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Before I get started, I would like to disclose that the owner of The Coloring Diva, Monai Austin, has been a friend of mine for a couple of years now. However, my personal connections to someone do not influence my reviews, and I will give this one as fair an audit as I would a complete stranger's.
With that out of the way, let's dive in. The Coloring Diva's "About" section describes the channel thus: "Adult coloring channel. Books and products reviews. Book flip throughs and GIVEAWAYS." All of that is absolutely accurate, but there is much more to this channel.
First, let's remember that there are hundreds of these channels on YouTube. That's the main reason I have no intention of connecting this blog to YouTube, that and the fact that I don't have the funds to invest in the equipment,I look terrible on video, and I'm insanely vain. It is my experience, after watching countless hours of these channels, that 99% of them are nothing more than people buying coloring books and taping themselves flipping through the books. Or buying art supplies and giving their misinformed opinions on those art supplies. (When I say misinformed, you perhaps might think I'm being indelicate; I'm merely being honest. Most of the people that have ColorTube channels have no background in art, and know next to nothing about what makes for good colored pencils, watercolor paints, acrylic paints, soft or oil pastels, gouache, etc. They have no business reviewing supplies or making recommendations about them. I said what I said.)
The Coloring Diva is different. Monai started out with a Facebook group, then migrated over to YouTube. I'm not sure if her intention was to get quite as big as she has gotten, but her channel is not just about flip-throughs and product reviews. To begin with, while not a classically trained artist, she does have quite an extensive practical knowledge of art supplies and other materials, like brushes, blenders, and things of that nature. And she actually uses these things on a regular basis. So when Monai does a review of a product, it's a reliable review. She knows the difference between good and bad, not simply because it's expensive or inexpensive (cost doesn't equal value) but because she knows how to recognize certain attributes in various media that an untrained person simply wouldn't be able to pick up on.
Take this video, for example, where she compares the Brutfuner Macaron and the Pastelowe Colored pencils. She's knowledgeable enough to be able to pick up differences and similarities, even in budget pencils.
And of course, while art supplies are highly personalized and what I like you might hate, you can trust that if she says something is a good product, it's a good product.
Her channel also isn't heavy on the flip-throughs. She does a balanced number, because everyone wants to see every page in the new coloring books, but I personally can't stand getting 5 notifications a day about channels doing a flip-through. That's just me, though. This is a recent flip-through of"Mandallen (Moon Valley)" by Maria Trolle that she did a few months back.
There are also some of the usual "haul" videos, but not a huge number. It's not that kinda party, and it's not the type of channel where everyone gathers to ooh and aah over what got bought that month. And while she does have affiliate links in her descriptions (which in no way impact your purchase price), Monai is NOT SPONSORED BY ANY COMPANY, nor does she receive payment for her reviews, either in cash or supplies.
But there's the other stuff that makes this channel so unique. Monai does a live stream every Sunday. It's a swatch and chat or a color and chat, and her channel is like a real coffee klatch. The chatter is truly like a gathering of old friends, and there's never any nastiness or any need for moderation, unlike in other live stream chats that I've been bullied out of on other channels. During these live streams, Monai does giveaways of art supplies. Granted, you have to have watched all the videos of the previous week and left a comment, which is a promotional tactic, but I have no problem with that. It's a hugely generous thing to do. Other channels have heavy promotional tactics that in no way benefit their viewers.
And that's the thing about Monai. She is always, invariably, thinking about how to bring value to the channel to benefit her viewers. She's one of those people that's always looking to make things better for other people, and she's really a rising star in the coloring community. At one point another person in this community, a self-styled "influencer" (you have no idea how much I hate that word, especially when someone applies it to themselves), accused her, indirectly, of giving good reviews for free product. I can 100% assure you that Monai would NEVER give anything other than an honest review. She certainly doesn't need free budget pencils; I've seen her studio, she doesn't have room for what she already has, and she's giving away Caran d'Ache and Polychromo pencils that she's paid for out of pocket. It's sad that we can't, as a community of artists, raise each other up and cheer for each other instead of being bitter and angry and trying to tear each other down. There's room for us all. But that's just one person. For the most part, this community is amazing.
So I highly recommend The Coloring Diva to anyone interested in learning more about coloring supplies, the latest coloring books, and for really fun live streams and chats. Monai is a real gem of a person and a really great video personality. I'm proud to be her friend and I'm sorry if you guys thought this was biased.
