How to Print Coloring Pages

Most complaints about a coloring page come down to four things. The wrong file went to the printer, the paper was too thin for the pens being used, a setting quietly shrank the artwork, or the black cartridge was nearly empty. Each one takes about a minute to fix, and this page covers all four in the order they tend to happen.

Print the PDF, Not the Image

Every coloring page here comes as two files. The PDF is the one to print. It holds the drawing at full resolution on a fixed page size, so the outlines stay crisp and the margins land where they should. The image file is for screens, for pinning, or for dropping into a worksheet you are building yourself.

Sending the image to the printer straight from a browser tab is what causes most bad results. The browser scales it to fit the window rather than the paper, stamps a header and footer along the edges, and softens every line on the way. Opening the PDF first avoids all three.

Printing Coloring Pages on A4 or Letter Paper

Our pages are drawn to sit inside both A4 and US Letter, so the same file works whichever your printer holds. The artwork is centred with a margin wide enough that nothing important reaches the edge.

In the print dialog choose Fit to page, sometimes called Fit to printable area. Avoid Actual size when the paper does not match the file, because that is the setting that clips an ear or a wingtip off the side. If a page comes out with a white band down one edge, the file was printed at actual size on the other paper standard.

The Best Paper for Coloring Pages

Paper weight decides more than the printer does. It is measured in gsm, and the number is usually printed on the end of the ream.

• 75 to 90 gsm, ordinary copy paper. Fine for pencils and crayons. Markers will go straight through onto whatever is underneath, so slide a spare sheet below before anyone starts.
• 120 to 160 gsm. The sweet spot if your house runs on felt tips. Marker sits on the surface instead of bleeding, and the sheet does not buckle as it dries.
• 160 to 200 gsm cardstock. For pages that become bookmarks, cards or wall art. Check your printer takes the weight before loading a full stack, since some tray-fed printers jam above 160.
• 200 gsm and up. Only worth it for watercolor or heavy blending, and many home printers will not pull it through at all.

Printer Settings Worth Changing Once

Set these once and most printers remember them for the next job.

• Color mode. Black and white, or greyscale. The artwork carries no color, so there is no reason to open the color cartridges for it.
• Quality. Normal is plenty for line art. Draft saves a little ink but thins the outlines, which makes them harder for a small child to follow.
• Scale. Fit to page, as above.
• Margins. Leave the printer on its own default. The file already carries its margin.
• Two sided. Halves your paper, but only with pencils or crayons. Markers will show through and ruin the page on the back.

How to Print Coloring Pages From a Phone or Tablet

Tap the download link and let the PDF open in your phone's own viewer, then use the share or print icon. On an iPhone that reaches AirPrint. On Android the print option sits inside the share sheet. Both talk to most wireless printers with nothing extra installed.

If your printer does not appear in the list, it is usually on a different network from the phone, often a guest network or a 5GHz band the printer cannot see. Mailing the file to yourself and printing from a computer is faster than fixing that in the moment.

Why Coloring Pages Print Faint, Gray or Streaky

Faded output is nearly always ink or a setting rather than the file. Work through these in order.

• Check Draft or Eco mode is switched off. It is the most common cause and the quickest to rule out.
• Run the printer's head cleaning cycle once, then print again. Twice in a row rarely helps more than once.
• Look at the black level. If one page prints faint and the next prints fine, the cartridge is nearly empty even when the software says otherwise.
• On a laser printer, take the toner cartridge out and rock it gently from side to side. That alone often buys another twenty pages.

If the lines are sharp but pale gray rather than black, the printer is substituting composite gray mixed from color inks. Setting the job to black and white rather than greyscale usually forces it back to the black cartridge.

Saving Ink on a Long Coloring Session

Line art is cheap to print, since most of the page stays white. For a class set, greyscale at normal quality is the balance most people settle on. Printing two pages to a sheet halves the paper and suits younger children, whose coloring rarely needs the full area anyway.

If you print in volume, a refillable ink tank printer costs more at the till and far less per page than a cartridge model. That only pays off past a few hundred sheets, so it is worth doing the maths before switching.

Making a Finished Coloring Page Last

A completed page mounts well on colored card cut slightly larger, which frames it without a frame. Laminating one turns it into a placemat that dry-erase markers wipe clean, so a child can color the same picture again. For a wall, print on cardstock and trim the white border once the coloring is done.

Pencil and crayon fade in direct sunlight within a few months. Anything going on a sunny window should be a copy rather than the original, and the original kept in a folder.

Our terms set out what you may do with a page once it is printed.