be something special. I love the fact this book has some of the elements of her previous books. Because I like colouring leafs and flowers from Magical Jungle but dont want to buy exactly the same book to colour it again. Same with fish and butterflies amd birds. I take it as an advantage not the downside. Also I would be overwhelmed if every page was a full size room with tiny objects. I have German, UK, US, Bulgarian, Russian versions of her books. Russian ones come with hard cover amd bright white paper. My favourite is German. I find it is thicker and nicer texture paper. Thank you for the video! Enjoy your new book !
After all the negative I've read, it is nice to see all these wonderful positive points. I agree with all of this and absolutely love the book. I also love how it implements some of the artwork I've seen in Magical Jungle and World of Flowers, but also has "Rooms of Wonder". What a fantastic idea this book was. Happy Coloring!
I have just purchased this book and I am in love with it. I have quite a few colouring books of which some of their papers are quite thin and not of great quality. I find this book is top quality and the images are all so beautifully thought out. I have now gone and bought 'Worlds of Wonder' which also is stunning with the cover beautifully illustrated in purple/gold with a flip cover. The illustrations are great. Very impressed.
Your review has convinced me to get this one! Just recently got her Worlds of Wonder which is my fave of her books so far. Thanks again, Pamela, world-class review yet again!
I’m so glad it was helpful and you were able to make your decision. I think you will love it! Happy Coloring!
Thank you for your take on Johannas new book. I am in love with it. I've been wanting a book like this with all the different rooms forever. I think this my new favorite. 😊
All the rooms is such a creative idea. The artwork is beautiful although very detailed.
Thank you so much for this post I am a very new adult coloring book person and just learning about the different papers so this explanation for me is very very important thank you so much for doing such a very good job and what you do and helping us newbies realize a better quality paper I love Johanna Basford as she is a new coloring artist to me thank you so much🎃
I'm so glad this video was helpful. Welcome to this wonderful hobby! Happy Coloring!
I have the UK version no problem with the spine or paper on the whole its not got too many her usual cut and paste flower or motif repetitions which is a plus
I have moved on to mostly creating my own fine art, but adult coloring was what got me into more seriously pursuing my own art. But recently I was in a mood to just do some coloring. I completed another of the Secret Garden postcards with Tombow dual brush pen wc markers (many are getting kind of dry.) The Tombow wc markers look very much like regular watercolors when used on wc paper, which the post cards are…but they are not lightfast at all, so best for personal coloring. I really enjoyed doing this postcard, but it took me forever to complete it…with all the tiny leaves and things. But the exercise of completing it was really good for me. 😊
I too began my re-entry into making my own drawings and paintings by coloring first. I had stopped my art decades ago due to the usual reasons: raising kids/jobs/etc. Life! But now that I FINALLY have more time for ME? Art art and more Art! I like Basford’s books in general and actually like this one A LOT. It’s different than her other ones(as is the excellent Worlds of Wonder, my favorite of hers so far)…and personally I prefer different!
I had this on pre-order but canceled a few days before it was released due to going over budget and buying too much in the weeks leading up to its release. LOL I had no idea anything about the paper when canceling my order as it has not been released yet. I then saw a review of the book on another channel mentioning the debacle with the paper. I will admit I am a huge fan of the cream colored paper and not sure I would have liked the white paper choice, but my main concern is the smooth texture and little tooth. My coloring style is a lot of layering so I am not sure this paper would work for me. However, comparing it to the Kerby books I would have to ask if all his books use the same paper or not? I have Mythomorphia and that is the only one I have. The paper in that one seems toothy though. Has he used a different paper in his later books by chance? If you are comparing it to the Eriy books it will definitely not be for me. I have one of her books and do not color in it because the paper is too smooth and slick for my coloring style. To be safe I will probably just go with the UK version at some point. It is a bit pricey at the moment, hoping it comes down a bit. Thank you for your detailed review and paper comparison, and thanks for sharing!
Great review. I like how you took the time to discuss the paper and compare it to the paper in other books.
Thank you!
Beautiful, but intimating!! 😮 All those tiny things! 💞 The pages with the individual items might be more my speed at this point.
Awesome how you compared the paper to a few different books. Thanks so much!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I bought this book, and I think it's beautiful. I love the little details. I'm really new to coloring and haven't fully dived in yet because I've been a little overwhelmed. I appreciate your reviews and their positivity. 😊
PS Not sure if you noticed but some of the pages have a tiny door hidden in the picture. I had fun finding them.
Yes - I love that she added these "hidden objects" to this book. What a creative and fun idea. I am loving this book and think it's now my new favorite. More videos to come using this book.
Merci pour cette présentation
Thank you for making this video. It made me sad to see the negative reviews just because of the paper. I would love to see you test pencils in here to see which works best
I was thinking about doing this in a next video. I had a lot to do today so I haven't had a chance to color in this book yet. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to spend some time with it.
Great great job Pamela. I love how you addressed the paper change. I know there is a difference but not enough that I would send back my book. I read also that the UK version is different than the US version so that might be a consideration for those that do not care for the US paper. Great job as always. Love how positive you are !!!!
Thank you Donna! I did order my copy from Book Depository as well so I can compare the differences to the UK version of the book.
Thanks for this thorough and level-headed review. Change is hard but some of the reviews seem a little overboard in their negativity. I have the UK edition but saw the US edition next to the new Kerby Rosanes book in Target and did the same paper comparison. They seemed identical. I’m one who likes a smoother, whiter paper, so it’s all good for me.
I like many of her books, but this one I dont like. It has too many small little things.
It does have a lot of small intricate designs.
I will probably get this book. I like white paper but I heard the quality of the US version books is not as good. Thinner paper and there are some marks which has everything to do with the printer and not Johanna. Not a fan of smooth paper either and will often use water mediums as a base to bring out more of the tooth. Not sure if the US version will stand up to Inktense, Albrecht Durers, Tombow, etc.
So, I'm on the fence on whether to get the UK version or get the US version.
Thank you for your review and hope that you will do a review on how various colored and water based pencils stand up to the US version.
I’m going to take mine to Staples and have the spine cut and rebound to spiral. I’m sad her publisher changed the paper and not see the cover folds. It would have been nice to keep the same style and paper as the Worlds of Wonder.
@@kellyb1765 I did read that. But no worries! We will just adjust the pencils we use.
Lovin it ❤
Thank you!
Your welcome 😎
I appreciate your review, Pamela. She's a wonderful artist, but her drawings are a bit too detailed for me.😊
Well I can't say anything about the english version of johannas books, because I have the german version :) Well I'm from germany so...
Maybe I will get the english version of magical jungle.
Fantastic 😉🔴🟠🟡🟢🔵🟣
If you read Johanna's Instagram post, you would know she faced a dilemma and had to choose new paper for this USA edition from Penguin. She made the best decision possible while avoiding a price increase. She said it's the same paper Kerby uses. It is bright white, so what? Okay, it's smoother and some worry about wax pencil layering. It seems harder pencils and oil pencils will layer better. Yet, a lot of greatly detailed pages where you won't be able to layer.
Johanna also posted about the paper dilemma on her Facebook page. I did talk all about it in the video and even linked her post in the description box for those that didn't know about it. I love how my Prismacolors lay down in my Kerby books and will most likely start with those. I am sure the Polychromos work wonderfully as well since they tend to work beautifully on smoother paper.
My only problem with the book is that a lot of them are being printed with random black likes in the middle of the pages , that’s some thing i except from from a cheap amazon book not a $14 to $20 book.
Hi Pamela I just watched this video and I have a quesiton. I used color like crazy when I was younger and I'm getting back into it and my question is this. I keep hearing you and other color book artists talk about the tooth of coloring pages. What does it mean?
It has to do with the texture of the paper. The paper feels a bit rougher and those small "teeth" that you can feel as you rub your fingers over the paper hold onto the color from the pencil. It makes it much easier to lay down more layers and for the colors to blend easily. If you use a very smooth paper, a lot of times it doesn't give you the same results or the color from the pencil will just slide around. Smoother paper is better for markers or gel pens.
i am about to get my coloring book RE BOUNDED so that it is flat, the book is not easy to color because of the binding. at least the cornrers
How did you find out about the Target sale?
I am at Target all the time and always in the app. My son also works there. I just always keep track of all the Target sales. I also saw some people mentioning they were able to take advantage of the Target sale as well.
💜💜💜tfs💜💜💜