coloring pages from your photos - 3 easy photoshop steps
Another entry in the school’s out for summer series…
Here’s a quick three-step photoshop tutorial to make coloring pages for your kids from any digital photo. Kids will love coloring pictures of themselves and their family (what could be more fun than giving grandpa spiky purple hair and a green beard). Other ideas - help your kid take photos of their favorite toys, friends and places in your town or neighborhood (school, library, ice cream shop) and turn them into coloring pages. They make great diversions when you’re on the road or waiting in a restaurant.
Don’t have photoshop? If you use Corel Paint Shop Pro, you can try this .pdf tutorial for making coloring pages.
Continue reading to make your own coloring book…
Step One: Open image in Photoshop and size to fit your paper. Create duplicate layer to work with for Steps 2 and 3.
Step Two: Go to Filter–>Sketch–>Photocopy and adjust the detail and Darkness settings. Try to keep the Detail setting as low as possible while still retaining the major outlines of the image. I have set the Detail here at 8 and the Darkness at 5. The Darkness setting just needs to be dark enough to see the outlines you want to keep.
Step Three: Now we’ll clean the image up a bit by adjusting the levels. Go to Layers–>New Adjustment Layer–>Levels and increase the shadow levels (arrow #1) until you are satisfied with the darkness of the lines. Then decrease the highlight levels (arrow #2) to clean up some of the noise in the white areas of the picture. Print it out in black and white (staple the pages together if you’d like to make a book) and you’re good to go.
103 Comments »
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What a great idea, thanks!
Comment left on June 30, 2006 @
Would love to hear how it turns out - glad you like the idea!
Comment left on June 30, 2006 @
[…] Más información y foto | Fototiller Vía | BloggingBaby […]
Pingback left on December 22, 2006 @
Detalles de obtención
Comment left on December 27, 2006 @
I want more information about photo
Comment left on December 27, 2006 @
ola soy Elena y quiero mi imagen en papel cómo haser?
Comment left on January 13, 2007 @
podriais mandarme información sobre cómo se hace en español.gracias
Comment left on January 17, 2007 @
[…] While looking around the web yeseterday, I came upon these fun instructions. If you have Photoshop (or something similar), you can make Coloring Pages from your own photos. […]
Pingback left on February 4, 2007 @
hey this is so cool:-)
Comment left on February 7, 2007 @
[…] I found a tutorial for creating coloring pages from photos. This is a great idea. It can also be great as gifts from the kids for other family members. Plus, this is a good way to save money on all those coloring books! […]
Pingback left on February 25, 2007 @
I never thought about doing this with a regular photo, but I just did one of my 7 yr. old daughter and she thought it was the greatest thing in the world.She is now on the hunt for all kinds of family photos so we can make a coloring book of the family.
Thanks For the great idea!
Comment left on February 26, 2007 @
im 9. I alraedy new how to do it. i can do better then that.
Comment left on February 26, 2007 @
I thank you for your comment.
Comment left on April 24, 2007 @
quisiera saber más sobre esta opción, en castellano, por favor
Comment left on April 30, 2007 @
[…] My seven year old was just about beside herself with glee at the prospect of coloring family pictures, and I’m betting your kinder will be pretty excited, too. This would also be a potential great gift for family members, as well as a good time-filler for doctor’s appointments, road trips, etc. Coloring pages from your photos [Fototiller via Parent Hacks] […]
Pingback left on July 21, 2007 @
[…] Read More… […]
Pingback left on July 21, 2007 @
Great idea! Happen to know if this is also possible in GIMP?
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
[…] coloring pages from your photos - 3 easy photoshop steps […]
Pingback left on July 21, 2007 @
OMG never thought about that! Amazing. I’ll be making color books for my children. Thanks so much.
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
[…] My seven year old was just about beside herself with glee at the prospect of coloring family pictures, and I’m betting your kinder will be pretty excited, too. This would also be a potential great gift for family members, as well as a good time-filler for doctor’s appointments, road trips, etc. Coloring pages from your photos [Fototiller via Parent Hacks] […]
Pingback left on July 21, 2007 @
Traduccion al espanol de los pasos. No tengo Photoshop en espanol asi que no se cuales son los equivalentes para los menus/comandos.
Paso Uno: Abrir imagen en Photoshop y ajuste el tamano para que quepa en una hoja de papel. Crear un layer duplicado para trabajar con los pasos 2 y 3.
Paso Dos: Vaya a Filter–>Sketch–>Photocopy y ajuste el Detalle y Oscuridad. Intente mantener el Detalle lo mas bajo posible manteniendo a la vez las lineas principales de la imagen. Yo he establecido el Detalle aqui en 8 y la Oscuridad en 5. El ajuste de Oscuridad simplemnte necesita ser lo suficientemente oscuro como para poder ver las lineas que desea conservar.
Paso Tres: Ahora puede limpiar un poco la imagen ajustando los niveles. Vaya a Layers–>New Adjustment Layer–>Levels e incremente los niveles de sombra (flecha #1) hasta que este satisfecho con la oscuridad de las lineas. Luego disminuya los niveles del highlight (flecha #2) para limpiar algo del ruido en las areas blancas de la imagen. Imprima en blanco y negro (engrape las paginas si desea hacer un libro) y estara listo.
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
exelente tutorial, muchas gracias
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
I just tried and I may have missed a step or something. When I select the photocopy filter, I get a black image with white outline not a white image with black outlines. Am I missing something?
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
My kids will LOVE this!
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
Thanks for the tutorial
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
[…] Heb je dat wel eens dat de kinderen kleuren op de echte foto’s? Denk dat je dan wel stevig zult balen. Hier een link waar je de kids een groot plezier mee kunt doen door van hun foto een kleurplaat te maken. Simpel te doen in Photoshop of andere programma’s! […]
Pingback left on July 21, 2007 @
Carmen y Elana: Todavia neccisitan apprender como hacer eso?
Hay tanto Latinos aqui que no hablan ingles! Soy Americano, pero puedo ayudar uds., pero mi espanol no es tan bueno!
Comment left on July 21, 2007 @
[…] coloring pages from your photos - 3 easy photoshop steps (tags: photoshop kids) […]
Pingback left on July 22, 2007 @
[…] Here’s an awesome photoshop guide that shows you how to convert your pictures into coloring pages. Extremely useful for the kids. I thought it was an awesome idea. Found @ Lifehacker once again. […]
Pingback left on July 22, 2007 @
This is a great idea. It took me three click to get here. Wired.com linked to Geekdad. Geekdad linked to Lifehacker. Lifehacker linked here. When people really want to read something they’ll do the clickthrough. I’m just thinking how many ad dollars were wasted on me in that clicking process.
Comment left on July 22, 2007 @
For those of you who use the GIMP as your photo editor, the filters translate as follows:
step 2) Filters > Artistic > Photocopy
step 3) Tools > Color Tools > Levels
The rest is the same.
Comment left on July 22, 2007 @
Good idea to manipulate the image.
Comment left on July 22, 2007 @
Terrific idea, I’m going to try it out with my kids! Thank you!!
Comment left on July 23, 2007 @
[…] From Fototiller, a simple, 3-step process for turning your photographs into coloring book pages. […]
Pingback left on July 23, 2007 @
[…] fototiller » coloring pages from your photos - 3 easy photoshop steps (tags: art blog book children diy fun games gift coloring photos howto photography kids tutorial photoshop) […]
Pingback left on July 23, 2007 @
[…] For similar guide using photoshop see here. […]
Pingback left on July 23, 2007 @
On my blog I’ve published instructions how to do the same trick under GIMP. Check it if you are interested or do not have photoshop.
http://blog.hbcom.info/archives/35
Comment left on July 23, 2007 @
Great tip!
One can get a similar effect with The GIMP:
1. Reduce the number of colours in the image: Tools –> Color Tools –> Posterize. Set the value to 10.
2. Sharpen the image: Filters –> Enhance –> Sharpen. Set Sharpness to about 80.
3. Photocopy: Filters –> Artistic –> Photocopy. I’ve been using the following values with some success:
Mask Radius: 4
Sharpness: 1
Percent black: .1
Percent white: .9
Cheers!
Comment left on July 23, 2007 @
Great tip. However, using these same instructions in Photoshop 7.0 doesn’t work as the application returns an error (from Step 2) referring to the foreground and background colors being the same and thus all details will be lost - and then doesn’t continue. Any ideas on how to overcome that message? TIA
Comment left on July 23, 2007 @
Fabulous..thank you for this!
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
[…] It’s free and easy… and what a fun way to entertain your class, or your kids at home. Simply take a photo of anything you like.. your classroom, the playground, or a family pic. Then follow these easy steps! […]
Pingback left on July 24, 2007 @
[…] Cómo no, desde Photojojo, nos llega un facilísimo tutorial para pasar nuestras fotos a trazos para, por ejemplo, colorear. Ya tengo material para el crío. […]
Pingback left on July 24, 2007 @
http://www.dumpr.net does it automatically for you. You can also print the result directly from the site, download it, or just upload to flickr. How sweet is that?
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
I think it would be better to add some contrast to the Photo before doing the other steps in order to have more marked lines.
Great idea BTW.
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
I wonder if you can use Aperture or iPhoto on a Mac to do this?
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
Thanks!
My kids will love this. They spend hours coloring. I like to help them myself on occasion!
Ted
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
[…] - Tutorial que ensina a transformar fotos em páginas para colorir. Ótimo pra distrair as crianças, adicionar em páginas de scrap ou mesmo em cartões. via Photojojo […]
Pingback left on July 24, 2007 @
Con GIMP (Freeware) también se puede hacer:
1. Filtros - Artísticos - Fotocopia
2. Herramientas - Herramientas de color - niveles
Con esta herramienta hay mayor control sobre los niveles de blanco - sin mencionar que no hay que pagar ni un centavo por el programa ni estar pirateando
;-)
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
[…] Link: coloring pages from your photos - 3 easy photoshop steps […]
Pingback left on July 24, 2007 @
Trog like to color.
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
Laura, necessitas el programa PhotoShop. Seleccione la opción de la capa o prensa ctrl+j.
Despues click el filtro entonces bosquejan y la copia de la foto del menú.Fije el detalle y la oscuridad.
Apologías por cualquieres faltas de ortografía. Hablo mejor que escribo
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
I had the same problem with the image being too dark, like a negative. That’s what gave me the idea to reverse it with Image > Adjust > Invert — it turned out great. What a cool idea!
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
Kodak Pictures Plus has this feature, I’ve made a family coloring book with this. It automatically turns any and all pics into coloring book pics. It also has another super fun feature which I use all the time–turn any and all pics into CARTOONS with just a click of the mouse you can do either of these things! so cool
Comment left on July 24, 2007 @
My five year old loved this and it was so easy! Thanks!
Comment left on July 25, 2007 @
[…] O site fototiller explica em somente três passos, como criar desenhos para colorir a partir de qualquer imagem. […]
Pingback left on July 25, 2007 @
[…] Here’s a great project on how to take your digital photos and turn them into fun coloring pages for your kids. [ via ] Link. […]
Pingback left on July 25, 2007 @
[…] My seven year old was just about beside herself with glee at the prospect of coloring family pictures, and I’m betting your kinder will be pretty excited, too. This would also be a potential great gift for family members, as well as a good time-filler for doctor’s appointments, road trips, etc. Coloring pages from your photos [Fototiller via Parent Hacks] […]
Pingback left on July 25, 2007 @
[…] Coloring Pages from Photos - 3 easy steps … now this is for Adobe Photoshop, but they also have instructions fro Paint SHop Pro (which I use) here. […]
Pingback left on July 25, 2007 @
Did I miss something or is it because I’m using Photoshop CS2? I had to convert the photo to grayscale to get the filter to work. Then it worked fine. Great idea.
Comment left on July 25, 2007 @
[…] Fun! A simple three-step tutorial for using photoshop to turn your family photos into a personalized colouring book for your kids! […]
Pingback left on July 26, 2007 @
Hola, basándome en este tutorial y en otro de http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2007/04/15/give-your-photos-a-color-ink-sketch-effect/, quiero compartir unas acciones de photoshop para automatizar ambos procesos.
Saludos.
Comment left on July 27, 2007 @
Enlace con las acciones automatizadas, omitido antes… Perdón.
http://www.murcia4u.net/blog/archives/colorear.atn
Saludos
Comment left on July 27, 2007 @
[…] How To Make Coloring Pages From Your PhotosWant to make a personalized coloring book for yourself or the munchkins in your life? Fototiller has put together an easy three-step Photoshop tutorial to make coloring pages for your kids (or yourself!) from any digital photo. If you don’t have Photoshop, you can also use Corel Paint Shop Pro. Either way, no one can deny how fun it is to color your puppy orange or your sweetie with green skin. […]
Pingback left on July 28, 2007 @
Help! I love the idea. I get to filter>sketch>photocopy and end up with a white only layer (Adobe Photoshop). What am i doing wrong???
Thanks
Comment left on July 28, 2007 @
[…] Making Coloring Pages From Your Photos - This is an awesome tutorial for anyone with kids. Coloring books are cool, but how awesome would it be to color a picture of yourself?! fototiller shows you the three easy steps to doing it in Photoshop. Want to subscribe? […]
Pingback left on July 28, 2007 @
[…] a tutorial for making coloring pages from digital photos or scans. I found it on the FotoTiller Blog. […]
Pingback left on July 28, 2007 @
OK, I figured it out. David Peterson, you probably did something similar to what I did. It doesn’t say so in the tutorial, but you must set the foreground color as black and the background color as white! The tutorial doesn’t say this, but it does show it on the side tool bar on the bottom.
I plan on using this technique with my class when school starts–I’ll take a photo of each student, make a coloring page for them to do along with an autobio poem. Fun!
Thanks
Comment left on July 29, 2007 @
Excelente tutorial. cabe recordar que antes de ejecutar los pasos debe de poner el color frontal en blanco. Para hacer eso solo tiene que apretar la tecla D en photoshop`y restaurara los colores de trabajo a su default.
Comment left on July 29, 2007 @
SHUT UP! that’s so cool! I made an entire coloring book of my nieces b-day party. Thanks for the great idea!
Comment left on August 1, 2007 @
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing!
Comment left on August 1, 2007 @
[…] Oh my! I love it. Photoshop your pictures into coloring pages. Think how much your kids would love to color pictures of themselves! Here. I may have to make a separate entry for this. […]
Pingback left on August 2, 2007 @
How about in paint shop pro?????????
TIA
Comment left on August 4, 2007 @
[…] Saturday, August 4th, 2007 in Creative Coloring pages from your photos […]
Pingback left on August 5, 2007 @
[…] Here’s a fun photo project that we found on fototiller - make your photos into coloring pages using Photoshop http://fototiller.com/blog/2006/06/26/coloring-pages-from-your-photos-3-easy-photoshop-steps/ Have any other fun photo ideas? Send them to us, and we’ll share them! - pixblogThis post originated from and is provided by the MSDN Blogs RSS feed. The original post of the article can be found here. […]
Pingback left on August 8, 2007 @
[…] Here’s a quick three-step photoshop tutorial to make coloring pages for your kids from any digital photo. Kids will love coloring pictures of themselves and their family (what could be more fun than giving grandpa spiky purple hair and a green beard). Other ideas - help your kid take photos of their favorite toys, friends and places in your town or neighborhood (school, library, ice cream shop) and turn them into coloring pages. They make great diversions when you’re on the road or waiting in a restaurant.Source et suite » […]
Pingback left on August 10, 2007 @
[…] Source and Read More: fototiller […]
Pingback left on August 10, 2007 @
this is sooo great!! i wanted to write a book with my three year old as the subject but couldn’t figure out who or how i wanted to do the illustrating… this is PERFECT for that!!! shoot the images digitally, print it out, color it, scan it back in and whallah!!! i have the illustrations for my book!!
Comment left on August 19, 2007 @
[…] Fototiller […]
Pingback left on August 24, 2007 @
CAN YOU MAKE MY PICTURES COLORFUL
Comment left on August 27, 2007 @
[…] 49. Create coloring books Take pictures of cats, dogs and bunnies, follow these neat Photoshop steps and put together your very own coloring books. […]
Pingback left on August 27, 2007 @
HOLA: SE VE MUY INTERESANTE !!! LO UNICO MALO ES QUE MI INGLES NO ES MUY BUENO, OJALA ME PUEDAN DECIR COMO HACERLO PERO EN ESPAÑOL. NO ENTIENDO, PERDON.
PATY
Comment left on September 3, 2007 @
Here’s an alternative - This web site provides hand-drawn coloring pages of your kids: Your Very Own Coloring Pages, http://yourveryown.googlepages.com
Comment left on September 17, 2007 @
[…] http://fototiller.com/blog/2006/06/26/coloring-pages-from-your-photos-3-easy-photoshop-steps/ […]
Pingback left on September 20, 2007 @
[…] First Karyn suggested a page she found called “How to Make Coloring Pages Out of Your Photos”. I’m not sure I found the one she found, but here’s one for PhotoShop and here’s one for Paint Shop Pro. This is very handy, because, for instance, Krys found a picture of Princess Kasune Zulu which I could use for practicing with. […]
Pingback left on September 27, 2007 @
this is a awsome website
Comment left on October 10, 2007 @
Will Photoshop Elements convert digital images to coloring book images?
Comment left on October 11, 2007 @
I have written a huge pile of funny animal and other rhymes (mostly for kids). And, I was stuck self publishing it because I wanted an illustrator to draw pictures, not wanting to take the time to do them myself. What a brilliant idea! I can save bookoo bucks and time shooting photos for the project and using this technique. Thanks.
Comment left on October 16, 2007 @
Thank you for a good idea…
Comment left on October 16, 2007 @
LOL>.. love the comemnt from the 9 year old… I agree.. my dog could do better than this… lol..
Comment left on October 20, 2007 @
[…] My seven year old was just about beside herself with glee at the prospect of coloring family pictures, and I’m betting your kinder will be pretty excited, too. This would also be a potential great gift for family members, as well as a good time-filler for doctor’s appointments, road trips, etc. Coloring pages from your photos [Fototiller via Parent Hacks] […]
Pingback left on October 25, 2007 @
[…] Com esse tutorial que encontrei no Fototiller, é possível transformar qualquer foto em desenho que pode ser colorido. Eu não sou boa no Photoshop, mas são só três passos simples. Até que eu gostei do que fiz! […]
Pingback left on October 26, 2007 @
hello, i’m must trying to figure out how to download this program. it look really interesting and i’d like to give it a go. thanx in advance.
Comment left on October 27, 2007 @
[…] My seven year old was just about beside herself with glee at the prospect of coloring family pictures, and I’m betting your kinder will be pretty excited, too. This would also be a potential great gift for family members, as well as a good time-filler for doctor’s appointments, road trips, etc. Coloring pages from your photos [Fototiller via Parent Hacks] […]
Pingback left on October 29, 2007 @
btw guys, we have Adobe Photoshop CS3 on sale now for only $347.
If you mention this site, we’ll give a 10% rebate back from Paypal after you place your order. http://4-ps.com
Comment left on November 6, 2007 @
I have Photo Shop old version and this is the first time I have really had GOOD help and I am going to really use it for the first time. I have wanted to use it and even had the “how to” books which you need a how to book to get it from the how to books, if you know what I mean, but to make this so simple, I simply say GOD BLESS YOU. WOW, I am using my computer! Just like I thought I would when I got one so many years ago.
Yeppie. More than email, more than games, more…Thank you so much.
Comment left on November 9, 2007 @
for some reason, my photocopy filter just turns every picture to black.
i’ve followed your directions exactly, and i’ve tried every setting, but it just
keeps turning them to black.
is there something you can suggest that i’ve overlooked? some preference or setting i need to adjust?
please help!
thanks
Comment left on November 13, 2007 @
We really liked the website .. Thank you.
Comment left on December 17, 2007 @
[…] I found just the coolest tutorial yesterday, and made a few coloring pages for the kiddos. Super easy, yet super fun for them. Sprinkle turned himself into an alien, lol. And Fidget had a ball as well. What, you ask, am I talking about? These: […]
Pingback left on January 4, 2008 @
[…] Here’s a Photoshop version of the above, sent by my brother, David. […]
Pingback left on January 22, 2008 @
Here is a site that will allow you to convert your photos to coloring book pages for your kids. It is only $20 rather than spending hundreds for photo shop.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.
Comment left on January 26, 2008 @
sorry, I forgot the link:
www.kidware.net
Comment left on January 26, 2008 @
sorry, I forgot the link.
the site is kidware. net or click on my name in this post
Comment left on January 26, 2008 @
http://www.kidware.net
Comment left on January 26, 2008 @