Color Tree Coloring Book Tutorial

Color by number puzzles are a great way to learn about how color changes how we see the real world. We hope with the ability to create your own color by number puzzles quickly from photographs will help you enjoy finding new pictures to color and learn about coloring. This tutorial walks you through all the steps to create new coloring puzzles, create crayon sets, and export photos.

The first step in creating a coloring puzzle is to add a new sheet to you coloring book. You can do this by going to the menu and selecting new page. As shown below:

The 1st tab is the import tab and it allows you to import artwork from your photo gallery. When the down arrow in the upper right of the screen is pressed it will take you to your photo gallery where you can select an image. Once the image is selected a small amount of time will pass while the current image profile is applied to the image. Image profiles vary in the amount of smoothing and the number of colors applied to the image. More smoothing with less colors makes for simpler puzzles while less smoothing with more colors make for more complex puzzles. There are two icons under your coloring profile which allow you to rotate the image counter clockwise or clockwise.

The 2nd tab is where you select your crayon selection or let the program pick a set automatically. If you are going to be exporting and printing your page out you should select a crayon set that matches the colors you have available. Later in this tutorial there will be discussion of how to create crayon sets.

The 3rd tab is a preview of what your completed puzzle will look like. If you would like you can export it on this screen. The rose photo illustrated requires 41 regions to be colored. If you would like to influence the number of regions go back to the 1st tab and adjust your coloring profile or go to the 2nd tab and pick a custom crayon set. While any puzzle may be valid not all pictures make for simple coloring sheets. If your just starting out you will want to use photos that have large regions of similar colors with obvious regions that should be distinct from others.

The final tab is your color by number puzzle which can be exported to your coloring book or your image gallery. Your coloring book is your digital coloring book that is stored on your phone. Because your images are stored on your phone you can color while on an airplane or without internet.

For the purposes of this tutorial go ahead and select export to coloring book. When you export a new coloring sheet to your coloring book you will automatically be take to the coloring board.

The coloring board is where you will spend most of your time coloring your work of art on your phone. The circular arrows depict undo and redo. The pink eraser lets you clear all the coloring in your entire puzzle. The color all crayon will color all regions of the selected number. If the color "C" is selected the color all will complete the entire puzzle. The tree is a three state button that can be toggled between incomplete, current, and complete states. The export to photo gallery is the last button in the upper right. The color palette is exported in all states expect the current coloring state when pressed. A bold black circle will appear around the currently selected color. In the image below color 1 is the currently selected color.

To color a region simply press the screen in that region. You can pan the screen using a single finger drag and zoom in and out with a two finger gesture. When you move away from the coloring board your coloring state is always saved to your digital coloring book.

The crayon sets feature lets you create a color palette from a list of predefined colors. You can get to it by selecting the "Crayon Sets" menu option.

To modify a crayon set simply tap the color set you would like to edit.

You can give your crayon set a name and a short description. To add or remove crayons simply use the toggle button to select or unselect a color. Hitting the duplicate button will add a copy of the current crayon set in your sets which can be edited on its own independently. Once you have finished your selection navigating away from the screen will store your selection. Next time you import a new coloring sheet you it will be available in your list of crayon sets.

You can view all of the sheets in your coloring book by going to the "Coloring Book" menu item.

If you click on a coloring sheet you will see a preview of where you left off and have an opportunity to change the name and description. Your progress and the number of deviations from the ideal colors is shown above the preview. Feel free to add your own variations to the puzzle or try to color the puzzle exactly as predetermined by the app.

The "Help" menu is always there for quick reference if you forget what an icon means. The ability to export coloring sheets to the coloring book or the photo gallery is initially locked without an in app purchase. You are currently allowed to continue in the app; however, a watermark with the word "Trial" will appear until the "export coloring sheets" add on is purchased. To purchase the add on simply go to the "Add On" view from the main menu. Click on the pad lock to unlock the capability to export sheets and remove the watermark. If you delete the app your coloring sheets will be deleted as well. If you chose to reinstall it you can use the restore button in the upper right corner to restore all of your in app purchases.

As you navigate through the app views you can always resume coloring your last work of art you were coloring by selecting the "Coloring Board" from the main menu. We hope this example tutorial was helpful and we hope you enjoy coloring.