Review on 🎨 Immerse Yourself in Artistry: Prima Marketing Prima Princesses Coloring Book by Hannah Curi

Sorry I had to change my rating from 5 stars to 2 stars, this is not 'watercolor paper' as stated in the product description here on Revain. Neither the front nor the back of the book says it was made from watercolor paper. You might like to think it's watercolor paper (it's thick and has some texture), but it's not. If you know what real watercolor paper is, you will immediately realize that this paper is terrible for watercolor painting. The ink just wants to pool on the surface of the paper and refuses to penetrate the paper properly. That's my first clue that it's not cotton, or at least the cotton content should be very low. You could never buy so much basic watercolor paper for so little money, what was I thinking? The illustrations are good but the paper quality is poor. All illustrations are done on the rougher side of the paper, the back of the pages has a smoother side and is blank. I wish the whole page was just for the head or just for the head and shoulders, but the illustrations appear to be about twice the size of their respective stamps (I originally bought these thinking it would be cheaper to put all the princesses in a book, and don't buy them individually as stamps, unfortunately after buying a stamp the image was distorted and looked ridiculous, not at all like a large format illustration from a book). The line work is heavy and the line weight seems thicker than the lines you would draw with a graphite pencil, so the black is a bit heavy, but you can easily transfer these images to watercolor paper using a lightbox. and just transfer the outlines and a few details, which I'll probably do. Most of the portraits in this collection are upbeat (don't look sad or gloomy, no weird distorted faces etc.), some look a little sad, but for the most part they are life-affirming. All the portraits show women with Caucasian-looking hair and faces (shouldn't such a book provide more variety?), all with different flowers in their hair. Some of them are a little provocative but most look natural and healthy. The portraits also have a trans-generational feel, some appearing from another century (one in particular, that is, as a Gibson girl), others from the 1960s, but most are modern. I haven't used the book yet so this review is based on first impressions only. Mine arrived in good condition with no warped sides, broken corners etc. I really hope Prima will work with this and other illustrators in the future to produce more of these books using real watercolor paper in the future!