Santa's Christmas: Grayscale Adult Coloring Book

The media could not be loaded.  This is a wonderful Christmas-inspired grayscale coloring book with 24 unique designs. The designs are based mostly on Ruth Sanderson's “The Night Before Christmas” illustrated book. There are a few additional images as well. The designs are so well done, I looked for the regular storybook and was unable to find it – but I will continue to look.The grayscale in Ms. Sanderson's books are very well done. She also gives hints on how-to do grayscale at the beginning of her book. While the product description says that this book is not suitable for markers, I have found that I can use alcohol-based markers provided I use a blotter (see below) though some water-based markers if you continue to layer with them.The story the designs tell follows Santa from his workshop to his visit and to his flying away. You can almost hear him shouting “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night” as you flip through the final pages.There are 24 designs in this book and, as Ms. Sanderson has done in the past, there are 12 bonus pages that are duplicates of half of the original designs in the coloring book. In previous books, the grayscale in the bonus area was done in a darker format; however, in this book, the images appear to be the same as the originals.This is what I discovered while coloring in this book and testing my coloring medium on the paper:24 Grayscale designs plus 12 bonus designs based mostly on “The Night Before Christmas” plus designs from Lenox collector's plates.Printed one side of the pagePaper is typical inexpensive quality used by CreateSpace: white, thin, slightly rough and non-perforated.The designs do not extend into the binding area. The designs have a framing line at the outer edgesGlue BindingAlcohol-based markers bleed through the page quicklyWater-based markers bleed through in spots and can pill the paper if too many layers are attempted.Gel pens and India ink pens leave shadows on back of the page. India ink can bleed through if you apply heavily or multiple coats.Coloring Pencils work well with this paper. I found that I could layers the same color for deeper pigment or multiple colors and I could blend easily using a blending stick; however, some of the darker areas of the designs had a tendency to smear using this type of blender. I found that liquid forms (Gamsol or mineral spirits) did a better job. This doesn't bother me as I generally do not use a blender on grayscale designs. I tested both oil and wax based pencils. I also found that hard lead pencils (like Verithins) leave dents through the paper.I like to use a blotter when working in the book. I use a page of card stock or several sheets of heavyweight paper under my working page. It keeps seeping ink and marring dents from ruining the pages below.

This is by far the best Christmas book I have found. The illustrations are outstanding and are very detailed. The book was created from a former book that was illustrated by Ruth, and later done as a coloring book.The book is grayscale, which means it is a black and white picture that you color over. Grayscale adds much more dimension to the coloring, bringing It alive as you color it.The pictures in the book are nostalgic of Christmases long ago. Happy scenes, filled with Christmas images we all love and cherish. I have enclosed some of the pictures I have colored to illustrate this point.The paper is easy to color on, is one sided which makes it easier to color and it as you don't worry about a picture on the other side ofthe page. The pictures are suitable for you to cut it out and they are definitely frame worthy. Each a work of art in its own right.I have included pictures of the book cover, a few of the uncolored pages, and 3 of my colorings of her pages. It will give you a glimpse into the excellence of the book and the illustrations that make for hours of great coloring.

I love Ruth Sanderson's artwork and am working on eventually buying all of her coloring books. As much as I hated to do so, I had to deduct a star for the low-quality paper that just seems to soak up colored pencils. I think I'm going to have to finish the picture I was doing using my Prismacolors and switch to a harder pencil for any other pictures. The paper feels like it's using up my Prismas much more than normal. It's much like a rough newsprint, just horrible! Where are all the good book publishers?!? Ms. Sanderson's beautiful artwork deserves the highest quality materials. I'm stuck flat on my back 24 hours a day so can't print her pictures out on much better quality paper as I would love to do. That being said, I just love this book. It reminds me of the older, more traditional artwork seen in children's books when I was a child. Lots of pictures of Santa! Ms. Sanderson's use of greyscale is just perfect - not too light, not too dark, and applied in all the right places. You can tell she spends a lot of time getting it just right. It's hard to not get into the Christmas spirit when coloring in or even just thumbing through this book.

Well people, I'm here to tell you there are a pile of LOSERS giving one star reviews on this book: did not know it was grayscale (1star), I hate the book, order the wrong thing(1star), cannot use crayola crayons properly with this book (1star), another hate grayscale, did not know it was grayscale (1star) and the one star reviews go on. The only thing this shows is how much these people are missing an item and that is a BRAIN. The title of this book is "SANTA'S CHRISTMAS - GRAYSCALE COLORING BOOK". Enough said about losers. Now the task at hand. The Pro's: the pages have single side printing, paper is sorta thin-use a binder sheet underneath, the drawings are FANTASTIC, beautiful and are "LIGHT" Grayscale. Light Grayscale images are more for the Blending multiple colors, meaning if you know how to color somewhat with the proper utensils (colored pencils) you can achieve great and beautiful pieces of Art. I finally found the person what coloring all these beautiful Christmas pictures and she gave me the title and where I could get the book. I ordered it immediately. The book arrived in the mail/post today and it is beautiful, love it and would highly recommend this book who does not try to use a child's toy to do an Adults task. And, one who can read as well, and one who can comprehend what is written in the description of an item. And, one who loves to create Beautiful colored pictures that become Masterpieces.

When I first got this book I felt kind of cheated as the designs are repeated at the back of the book. Half an hour into colouring the first page and messing it up I soon changed my mind! This book is filled with lovely pictures which look wonderful once completed. You get the best results with coloured pencils and you really need to layer the colours in order to get nice vivid colour. The only reason I docked a star was because the paper was rather thin. The designs are only on one side of the page though so if you put a piece of cardboard behind the page you can use other mediums (as long as you don't mind them bleeding through to the other side).

Bought this for myself and it is really different to others I have.Not done a grey scale before, but am looking forward to it.I would not buy this for a child, it is better suited to the moreexperienced colourist I think.

I love this book! It's very detailed and some of the pictures are very gray so a beginner to grayscale might struggle. And yes, the paper is quite thin, but so is any colouring book published by Create Space.The pictures are very Christmassy. Some are cute, some quite nostalgic. I also like that you get extra pages with doubles of some of the pictures, so you can colour the same picture in two different ways, or you have a spare if you mess one up!

My granddaughter loved this grey-scale colouring and how the pictures look when finished.

Bought as a present for my wife. At first she was concerned that pencils would not show up very well on the greyscale images, but after the first picture she was hooked and absolutely loves it.