How we create

Every DoodleGrove page goes through the same steps before it reaches your printer. I prepare coloring pages the way I prepare artwork for print at my day job, and this page explains what that means and what gets checked before a page goes up.

From idea to printable page

1. Pick a theme. Each collection starts from one idea, such as a season, an animal or a holiday.
2. Prepare the line art. Each drawing is reviewed, refined and cleaned up in Adobe Illustrator: stray marks removed and open lines closed, so the color stays where it belongs.
3. Turn it into clean outlines. Every page is saved as vector line art, so the lines stay sharp at any print size.
4. Check every file. Before publishing, each page is checked for paper size and margin, and that the drawing is not stretched or cropped. Pages that look too much alike are flagged and one of them is dropped.
5. Publish the collection. A collection goes live only once it has at least 15 finished pages.

Why the print checks matter

A coloring page that looks fine on screen can still print badly: the edge gets cut off, the drawing is squashed to fit the paper, or thin lines disappear. That is why each page comes as its own US Letter and A4 file with a printer-safe margin, instead of one image stretched to fit both.

Spotted a page with a mistake, such as an extra finger or a line that does not close? Tell me at [email protected] and it will be fixed.