Charming Houses & Gardens: Make-a-Masterpiece Adult Grayscale Coloring Book with Color Guides

These are great coloring books! I almost did not get any of them because of reviews about being too dark....I do not fine these too dark and the color guides are very helpful. It says to start with markers and finish with colored pencils (backgrounds in chalk or eye shadow). I did try the markers first but I really liked just using the pencils (prisma). Turned out great!Attached photos show original from book and my interpretation using prismacolor pencils.

I absolutely love this series of books. I have 3 and will be collecting the entire series. It seems, from the reviews, that you either love or hate this series with little between.I am an advanced colorist and would definitely consider this series for advanced colorist only. I tried markers on one picture, as suggested by the author of the book and it came out horrible. I definitely don't care for her suggestion. I have used Prismacolor pencils and Hero oil based pencils on these pictures and they came out absolutely gorgeous. They look like the actual painting because you can see the artists brush strokes. A friend of mine commented that "it looks like you actually painted a watercolor. I would never have known that was done in pencil.". What more can I say?

Out of the over 500 coloring books I have this may be my favorite. I'll be up front. For best results I recommend pastel pencils, soft not oil based. Author went out of their way to help. Good tips in the front. Each greyscale is on one page. Only thing on back is Colored by and Date lines. With every drawing is a copy in color of her finished version as a guideline and on back of that are two 4 x 6 copies of the drawing in greyscale so you can test colors before committing to main page.Easy 5 out of 5.

I've been coloring for a few year so I'm pretty good at it. Flowers are my favorite and I enjoy coloring grayscale. When I saw this book I got excited. It is beautiful and the pictures look like oil paintings. The color guides show everything well and they are somewhat helpful but it is close to impossible to follow the guide and ascertain where the flowers, paths, leaves, borders etc begin and end. They appear like black or gray blobs on the page making it difficult or impossible to delineate. Good pencils don't show well, appear flat and no amount of pressure makes them bright. I decided to purchase Posca pens hoping the book needed more paint-like media. The pens are good for edges and tips of flowers but look very sloppy if used exclusively or in combination with pencils. I bought two of this series, and sadly, both are disappointing.

This is the second book, in this series that I have ordered. Beautiful grayscale pictures with the exact painting next to it as a color guide. I have found these pictures actually come out beautiful, and I too, used my prismacolors, because I am not a huge fan of markers, as suggested by the author. There are 30 pictures and each one has 2 identical test pictures, that are half the size. I think after doing a large picture, you could actually color a couple of the smaller ones, that are similar, and use it as a grouping. The paper in these books is also much better grade than most grayscale books. I would recommend these to anyone that likes this type of coloring. One thing to keep in mind, these are exact replicas of the original, so you see brush strokes, I personally like that, it really adds depth and texture, but I know some do not care for them.

This was my first 2 pictures done. I have to say it was the hardest I’ve ever done, but most rewarding. It looks real! I used almost all of my Prismacolor pencils as there were so many different colors. I agree with some other reviewers that I do think this book is a little more advanced. I’m starting to really love grayscale coloring now.

very difficult to see details due to the darkness of the pictures. trying to color the flowers is impossible as you can't see the outlines . also very few of my gel pens show up so you are limited in the colors you can use .

So much fun to use with pastel chalks, colored pencils, translucent markers. Use your imagination and let your creativity flow! Follow the beautiful color guides or create your own masterpiece. I really enjoy this book for a quick and beautiful project with satisfying results.

Was a bit disappointed in some of the pictures. There are several really nice ones, but also some poor ones that are too basic for a greyscale colouring book.

I have really enjoyed this colouring book the detail is second to none cant wait to recieve more of this authors items

Great colouring book but not for the novice plus good eye sight and good light needed .

brilliant

It's a birthday gift the person who birthday it was is pleased