Adult Coloring Book Review: Wild Animal Fun Facts by Maria Oglesby

Wild Animal Fun Facts by Maria Oglesby is a bit smaller than the average adult coloring book, it measures about 7.5 by 9.5 inches. I find this an advantage because it stores easier. It has 24 hand drawn designs, but you can also color the cover page, if you like. The designs are single-sided, but there is a short animal fun fact on the back of the page. So, the design is on the right hand side when you open the book, and the fun fact that corresponds to that animal is on the left. The fun fact is also incorporated into each design. The designs have a lined border around them.

The pages are not perforated, and the paper is the typical Create Space texture. The book lies flat easily enough, and the designs are far enough away from the spine of the book, so you can spiral-bind it or remove the pages with a blade, if you wish.

The designs are hand drawn but of superb quality. I liken the images to the quality of those from major publications like Dover. You have closeups of animals as well as medium and far away perspective. The animals are drawn in their  natural habitats. Some designs are very detailed, others allow you to add your own. Animal selections include favorites like wild cats, birds and elephants, but also some that aren't usually seen, like bats, penguins, a walrus, a hippo, a sea otter, just to name a few. The fun fact tells you what animal you it is that you're coloring.

The landscape scenes that appear with the animals are a mix of wide open spaces, detailed leaves, trees etc.There are very few flowers. The hummingbird and squirrel designs have them. So, if you're tired of spending more time coloring flowers than the actual focal point, you'll enjoy this because the designs aren't bogged down with unnecessary stuff.

Everything is very lifelike and realistic, no annoying extra doodles to fill up space. I recommend color pencils, but there is no reason you could not try markers and gel pens. Just remove the page first, or put a paper in between pages if you do.

I am not an advanced colorist, and I would say this book has designs that can be colored by people with multiple skill levels, but keep in mind that some of the designs have small details.