Disney Mystery Coloring Book Princesses Volume 2 Full Review

Specifications

Title: Coloriages mystères Disney, Princesses Tome 2.
Illustrator: Jeremy Mariez.
Publisher: Hachette Heroes.
Number of coloring pages: 100.
Number of pages: 128, solutions included.
Size: 21.6 x 30 cm.
Paper: premium.
Printing: double sided.
Difficulty: expert level.

What changed since volume 1

Same illustrator, same publisher, same page count, same premium double sided paper. On paper the two volumes are twins. In practice, two things set them clearly apart.

The difficulty went up sharply

Volume 1 offered a varied difficulty, with very approachable pages sitting next to more demanding ones. You could recommend it to a beginner. This volume 2, you cannot. It sits at expert level overall, with many small areas, a great deal of detail, and above all a number of shades per page that climbs very fast.

To give a concrete idea: my Aurora page, page 56, calls for 32 different colors. And it is one of the least demanding pages in the book. That is not a flaw, it is a deliberate direction, but you want to know about it before buying.

Double page spreads are new

Volume 2 alternates single page illustrations with double page spreads. The spreads give a much more generous surface and a genuinely impressive result once finished. That is the real visual novelty of this volume.

Double sided printing: I am torn

This is the one real downside I see, and it deserves an explanation rather than being thrown out as a flaw. Double sided printing means one simple thing: no alcohol markers. They bleed through, and you lose the artwork on the back.

That said, I am not going to pretend to be disappointed. For Disney princesses I reach for acrylics and colored pencils anyway, because they render fabric and dress gradients better. So double sided printing costs me almost nothing in practice.

And look at what it buys: 100 coloring pages within 128 pages. An equivalent single sided book would offer half as many. At the same price, double sided doubles the content. If you color with pencils or acrylics, it is pure gain. If alcohol markers are your only tool, look elsewhere.

What I liked

The white areas are fully printed white. No need to go over them with a white marker, a comfort you only appreciate once you have had it.
The level of detail is superb, every illustration is packed with carefully drawn small elements.
The artwork is simply gorgeous. Jeremy Mariez stays faithful to each heroine's iconic colors.
The double page spreads, for the surface and for the final effect.

What to know before buying

Double sided printing, so no alcohol markers.
Expert level, with a lot of small areas.
A great many shades of the same color. This is neither a flaw nor a benefit, it is the direct consequence of the level of detail. But you need a well stocked palette to do it justice, otherwise you will end up improvising.

I took my book apart, and here is why

My copy no longer looks like a book. I loosened the glued spine with a hair dryer, separated the pages one by one, trimmed them with a paper trimmer, and filed them in a ring binder. It may sound drastic, but it completely changes the experience for me.

Three very concrete reasons:

When an area is awkward, I can turn the sheet in any direction to find the right angle. Impossible with a bound book.
An open book takes up a huge amount of room. I color at my desk, and it kept pressing down on my keyboard keys.
I can lay the solution page right next to the page I am working on, and check my colors without stopping to flip through the book.

There is also a benefit I had not thought of at first: a loose page scans very easily. You can keep a blank version and reprint it as often as you like, to try a page again with a different palette.

Two traps if you want to do the same

Watch out for the double page spreads. That is the specific trap of this volume. Cut too close to the centre and you amputate the illustration, and you will never get the whole drawing back. Identify the spreads before you start cutting.

Change your trimmer blade. Trimming these pages calls for precision. With a tired blade the tool stops cutting and starts tearing. I use an A4 trimmer with interchangeable titanium blades, and the spare blade it ships with is not a gimmick.

Note for readers outside France: the exact trimmer I use does not seem to be available on Amazon US. Any A4 paper trimmer with a replaceable blade will do the same job.

The solution pages

The solutions are included at the back of the book, within the 128 pages. They are what I keep beside me while coloring, to check a shade when I hesitate between two close tones. Given how many colors this volume calls for, they are not a luxury.

Colored by Usako: Aurora, page 56

Here is the page I mentioned earlier, the one that calls for 32 different colors even though it is among the more restrained in the book. It gives a good idea of what this volume expects from you, and of what it gives back once finished.

Final verdict

I really like this volume. The artwork is genuinely gorgeous, and if Disney princesses are your favourite thing to color, as they are mine, you will spend hours in it. The double page spreads bring something volume 1 did not have.

But this is a book for experienced colorists. Many small areas, a lot of detail, and above all a lot of shades to have on hand. If you are starting out, begin with volume 1 instead, whose difficulty curve is far gentler.

My review of the first volume is here: Disney Mystery Coloring Book Princesses, review.