Crayola Enters the Coloring Book Arena with ‘Art With Edge’

The coloring book renaissance is still going strong and now Crayola has thrown their hat into the ring with their very own series geared towards older colorers. Published under the ‘Art With Edge’ brand, these books are a bit more complicated than the sort of books you may have colored in when you were younger. Much like the other ‘adult’ coloring books you might see in stores, the artwork in these Crayola books are generally more detailed and complex.

Where a lot of ‘adult’ coloring book series often shy away from images that may seem too juvenile, there are several ‘Art With Edge’ books that really embrace their quirkiness and provide a fun experience for everyone. Right now there are seven books and two additional coloring kits available and each has it’s own, engaging theme. The kits are more traditional adult books – they focus on patterns and intricate designs.

The books, though, get a bit kookier.

Sure, there are a couple of DC themed ones – Batman and The Justice League at this point – and those stick to the general seriousness of their content. But then there are the others books. They focus on things like zombies, graffiti, sugar skulls, and more. There’s even one that’s just called ‘Ridiculousness’ and it had a lot of, well, ridiculous drawings. You can check out the full collection over on Crayola.com.

We had the chance to check out three of the books they have available and here are our thoughts.

Zombie Daze

This book is by far the best coloring book of the three we received in my personal opinion. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a very low pressure sort of coloring book. This is one of those books where if you make mistakes you can just roll with it. While there are some more serious zombie-related coloring books on the market, this book is far from The Walking Dead in terms of seriousness.

Instead, the images in Zombie Daze are silly and creative with the zombies placed in a bunch of wacky situations. You’ll see a zombie bride with a bouquet of brains. You’ll see zombie cheerleaders and football players and zombies playing basketball with heads. There’s nothing too gory – unless you feel like zombies licking brains in ice cream cones goes a bit too far. The book should be okay and approachable for colorers of all ages – but parents will want to make their own decisions about that.

The book is forty pages long and each page is perforated to make it easy to remove any pages you might want to share or display. Not that I’m going to put my own artwork on my fridge but I like that the books are bound and the pages stuck in place – unless you make the decision to remove them.

Batman & The Justice League

Formatting is my biggest complaint about these next two books: the Batman and Justice League themed books. They aren’t really ‘books’ so much as they are a cover with unbound coloring pages in side. I go back and forth on whether or not I like that. I like the idea of being able to just take a page out when you want it and then put it back in afterward. But there aren’t any pockets or anything in the covers to keep the pages in there. So they just fall out loose.

I’d have loved for them to act like sort of folders at the very least so that I didn’t have to worry about all the pages falling out whenever I move the ‘book.’

Other than that, though, these are some pretty cool coloring books.

Each one includes thirty dynamic superhero images ready for you to color.

Some of them are a little heavy on the thick, black lines but with these kinds of images that’s sometimes required. That said, they aren’t too complicated or detailed like some of the actual comic book-page related books out there. The characters in these books are all in cool poses and each page stands alone. You can move from page-to-page however you like and thanks to the formatting in these books you can always take a single page to go if needed.

Fans of Batman are going to be super happy with the Batman book. But if you’re hoping for a whole lot of Batman villains you may be a little bit disappointed. There are a few pages featuring the Joker and a couple more featuring Mr. Freeze. Thankfully there are a handful of Harley Quinn and Catwoman thrown in there, too, and those pages totally make this book worthwhile.

But fourteen of the thirty pages feature Batman on his own so if you want more than just Batman, the Justice League book may be the best pick. You don’t get the iconic Batman villains but you do get tons of really awesome images of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and more.

Crayola has put together some pretty awesome books together and I can’t wait to check out some of the other titles – like the Sugar Skulls and ‘Say What!?’ books. If you’re looking for some cool books for teens or young adults, these are a great alternative to some of the more pattern heavy and less ‘fun’ looking books out there. The Art With Edge series manages to keep that classic coloring book feel that we all remember from when were kids while still giving it a more ‘grown up’ look.

And if you’re wanting to try out just one of these books then I definitely recommend Zombie Daze!

The books can be purchased online through Crayola directly for $6.99 or through various other retailers. If you’re interested in the kits, they cost a little more at $14.99 because they also come with their own special set of markers. Which ever books you choose to check out, you should have a lot of fun. And don’t forget – Christmas is coming up if you need some entertaining stocking stuffers!

REVIEW COPIES OF THE ART WITH EDGE TITLES REVIEWS IN THIS POST WERE PROVIDED BY THE PUBLICIST IN EXCHANGE FOR A FAIR AND HONEST REVIEW. NERDOPHILES WAS IN NO WAY COMPENSATED FOR THIS REVIEW. OUR OPINIONS ARE OURS AND OURS ALONE.