What kind of photo files can I upload?

Most photos straight off a phone are fine. The uploader takes JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC and AVIF, which covers an iPhone and an Android without converting anything first. Every outline is drawn inside a square, and you see how each photo has been framed in the preview before you pay.

The photos that make the best colouring pages

By Ian Mitchell, founder of ToodalooUpdated 24 October 20264 min read

Every line on a colouring page starts as something in the photo, so a photo with a lot in it gives you a lot to colour. Which one makes the best page depends on what you're after. A photo with things close to the camera and more going on behind them will keep a child busy for a good while; a tidy shot of one subject, however well it's taken, is a much quicker page.

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A tiled stone balustrade curving along a canal in Seville towards a bridge and a long arched building

The arches, and the duck underneath them

These two were taken a few minutes apart on a canal in Seville, the arches from the bridge and the duck from a rowing boat on the water underneath it.

A tiled stone balustrade curving along a canal towards a bridge and a long arched building, under a cloudy sky — From the bridge. Balusters, arches, lamps and clouds, and hardly any blank paper.

The same view as a colouring page: every baluster, arch, lamp post and cloud outlined, with almost no blank paper — From the bridge. Balusters, arches, lamps and clouds, and hardly any blank paper.

A mallard swimming on green canal water, with the base of a stone balustrade along the top of the frame — From the boat, a couple of minutes later. One duck, a few ripples, and a lot of white.

The same view as a colouring page: one duck, a few ripples, a strip of balustrade, and most of the page empty — From the boat, a couple of minutes later. One duck, a few ripples, and a lot of white.

The two pages are nothing alike. The arches page has something to colour in every corner of it. The duck is one big shape with a lot of water round it that you can fill in however you like, so it won't take nearly as long.

A beach in Cornwall

This one's a wide view of a beach, with the town behind and a few people a long way off, so there's less on the page to colour.

A wide sandy beach at low tide with a lifeboat, a harbour town behind, and a few people far from the camera — Town along the top, a boat, a few small figures, and a lot of open sand.

The same as a colouring page: the town along the top, the boat, a few small figures, and a large open beach — Town along the top, a boat, a few small figures, and a lot of open sand.

What you get out of a page like this depends how you colour it. Someone who likes blending can spend ages on the big soft areas where the sand runs into the sea, but with one colour in each outline it won't take long.

Does it work the same for people, animals and buildings?

Yes, it works the same whatever's in the photo. A person, a horse or a building on its own is one shape to colour, and everything round it is where the rest of the colouring comes from. With people, distance makes the difference: one person a long way off comes out as a small figure you can't really recognise, with not much of them to colour, though a whole crowd of small figures can be most of the page, like the rollercoaster below.

Two children in a garden

These are my kids in a garden, close to the camera, with big leaves and a path behind them. Their faces are big enough to make out, and the garden fills everything else.

Two children standing close together on a garden path, arms round each other, with huge green leaves and tall flower spikes behind them — Near the camera, with the garden filling every gap round the edge.

The same as a colouring page: two children close to the camera, surrounded by large outlined leaves and tall flower spikes — Near the camera, with the garden filling every gap round the edge.

A rollercoaster

This is a rollercoaster with a train of riders hanging under the track, and every one of the riders has come through onto the page, along with the railings in front.

Looking up at an orange rollercoaster track with a train of riders hanging beneath it, railings in the foreground — Riders, track, supports and railings. A page with a lot of small areas.

The same scene as a colouring page: the track, the supports, every rider and every railing post outlined — Riders, track, supports and railings. A page with a lot of small areas.

A horse in a field

A horse is a simpler page. It comes back as one big shape, with the trees and grass behind it drawn in more lightly, so there's one thing to colour carefully and a background to fill in loosely round it.

A brown horse standing in a dry field with trees and scrub behind it — One big shape to colour carefully, with the field drawn in loosely behind it.

The same as a colouring page: the horse as one big outline, with trees and grass drawn in behind it — One big shape to colour carefully, with the field drawn in loosely behind it.

Picking oranges

With a tree full of fruit there's a lot more to colour. The hand and the orange are the subject, and the leaves and fruit fill the page right to its edges.

A hand reaching up to pick an orange from a tree heavy with fruit and glossy leaves — One hand, one orange, and leaves to the edge of the page.

The same as a colouring page: a hand, an orange, and a page full of outlined leaves and fruit — One hand, one orange, and leaves to the edge of the page.

A rose window

A window like this is a mix. The arch round it is a few big plain areas and the window itself is dozens of small panes, so one person can take the outside and somebody with more patience can take the middle.

A round stained glass window set in a stone arch, lit from outside, with a small crucifix below it — A few big areas round the outside and dozens of small panes in the middle.

The same window as a colouring page: the arch, and the rose window divided into dozens of small panes — A few big areas round the outside and dozens of small panes in the middle.

A patterned coat, a hedge or a woodland path work like the oranges, shapes at several sizes with somewhere easy to start and a few small bits left for the end.

How do you match the photo to the age of the child?

It's mostly about how much is in the frame. A photo of a simple, bold object gives you big areas and not many lines, which suits a younger child who wants to get to the end of the page. Photos with a lot happening suit a child who'll sit with one page for ages and pick a different colour for every pane in a stained glass window.

Lots of lines on a page doesn't mean your child has to follow them. A child who'd be put off by dozens of small areas can go straight over them and do a whole tree in one colour, so the same page can be quick or slow depending on who's colouring it.

A Toodaloo book has 20 colouring pages, one for each photo, so there's room for a few of each. A holiday book can have the arches and the beach in it, and a younger and an older child can both find pages they'll finish. You see every page before you pay and can swap any of them. If one's come back with less on it than you hoped, a photo from the same day taken closer to something, with more going on behind it, usually gives you more.

Questions parents ask

What kind of photo files can I upload?: Most photos straight off a phone are fine. The uploader takes JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC and AVIF, which covers an iPhone and an Android without converting anything first. Every outline is drawn inside a square, and you see how each photo has been framed in the preview before you pay.

Make a book from the photos you've already got

Pick twenty photos off your phone, we draw them as colouring pages, and you see every page before you pay.

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Any photos to start. Nothing is charged until you approve every page.