Behind the pages: drawing 270 hand-drawn coloring pictures

When we set out to build a colouring app, the tempting shortcut was obvious: buy a pack of generic outlines, drop them in, and ship. We didn't, and this is the story of why — and what we learned drawing 270 pictures instead.

A good colouring shape is harder than it looks

Not every drawing makes a good colouring page. If the regions are too small, little fingers can't fill them and the result looks messy. Too large, and it's boring. Lines that are too thin disappear; too thick and the picture feels heavy.

So every picture went through the same quiet test: could a three-year-old fill it and feel proud of the result? That ruled out a lot of intricate, "impressive" art in favour of clear, friendly shapes with room to breathe. The lion has a big mane you can't miss. The car has bold panels. The flower has petals a fingertip can land on.

Fourteen worlds, on purpose

We grouped the 270 pictures into 14 themed worlds — land animals, sea creatures, three kinds of dinosaur, birds, insects, fruit, flowers, vehicles, shapes, letters and more. That structure isn't just tidy; it's useful. A child who loves dinosaurs can stay in the dinosaur world. A parent who wants to talk about colours and categories has a natural way in. And "which world next?" is a small, happy decision a child gets to make on their own.

The decisions you don't see

Most of the work in a kids' app is invisible when it goes right:

• Every tool and colour unlocked from the start. We never wanted a child to tap a crayon and be told they can't use it. No locked brushes, ever.
• A parent gate on anything that costs money. Grown-up decisions stay with grown-ups.
• No ads. Not muted ads, not "family-friendly" ads — none. Nothing interrupts the picture.
• Works offline. The back seat and the aeroplane are exactly where a colouring app earns its place.
• A gallery. Finished pictures are kept so a child can go back and admire them. Finishing something and being able to return to it matters.

None of these are features you'd screenshot for a store listing. All of them are the difference between an app you tolerate and one you're happy to hand over.

Why an indie studio can do this

Big studios answer to growth targets, and growth targets are how ads and pushy purchases end up in front of children. As an independent studio, we get to make the boring, principled choice every time — because the only person we have to answer to is the parent deciding whether to trust us. That trust is the whole business.

What's next

Kids Coloring is our first game, not our last. We're working on more — across arcade, casual and multiplayer — with the same rule: decide the business model honestly, state it up front, and never make the child the product.

If you want to see where the 270 pictures ended up, Kids Coloring Book & Games is the place. And if you have an idea for a world your child would love to colour, we genuinely want to hear it — tell us on the contact page.