I reviewed the UK version of this book here on Amazon in May of this year. At the end of this review, I will discuss the differences between the two versions. The video and photos on this review will be of the US version only, except for the one which I will show comparing the two versions paper color.
Once again, rather than discuss how this coloring book is like or different from TV series or to compare any of the Dr. Who actors and casts, I will discuss only how I feel about it as an adult coloring book.
As with the first Dr. Who coloring book, I really like the illustrations. I have found that I actually like these designs in this book even a little better than the first book. This is because I found these scenes to be a little more interesting and fun to color. The designs are by the same team of illustrators who were responsible for the first book, namely: James Newman Gray, Lee Teng Chew, and Jan Smith. There are 45 designs (even more if you count the title and preface pages.)
The episodes included are from 1964 through 2015, so the range of Dr. Who's represented is good. This time the designs focus on Dr. Who in various time periods – including Vikings, ancient Egypt, the Battle of Hastings, with Winston Churchill and even with Shakespeare among many others. The designs are well drawn with clean black lines though it is easy to see that these designs are hand-drawn for the most part as the lines are not perfectly straight. Some designs are fairly open and easy to color while others are more intricate and will be a little more challenging but still a lot of fun.
The book is well made once again. The designs are printed on one side of deep cream colored non-perforated paper. On the back of each page is a thumbnail version of the design along with a quote that is applicable to the design, the name of the episode and the year it was filmed and, in some cases, which Dr. Who it pertains to. The cover can be colored as well and has deep red foil touches which enhance it. The publisher once again missed an opportunity by not providing designs on the inside of the fold-out, attached cover; however, there are two flaps you can color if you wish where the printing is white on red background. The binding is sewn rather than glued, so removing pages is a matter of snipping threads. A good number of designs merge into the binding area so snipping threads may be the way to go if you decide to remove pages.
This is what I found in coloring in and testing medium on this book:
45 Dr. Who Time Travel Designs
Printed on one side of the page
Paper is heavyweight, deep cream color, very smooth, and non-perforated.
Sewn Binding
Alcohol-based markers bleed through the page. I recommend a blotter page be used under your working page to keep the page below free of seeping ink.
Water-based markers bled through in the tiniest of spots except for Tombows brush end markers which did not bleed through at all.
I recommend a blotter page be used under your working page to keep the page below free of seeping ink.
India ink markers left shadows on the back of the page.
Gel pens did not bleed through but needed extra drying time.
My colored pencils were a little mixed. I was able to get good color and layer the same color and mixed colors well with both oil and wax based pencils. I had a little trouble with blending (using a pencil style blender stick.) The color smeared a tiny bit more than I am used to and that is probably because the paper is very smooth. The pencil did blend but not as well as it did with the British release of this book.
My comparison of the US and UK version is fairly short. They weighed the same and are the same size. They contain the same designs. The differences are slight. The cover of the US version is slightly lighter with slightly darker red foil. The US paper is a much deeper cream tone. Both bindings are sewn but are sewn together on different pages. The biggest differences is in the feel of the paper. The US version paper is much smoother.
I am happy with both but if I planned on doing a lot of blending of pencil or if I wanted lighter paper, I would opt for the UK version. Otherwise, I like both versions.
