Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Interview with creators of Phoenix Ruby!

Hello adult coloring fans! Gift season is just around the corner and Colorplaner found the best way you can present your love and affection to another person by doing what you love most! Read on to find out who is behind the great idea of turning coloring pages into surprise gifts under the Christmas tree!

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Q:First of all tell us little something about yourself. 

We’re a wife and husband team (Dominika and Milan) who publish under a pen name – Ruby Phoenix. Our family name (Radosavljevic) is just way too difficult to remember, spell, pronounce… We live in Glasgow, a gem of a city in Scotland, but originally we come from Slovenia (South-central Europe). Producing coloring books is our hobby and it isn’t even sad as we truly enjoy making them but none of us has enough patience for coloring itself.

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Q: How did you start to color? When did this attraction begin?

Dominika is an art teacher so for her anything artistic comes naturally. But Milan is an Engineer, regularly attending boring meetings and drawing patterns – the source of many fantastic specimens. We saw Johanna Basford’s and Millie Marotta’s creations and realized we want to do this too. We have found something that we both love so much.

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Q: Do you use coloring as a small getaway from the real world?

Creating coloring books, yes, but coloring itself is not for us. We have friends who are real coloring enthusiasts, but we both prefer creating coloring patterns so other people can color in. Win-win perhaps?

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Q:You are the creator of Color me Fold me. A new concept of coloring. Where did this idea come from? What inspired you?

We know it will sound like a cliché but after a long and well deserved holiday, I (Dominika) decided to create my own coloring book. Milan liked the idea but didn’t really warm up to it until one night he woke up at 4am, dreaming about this new concept. Of course, he woke me up as well and talked about it in a bit of an erratic early-morning chaos of words. Over the next few weeks he perfected designs so all the shapes could be assembled after cutting out as easily as possible – an engineering mind. He then took his meetings notebook with dozens of draft patterns from countless meetings and started working on decorations. It all looked so easy but there were weeks of work to make sure everything fits.

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Q: Do you work with a team? If so, how many people you work with?

Yes, we are a team but in the latter stage we also involved DesignCrowd designers in a competition to get as Christmassy cover design as possible. Leuchi from France has created by far the best design – the closest you can get to the Christmassy theme. She is now part of the team as we plan to use her skills in the future as well. Apart from the three of us, there are our kids who are enjoying and critiquing every step of the way.

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Q:Which patterns you find most enjoyable to put on your coloring pages?

 

We don’t really have a preference as all of them emerge from combining various different ideas. They are all beautiful in their own way although Milan’s incredibly intricate mandalas are something else. However, some of the forthcoming books will have a completely different coloring angle. Something for everyone. I am good at natural motives, Milan is good with patterns and a combination of both brings a mixture that is novel in the coloring books genre.

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Q:How long does it take to make a coloring page?

It depends. Natural patterns take a few weeks per page – including sketching with a pencil, tracing with a marker and then digital tracing. Mandalas and decorations take less, perhaps one per day. But coloring plus perfecting assembly may take a few extra days for each page. It doesn’t look like much, but for 40+ coloring pages, it takes several months to create a decent coloring book.

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Q: In your opinion, why would your coloring book Color me, Fold me appeal to adults?

Coloring is already well accepted by adults and so is paper craft but by combining coloring and paper craft, Color Me, Fold Me is an entirely new sub-genre. Making your own Christmas tree decorations, on the other hand, opens up a world of opportunities. For example, you can use coloring in months prior to Christmas to relax, then you move into paper craft (also relaxing) before decorating your Christmas tree. All of this is something adults already do but nobody has thought about combining them into a single book. The decorations are intentionally designed so that you can hide in them a small gift (earrings, engagement ring, banknote, small gift, sweets, etc.). Then, in January, when most people are depressed, because Christmas is over, Color Me, Fold Me decorations give a final festive bout of energy. You take down the Christmas tree with your family and friends and they can open decorations and find surprise gifts. Imagine a fiancé finding an engagement ring in one of those decorations, or your kid finding a cinema ticket or a $10 banknote. One online colorist, using our book, is also going to use decorations to sit on the dinner table for Christmas so family can open them along with Christmas crackers. Fabulous!  The decorations are not limited to Christmas only though. You can use them for birthday parties, Easter, weddings, etc.

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Q:Describe Color me, Fold me in three little words

Color, cut and fold. Would that do? Or perhaps color, decorate, enjoy? It’s up to everyone’s liking really.

 

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Q: What challenges (if any) did you face in making your coloring book for adults and can you give other artist any tips for solving similar problems?

We self-published Color, Me Fold Me through Createspace. The process is straightforward but you’ve got to check their instructions several times over before submitting your work. Their digital previewer is excellent and the ability to get a hard-copy proof for less than $20 (within 2 working days) is unbelievable, but the quality of your work has to be really, really high. We have followed all instructions, created 1200dpi lineart and the quality of printed material is just about right. We will improve this further in the future and perhaps pass the quality check over to Leuchi, our cover designer. Paper quality is an issue but only if you create designs on both sides of the sheet. If this is the case, do not use Createspace and rather convince a publisher. But even this doesn’t give you any guarantees that the paper quality will be much higher. Keeping it single-sided (i.e. one design per sheet) where every second page is empty is by far the best option. We have added a test page right at the beginning to allow colorists to test their markers for bleeding before they move to the real thing. Apart from that, sky is the limit and designs are all up to you really but in our experience people prefer a mix of very intricate and easier patterns.

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Q: If you could choose only one of your finished coloring page which one would it be? And why?

This is a difficult one. But if you ask both of us, it would be a cylinder. It looks really good colored and hanged on the Christmas tree. And there is enough space in it to put inside something bigger than an engagement ring.

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 Q: What’s your favorite thing from your coloring book?

Being able to turn a coloring page into a beautiful object – decoration.

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Q:What are your favorite supplies for coloring? Do you always use the same or you like to experiment with it?

 We both like Staedtler Ergosoft Triangular Colouring Pencils . The colors are soft, bright and vibrant. The pencils don’t scratch the paper and so far the pencil lead has never broken off. They color smoothly and evenly. Even after hours of coloring the pencil feels comfortable in the hand.We also love Staedtler triples fineliners. They have super fine hard nibs and the choice of colors is simply brilliant. The colors are strong and bright. For tracing with the marker we always useStaedtler pigment liners size 0.1 or 0.2.

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Q:Do you have special techniques and color mixes that you’d like to share with us? Any tips and tricks?

We will be very honest with you. We always learn from other coloring enthusiasts, how they use different coloring techniques. Like we said before, we don’t do a lot of coloring ourselves. When we test different patterns we would color them but just to see how they will look like. What we really like to do is drawing patterns and shapes for all the coloring enthusiasts out there.

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Q:Do you have a favorite coloring book author? How did he/she earn your admirations?

OK, there are obvious ones but recently we discovered a Croatian artist Tomislav Tomic and his absolutely jaw-dropping coloring book calledZemlja snova (Land of dreams). Another artist that we really like is Daria Song and her breathtaking books (The Night Voyage, The time chamber,…)

 

Q: What drives the adult coloring trend according to your experience?

It is a rebellion against excessive digitization of the world. Don’t take us wrong, Milan is an advocate for digital technologies but in many areas we’ve gone too far and coloring books offer an escape from this crazy world of digital technologies permeating everything.

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Q: What would you like to see more in adult coloring book world? 

What we have created with Color Me, Fold Me book, by combining coloring and paper craft, is one such new coloring sub-genre that was missing. Not any more though! In addition, I think more intricate designs suitable for men – cogs and wheels and intricate details of engines might bring in a whole new male audience.

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Q:What can we expect from you in the future?

Several new books but in different categories. Milan will be focusing on decorations, so Volume 2 of Color Me, Fold Me is coming out by summer 2017. And there will be birthday, Valentine and Easter editions as well – all delivered in approximately the same way (one Volume per year, every year). Dominika will focus on intricate natural and folk art designs with a new book coming out in 2017.

We enjoy doing this so much. There is nothing better than see how other people enjoy coloring using the books that we’ve created.

Q:And last but not least, where can we find your coloring book for adults “Color me, Fold me”?

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At the moment our coloring book is available only on Amazon. We really hope, that very soon it will be available in bookstores around the world.

 Click here to buy on Amazon

 

You can also find them on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rubyphoenix8/

Instagram: www.instagram.com/phoenixruby/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/phoenixruby11/

Tumblr: www.phoenixrubygirl.tumblr.com

 

Here is a review of Color me, Fold me by Dan-Cin Art Studio 

The post Interview with creators of Phoenix Ruby! appeared first on colorplaner.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Black friday specials!

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Here is the full list of black Friday specials!

List of Adult Coloring books black Friday special

Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book – save 40%

Click to buy on Amazon

 

Magical Jungle: An Inky Expedition and Coloring Book for Adults – save 27%

Click to buy on Amazon

Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book – save 42%

Click here to buy on Amazon

A Christmas Carol: A Coloring Classic – save 37%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Daydreams Coloring Book: Originally Published in Sweden as “Dagdrömmar” (Daydream Coloring Series) – save 28%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Summer Nights Coloring Book: Originally Published in Sweden as “Sommarnatt” (Daydream Coloring Series) – save 43%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Magical Dawn Coloring Book: Published in Sweden As Magisk Gryning (Gsp- Trade) – save 40%

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

Colour My Sketchbook: Adult Colouring Book – save 23%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Colour My Sketchbook 2: GrayScale Adult Colouring Book – save 15%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Adult Coloring Book – save 31%

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

Star Trek: The Next Generation Adult Coloring Book – save 27%

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

Supernatural: The Official Coloring Book – save 35%

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

The Official A Game of Thrones Coloring Book: An Adult Coloring Book (A Song of Ice and Fire) – save 21%

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

Classic Coloring: Alice in Wonderland (Adult Coloring Book): 55 Removable Coloring Plates – save 39%

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

List of Adult Coloring supplies black Friday special

Sanford Prismacolor Colored Pencil Accessory Set, 7-Piece – save 41%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, Soft Core, 48 Pack (3598T) with 2 Blender Pencils (962) & Pencil Sharpener (1786520)

 

Click here to buy on Amazon

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, Portrait Set, Soft Core, 24-Count – save 56%

 

 

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

Prismacolor Premier Double-Ended Art Markers, Fine and Brush Tip, 24-Count with Carrying Case -save 65%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Derwent Colored Pencils, Drawing, Watercolor, Art, Inktense Ink Pencils, 24-Pack – save 24%

Click here to buy on Amazon

 

Sharpie Color Burst Permanent Markers, Ultra Fine Point, Assorted Colors, 24-Count -save 61%

Click here to buy on Amazon

EXPO Low-Odor Dry Erase Set, Chisel Tip, Assorted Colors, 5-Piece with Recycled Material Marker Caddy – save 54%

Click here to buy on Amazon

EXPO Low-Odor Dry Erase Markers, Chisel Tip, Black, 36-Count -save 58%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Prismacolor Scholar Art Markers, Brush Tip, Assorted, 10-Count -save 51%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Eparon 40-piece Gel Pen Set with 40 Unique Colors – save 33%

Click here to buy on Amazon

Sargent Art Premium Coloring Pencils, Pack of 50 Assorted Colors, 22-7251 – save 43%

Click here to buy on Amazon

The post Black friday specials! appeared first on colorplaner.

Is it better to buy books or coloring pages?

Is it better to buy books or coloring pages?

On October 21’s Johanna Basford just announced that she will cooperate with Cannon.

A total of 4 coloring pages and are available to download via Canon app.

Here is the full video from her Facebook wall:

There are instructions on how to access this here: goo.gl/acqZk3

This type of news raise important questions for all adult coloring book fans!

So here at Colorplaner we decided to do a little research.

Is it better to buy coloring books or to print coloring book pages?

coloring-book-vs-printer

Here is what we took in consideration in our printer vs. book battle

Cost

Printers

Cost is extremely crucial when selecting what printer to buy. This is not just in relation to the price of the product itself, but more importantly to the cost of operation and maintenance. For example, the cost of toner or cartridge replacements will all add up in the future. In general, inkjet printers are relatively cheaper, but more expensive to maintain and they are not suitable for high volume printing requirements. On the other hand, laser printers cost more, but are less expensive in the long run.

Here is a simple cost per page for 3 different types of printers

printer cost per page

If your printer’s costs fall at or below these averages, that’s good. But if its costs exceed these averages, you should consider looking for a different printer. A person who prints two dozen or fewer pages per week, mostly text with a little color, might tolerate a higher cost per page; but with so many good printers out there, why go with one that’s going to soak you?”

 

Coloring books

Here is pretty simple. What you see is what you’ll get. Average price for adult coloring book is 14.14$. But one information I could not get hold on is average coloring page number. For the sake of the conversation we’ll leave at 40.

This is based on top 100 selling books on amazon.

average cost of coloring book

Paper quality

Printers

With printer there must be paper! There are different types of paper that suit best for your pencils. Maybe you want it really smooth. Maybe rough. It would be best to try it for yourself before buying, but there is one thing that Johanna said: “Designs are best to print on Canon Matte Photo Paper….”

So here’s our most important advice: You’ll get the best image quality by sticking with inks and papers recommended by your printer’s manufacturer. After all, getting great photos out of an inkjet printer is a tall order, and it requires ink, paper, and printer to work together like a well-practiced orchestra.

Epson’s best paper-for pictures you plan to frame or share, for instance-is Premium Glossy Photo Paper.

HP’s Premium Plus is the top-of-the-line photo paper for HP printers

Canon has made their paper products even easier to figure out. Just look for the colored stripe that runs down the center of all their paper packages.

Of course, Kodak–a company long almost synonymous with photography–also makes photo paper. Kodak paper is an excellent alternative if you can’t find paper from your printer manufacturer, or if your printer’s maker doesn’t offer its own line of paper.

But if you want to branch out and try some other options, consider papers from respected vendors such as Hahnemuehle, Red River, Moab, Ilford, Inkpress,Museo, and Innova. Hahnemuhle sells a $20 sample pack that includes two sheets of nine different types of paper. This is a great way to quickly experiment with a bunch of different types of fine-art matte papers.

Here is an excelent article by adult coloring 101 on how to print your coloring pages.

Coloring books

With the designs, this is the second reason why you buy coloring book. Artists spend more and more time to perfect the quality of the paper and give us better experience of coloring.  Johanna’s latest book was made considering comments from colorist. We are very satisfied that this kind of communication exists 🙂

But there are a lot of adult coloring books, and some artist can’t afford to spend a little more on paper quality. So, it’s up to us and take good observation of the paper quality.

When picking up a coloring book we first ask ourself these questions:

1.How thick is the paper? (this is because thick paper stops your colours bleeding through, or your lovely design getting ripped if you’re using sharp pencils or pens)

2.Is the paper of good, smudge-free quality?

3.Are the designs printed on one side only? (you don’t want ink from your pens to bleed onto another would-be design on the back, rendering it useless)

4.Are the pages perforated? (it’s just a nice touch if you want to cut out your pics and frame them or otherwise give them love)

 

Freedom of choice

Printer

Adult coloring pages are all around us. And they are mostly free. Just head over to colorplaner’s Pinterest account. We have more than enough free coloring pages from artist all over the world.

If that does not fulfill your desires head over to Etsy, Shutterstock and support the artists.

Coloring books

Year has only 365 days and you can’t color only one book for that period. Plus you are attached to designs from only this book.And once coloring page is finished there is no option to color it again unless you buy new coloring book.

Storage

Printers

It’s easy to store papers but printer does take a lot of space and must be carefully stored.

Before buying a printer make a decision where would be the best place for printer.

Coloring books

The only thing you’ll need is floor:) There is no need to overthink where you’ll store coloring book since they are books after all.

In conclusion

Recently we had a poll on our Facebook page about this topic and most of colorers would rather buy books.

Here is the poll:https://www.facebook.com/colorplaner/videos/1828296234078047/

Reading the comment section we came up to conclusion that buying printer or coloring books is totally up to your needs and desires.

The best option would be to buy coloring books and print coloring pages at your local printer shop. A good idea would be to bring preferred type of paper at your printer shop and print the same page on a couple of different types of paper to test things out.

Ether way is good for supporting your favorite artist and enjoy coloring.

Recommendation for a printer

Reading online all kind of articles and one printer poped up regullary.

The Canon Pixma MG5720

This is the best buy printer and it was a one of the best-selling home printer on Amazon too.

Why this would be the best choice for printing coloring pages?

It’s because the ink dries fast and has a superior color dpi of 9600 x 2400. That means that all the little details would be visible. No smudges, cleaner edges and better quality.

This review done by PC Mag would be helpful if you are considering buying a printer. Here is the link.

Recommendation for a coloring book

Since it all started with her, let’s finish with her. It’s the latest Johanna’s Christmas: A Festive Coloring Book for Adults

Sources

http://www.pcworld.com/article/120899/article.html

http://www.mookychick.co.uk/how-to/interesting-hobbies/best-colouring-books-for-adults.php

http://www.macworld.com/article/1150076/printers/printerpaper-basics.html

 

Please like and share this article if you found it to be helpful.  If you have any experience with different types of printers and paper please share with us in the comment section so we can make this article more informative for everyone.

 

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