Coloring Pages for Teens

Styles teens enjoy

Mandalas and geometric patterns are popular for their satisfying symmetry. Aesthetic pages with flowers, butterflies and soft themes look great in pastel or muted palettes. Kawaii designs, from smiling food to tiny animals, are fun to color in bright, candy colors. Detailed animal pages such as wolves, tigers, owls and foxes are a good place to practice realistic fur and feathers.

Seasonal pages for fall, winter and spring are another favorite, especially in a moody or vintage palette.

A way to unwind

Between school, activities and phones, it helps to have a calm, offline hobby. Coloring is easy to pick up for ten minutes before bed or during a study break, and there is no pressure to be good at drawing. Put on a playlist or a podcast and work through a page bit by bit.

It also works as a social activity: color the same page as a friend and compare palettes.

Leveling up your technique

Layer colored pencils lightly instead of pressing hard at the start, then build up darker areas. Choose one direction for your light source and add shadows on the opposite side to make shapes look round. Blend two colors where they meet, or use a white pencil to soften transitions.

Fine-tip markers are great for crisp patterns, and gel pens add highlights and metallic details. Swatch your colors on scrap paper first so you know exactly how each one looks before it goes on the page.

Projects to try

Finished pages can become bookmarks, notebook covers, room decor or handmade cards. Print on cardstock, cut out a design and frame it, or photograph your best page and share your palette. Try a challenge: color the same mandala three times with completely different color schemes.

Printing for best results

Press Print or download the US Letter PDF and print at actual size with the highest quality setting so thin lines stay sharp. Smooth, heavier paper such as 32 lb laser paper or light cardstock handles layered pencil and markers far better than thin copy paper.

Coloring online is a good option when you are away from your supplies: pages marked Online fill each shape with one tap, which is a quick way to test a palette before coloring the printed version by hand.