How to print coloring pages
Everything on this site is a print-ready PDF sized for US Letter and A4, so most of the time you can open it and hit print. The rest of this page covers the choices that actually change the result: paper, pens, and the settings that stop a sheet coming out cropped or grey.
Which paper for which pens
The pens decide the paper, not the drawing. Copy paper is genuinely fine for most colouring; you only need something heavier once ink is involved.
| Colouring with | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Crayons and colored pencils | Plain copy paper, 20 lb / 75 gsm | The default in every home printer. Nothing heavier is needed. |
| Felt tips and washable markers | Cardstock, 65 to 80 lb / 175 to 215 gsm | Stops ink soaking through to the next sheet or the table. |
| Gel pens and fineliners | Smooth cardstock, 65 lb / 175 gsm | A smooth surface keeps the nib from catching on paper fibres. |
| Light watercolour or ink wash | Mixed-media paper, 90 lb / 190 gsm | Anything lighter will cockle once it is wet. |
Printer settings that matter
- Print the PDF, not the preview image. The preview on each page is a compressed copy for fast loading. The Download button gives you the original at full resolution.
- Scaling: “Fit to page”. Every sheet is laid out for Letter and A4 with margin to spare, so fitting will never shrink the drawing noticeably, but printing at a fixed 100% on the wrong paper size can clip an edge.
- Turn off draft mode. Economy settings thin the outline until it reads grey, which makes it harder for a young child to stay inside the line.
- Greyscale, not black-only. On a colour printer, black-only can render curves with visible stepping.
When something goes wrong
- Marker bleeds through to the next page
- Move up to 65 lb cardstock, or slide a spare sheet underneath as a blotter. Water-based markers bleed less than alcohol ones.
- The drawing prints faded or streaky
- Run the printer’s cleaning cycle, then print again. If it is still pale, the cartridge is low. Greys go first.
- The edges are cropped
- Set scaling to "Fit to page" rather than 100%. Every sheet here is sized for both US Letter and A4, so either will fit with margins to spare.
- Lines look grey rather than black
- Turn off "draft" or "economy" mode. On a colour printer, choose greyscale rather than black-only for smoother curves.
- Small hands need a bigger picture
- Print at 100% on A4 rather than Letter, or scale to 110%. For a mini colouring book, print two pages per sheet at 50%.
Printing for a group
For a classroom or a party, print one test sheet first, because a low cartridge or a wrong paper size costs you one page instead of thirty. Offer two or three different designs rather than one, so children are not waiting for a particular sheet, and put out clipboards if there is no table. Finished pages hold up better if you keep them flat; a document wallet works better than a folder for anything that will be displayed later.
Everything here is free to print
No account, no watermark and no limit on how many you print, at home or in a classroom. See the terms for the specifics on commercial use.