A colouring book that started as your own drawings
A homemade colouring book is one of the nicest print projects there is. Parents turn a child's doodles into pages a younger sibling can colour. Grandparents draw the family house, the dog and the garden. Illustrators test a series of designs before selling them at a craft fair. Teachers make a book of local landmarks for a class trip. In every case the drawing is the easy part. Getting crisp black lines, paper that takes crayons and felt tips, and a binding that opens flat on a table is where a little planning pays off.
This guide goes from the drawing on your desk to a printed colouring book you can hand over, with the decisions that matter at each step.
Drawing for colouring: what makes good line art
A colouring page is pure line art. There is no shading and no grey, only clear outlines with enough space inside them to fill with colour. A few habits make a big difference.
Line weight
Lines that are too thin vanish when scanned or disappear under a heavy crayon. Lines that are too thick leave tiny shapes nobody can colour. For young children, use a thick, confident outline, like a 0.8 mm or 1 mm fineliner or a marker. For older children and adults, a mix of a strong outer outline and finer inner detail works well.
Closed shapes
Make sure outlines join up. Small gaps in a line are invisible on the original but obvious when someone tries to colour inside a shape and the colour runs out. Go over the corners and joins before scanning.
Space to colour
Match the size of the shapes to the age of the person colouring. A toddler needs big areas. An adult who enjoys detailed patterns can handle small, intricate spaces. If the book is for a mixed group, put a few simple pages at the start and the detailed ones near the end.
From paper to print-ready file
Scanning
Scan each drawing in black and white or greyscale at a high resolution. For line art, 600 dpi at the final print size gives clean edges. A phone photo can work for a casual project, but uneven light and shadows from the page curve leave grey patches that print as smudges. If you use a phone, shoot in daylight, flat on a table, and use a scanning app that flattens and cleans the page.
Cleaning up
Raise the contrast until the paper turns pure white and the lines turn solid black. Remove pencil marks, eraser smudges and specks of dust. Most photo editing apps have a "threshold" or "levels" tool that does this in one step. Check the result at 100 percent zoom: lines should be solid with no grey fuzz around them.
We covered more about getting a child's drawing ready for print in our guide to printing kids' artwork. The same scanning steps apply here, with the extra goal of pure black and white.
Layout
Place each drawing on a page with a comfortable white margin, at least 10 mm from the edge, so nothing important is cut off when the book is trimmed. Colouring pages are usually printed on one side only, because felt tips can show through to the back. That means a 12-drawing book needs 24 inside pages, with the backs left blank or used for a short caption, the name of the artist or a simple pattern that is fine to bleed through.
Paper that takes crayons, pencils and felt tips
Paper choice decides how enjoyable the book is to use. A glossy coated paper looks nice in a brochure, but crayons slide on it and felt tips smear. For colouring, choose an uncoated paper.
| Paper | Feels like | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Standard uncoated (around 100 to 120 gsm) | Good office paper | Crayons and coloured pencils, light felt tip use |
| Heavier uncoated (around 150 to 170 gsm) | Thicker, more like drawing paper | Felt tips and markers, less show-through |
| Cartridge or drawing paper | Slightly textured art paper | Adults, coloured pencils, light watercolour |
If the book is for small children with markers, go for the heavier option. If it is a giveaway for a party or event, a lighter paper keeps costs down. The cover can be a heavier card with a coloured print of one finished page, which shows what the book is about before it is opened.
Binding: one that opens flat
A colouring book has to lie flat on a table, or the person colouring will fight the binding on every page.
- Saddle stitching (staples through the fold) is simple and affordable for thinner books, up to roughly 40 to 48 pages depending on paper. It opens reasonably flat and is safe for children if the staples are pressed in properly.
- Wire-o or spiral binding lets the book fold right back on itself, which is ideal for colouring. It also allows single pages to be torn out neatly if you add perforation.
- Perfect binding (glued spine) looks like a shop-bought book but does not lie flat without pressure on the spine, so it is the least practical for colouring.
If you have made a zine before, you will know the saddle-stitch page rules already. Our article on printing your own zine or mini comic explains why the page count has to be a multiple of four.
Sizes that work
A4 is the classic colouring book size and gives plenty of room. A5 is easy to carry in a bag and good for travel packs or party favours. A square format suits mandala and pattern designs. Pick the size before you scan, so the drawings are not stretched or squeezed to fit.
Order a single proof copy first
Before printing a full run, ask for one finished copy. Sit down with the crayons and pens the book will actually be used with and colour two or three pages. You will learn more in ten minutes than from any screen preview:
- Do any lines look grey or broken? That points to a scan that needs more contrast.
- Do markers show through to the next page? Move up a paper weight or keep the backs blank.
- Does the book stay open on its own? If not, consider wire binding.
- Are the smallest shapes too fiddly for the age group? Simplify those pages or move them to the back.
It is also a good moment to check the cover. A cover printed from a coloured-in page looks lively, but make sure the colouring is neat enough to set an example. Children will copy whatever they see on the front.
Ideas for small print runs
- A birthday party favour with drawings of the birthday child's favourite things.
- A family book where each grandchild draws two pages.
- A wedding activity book for children's tables, with the couple, the venue and a "draw the cake" page.
- A test run of ten copies to try your illustrations before a craft market.
- A school or club fundraiser with drawings from every member.
Print your colouring book with us
We print small runs of colouring books from your own drawings, from a handful of copies upwards. Send us your scans or a finished PDF and tell us who the book is for, and we will help you choose a paper that suits crayons or markers and a binding that opens flat. You can see our options in the booklet and folded printing section. If you are not sure whether your scans are clean enough, send them over and we will check them before you order.
