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[Outdated] Coloring Pixels: A Guide [Last Update: 2023]
By quietvertigo
What it is, hot keys, settings, bug 'n' issues, and pack info all in one space.
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Created by
quietvertigo
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Category: Game Modes, Gameplay Basics, Maps or Levels, Secrets
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
24 Nov, 2018 @ 11:09am
27 Jan @ 7:36am
6,444 Unique Visitors
44 Current Favorites
Guide Index
Overview
Introduction 
PC Hotkeys / Controls 
Free Content 
2018 DLC Book Releases 
2019 DLC Book Releases 
2020 DLC Book Releases 
2021 DLC Book Releases 
2022 DLC Book Releases 
2023 DLC Book Releases 
Other DLC 
Settings 
Bugs & Issues 
Change log & Credits 
Comments
Introduction
Coloring Pixels is a relaxing color by number in game format. The base game is free and even has several free books of images to color, and even recolor. It's a fantastic game to relax and unwind. The background music is nice mix of relaxing instrumental tunes.

Community Rating: Overwhelming Positive (96% at 6,497 reviews)
Developers: Updates on Steam regularly as well as their official ToastieLabs Discord channel.
Achievements: Yes; One per completed image, and a meta for a completed book.
Cards: ???
DLC: Inexpensive per pack. .99c USD.
Size: Less than 600MB with all the DLC packs.

ToastieLabs External Pages:

👍💛 Up vote if you found this guide helpful. 💛👍
💜Suggestions to improve or update are welcome and I'll answer inquiries as well as I can.💜
💚Disclaimer: I'm unaffiliated with the development team.💚
PC Hotkeys / Controls
Action
Mouse
Keyboard
Fill Colors
Left Click
N/A
Move Around
Right Click
Arrow Keys / WASD
Zoom In / Out
Mouse Wheel
+ / -
Pick Color
Click it / scroll wheel
NumPad/Row (Two digit) or shift+# for single digit / Q & E
Erase
Click it
00 on NumPad/Row or Backspace
Percentage
N/A
Tab

Officially, it's currently unsupported on Steam Deck, but it does function, and there are a handful of community layouts that can be tried to make it play better. As a side note; I've found the cloud sync doesn't seem to sync up between Deck and PC very well, I'll see if I can get some feedback about it to share here.
Free Content
  • Book 1: 20 images - Objects and creatures.
  • Book 2: 20 images - Scenic images
  • Book 3: 20 images - Patterns and designs.
  • Bonus: Images added semi-regularly. Promotional-esque images. ToastieLabs logo, 100k players, etc.

  • Community Book: 20 images. A little bit of everything.
    Community Book is a free "secret" book which is unlocked by visiting their social media page once. You do not have to like, interact or visit again.
  • Community Book 2: 20 images. 2019 Competition winners. Announcement here (contains image spoilers)
  • Community Book 3. 20 images. 2020 Competition winners. Announcement here (contains image spoilers)
  • Community Book 4. 20 images. 2021 Competition winners. Announcement here (contains image spoilers)
  • Community Book 5. 20 images. 2022 Competition winners. Announcement here (contains image spoilers)
  • Community Book 6. 20 images. 2023 Competition winners. Announcement here (contains image spoilers)

    r/Place 22: 16 images. Each image is 500x500px.
    Announcement: Click.

  • r/Place 23: 8 images. Size range from small to medium logo images 185x150, 100x100, 90x90, 200x175 to four large 500x500 images.
    Announcements: r/Place is back!, Feedback update, Released

More on the r/Place Books - Although they're free, you'll have to visit their respective store page to claim each one. This is due to the sometimes mixed culture present on Reddit. Since this game is meant to be family friendly, there is no explicit content in these books, but still require a different age rating than the base game (as per announcements). Simply put, anyone who doesn't want the books can simply ignore them. However, the downside for ignoring them is no 100% achievements without cheating (warning: for those of you who use external achievement sites, some of them do frown upon cheating and will ban.)
2018 DLC Book Releases
Each coloring pack DLC is $1 USD. Most have 20 images each. Exceptions are noted in descriptions.

DLC + Link
Release Date
Review Rating
Description
Difficulty
RPG Book
September 7, 2018
Positive (35 reviews)
A fantasy retro RPG-themed coloring pack with such images as dragons, shields, and castles.
Easy to Medium. Size ranges from very small to just under 200px for the largest. There are 4 in-depth sprite/icon images that may take a little more time to complete than the rest of the pack. Some may wish to complete these over 2-3 sittings.
Farm Pack
September 28, 2018
Mostly Positive (18 reviews)
A farm themed pack with farm animals, fields, and tools of the trade.
Easy to Difficult. A fair amount of variety in this one. About half of them aren't time-consuming at all. And a few in the medium range, but aren't complicated. A few detailed. And 2 hyper-realistic ones which may take the most time to complete and I'd recommended over several sessions. The largest is 300x300 which is hyper realistic.
Halloween Pack
October 19, 2018
Positive (15 reviews)
A Halloween theme with ghosts, ghouls, and other spooky things.
Easy to Complicated. Straight-forward and easy-going in the first half. There are a handful of hyper-realistic images in the largest half. And a couple pattern images among the medium sized pieces. The biggest ones are a scenic image at 320 and another scenic at 256 squared.
Emoji Pack
November 9, 2018
Mixed (19 reviews)
An emoji inspired pack. Smiley's and other familiar texting and chat icons.
Easy. Most of the images are quite small and only one of them goes above 150. One of the weaker packs overall.
Space Pack
November 30, 2018
Positive (16 reviews)
A space themed pack with rockets, astronomy, and other planetary bodies.
Easy to Complicated. First half is pretty easy. There are a couple hyper-realistic images. And a few detailed scenics. One of the largest puzzles can be classified as easy, so I won't include that as the 'biggest'. A few are 200x200, and a scenic at 320x180.
Winter Holidays
December 21, 2018
Fewer than 10
A winter holidays pack with snow, Hanukkah, and Christmas themed images.
Easy to Difficult. Most of the images are on the smaller end. Christmas takes up most of the packs theme, but there are a few general winter themed ones and a couple token images. Rating goes to difficult purely because of the Wreath. Notoriously detailed.
2019 DLC Book Releases
Each coloring pack DLC is $1 USD. Most have 20 images each. Exceptions are noted in descriptions.

DLC + Link
Release Date
Review Rating
Description
Difficulty
Patterns
January 18, 2019
Fewer than 10
A pack inspired by optical illusions and colorful patterns.
Easy to difficult. Varied sizes and detail. Only the last 4 could be considered difficult. There are a few monotone illusions. Most images don't exceed 16 colors.
Vistas 1
February 15, 2019
Positive (14 reviews)
Inspired by beautiful scenery, skylines, landscapes, and forests.
Medium to difficult. The most ambitious in terms of size at the time of release. The smallest being 81x100 with 34 colors.
Animals
March 15, 2019
Mostly Positive (12 reviews)
Inspired by animals in all shapes and sizes covering adorable puppies and rabbits to woolly mammoths and dragons.
Easy to difficult. A majority of them are on the easy end with the exception of the last row which is more detailed and realistic.
Technology
April 12, 2019
Mixed (11 reviews)
Inspired by technology from the past, present, and future.
Easy to difficult. Images vary from small and simplistic to large and realistic or otherwise detailed.
Flags
May 17, 2019
Positive (15 reviews)
Inspired by flags from across the globe, expect flags from interesting countries, states and other origins.
Easy to Med-Hard. A majority of them are on the easy end. The latter images while on the larger side, aren't particularly complex.
Flowers
June 21, 2019
Positive (11 reviews)
This themed book is all about flowers; expect to indulge in vibrant colors, beautiful bouquets, and floral patterns.
Easy to Medium. Images don't exceed 160px. Even the more colorful ones aren't intimidating.
Variety
July 26, 2019
Positive (12 reviews)
Includes a variety of different images, including vehicles, cityscapes, landscapes, and various other peculiar objects
Easy to difficult. The difficulty is as varied as the images the pack holds. Some of the larger ones are particularly detailed.
Isometric
August 23, 2019
Positive (11 reviews)
All images in this pack are created from a unique isometric perspective.
Easy to difficulty. Mostly easy to medium, but the last few kick it up a notch.
Food
September 27, 2019
Positive (18 reviews)
All images in this pack are food related.
Easy! Among the most chill packs to date.
Monsters
October 25, 2019
Fewer than 10
Monsters and other intimidating beings.
Easy to medium. Majority of it is easy, with a couple mediums.
Advent
November 29, 2019
Fewer than 10
A festive pack that releases an image per day Advent Calendar style until Christmas Eve. 24 images total.
Easy to medium. Mostly on the easier side, but there are a couple medium sized pattern images which some may find tedious.
2020 DLC Book Releases
Each coloring pack DLC is $1 USD. Most have 20 images each. Exceptions are noted in descriptions.

DLC + Link
Release Date
Review Rating
Description
Difficulty
Realistic
February 14, 2020
Fewer than 10
A pack of images in a realistic style.
Medium to hard.
Music
March 20, 2020
Mixed (30 reviews)
Inspired by the music industry from relaxing piano to rock stars at gigs.
Easy. Of the few images that exceed 100px, none of them are necessarily difficult.
Spring
April 10, 2020
Fewer than 10
Signs of spring such as flowers, picnics, butterflies, and more.
Easy to medium. Mostly easy, but nothing over the top or hyper realistic.
Fairy Tales
May 29 2020
Fewer than 10
Characters and scenery associated with classic fairy tales.
Easy to medium. Only a couple images exceed 100px. And a majority of them don't have background to fill in.
Vistas 2
July 3 2020
Fewer than 10
Similar to it's predecessor; the theme is landscapes, skylines, and environments.
Medium to hard. A variety of landscape images in globes or landscape style. A couple of them are a bit more detailed than the rest, but none should be too challenging.
Marine Life
August 7 2020
Mixed (11 reviews)
Ocean life such as fish, cephalopods, crustaceans and other marine life.
Mostly easy! There's one large image, but the pack is a cakewalk overall.
Dinosaurs
September 11 2020
Mixed (15 reviews)
Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, and more dinosaurs.
Easy! None of the images exceed 100px
Halloween 2
October 16 2020
Fewer than 10
The third seasonal spooktacular book.
Easy to hard. There's a handful of detailed images, but they shouldn't be too challenging.
Advent 2
November 27 2020
Fewer than 10
The second winter holiday themed advent book where one new picture is released each day from Dec 1st until Dec 24th. Fun Fact: It is not cheating to change your computer clocks. However, tampering with the computer's date and time can cause unintended computer issues.
Easy to hard. Many easier images, a medium sized pattern, and a handful of detailed images.
2021 DLC Book Releases
Each coloring pack DLC is $1 USD. Most have 20 images each. Exceptions are noted in descriptions.

DLC + Link
Release Date
Review Rating
Description
Difficulty
Landmarks
January 8 2021
Positive (11 reviews)
Images depict famous landmarks from all over the globe.
Medium to hard. From the Steam Page: All images are the same large resolution of 200x150.
Time Travel
February 12 2021
Fewer than 10.
Images are themed around moments in time from prehistory, culture, and more..
Easy to hard. Most are probably in the medium range. One of the larger images is a black and white bust.
Safari
March 12 2021
Fewer than 10.
Featuring animals you might see during a trip to the safari.
Easy to medium. None of the images are too large. Many are still pieces with no background to fill in. The few larger ones aren't hyper-detailed and cap out at 15 colors while one is monochrome at 4 colors.
Amusement Park
April 09 2021
Fewer than 10.
Iconic amusement park related images.
Easy to medium. Most of the images aren't too large or complicated. The final one is a fair size, but doable in a reasonable amount of time.
Mythology
May 14 2021
Few than 10.
Ancient Mythology from various cultures.
Very easy to hard.
Illusions
June 11 2021
Fewer then 10.
Optical illusions
Easy to hard.
1-bit Pack
July 09 2021
Fewer than 10.
Retro 1-bit two color themed images.
Easy to hard. All images are 2 colors which might make it monotonous for some.
Landmarks 2
August 13 2021
Fewer than 10
Famous landmarks.
Medium/hard. All images are 200x150.
Retro
September 10 2021
Positive (13)
Retro - Old technology and ideas.
Very easy to hard.
Halloween 3
October 08 2021
Fewer than 10
Spooks and ghouls.
Very easy to medium. Three images hit/pass the 200px mark in a single direction.
Insects
November 12 2021
Positive (10)
Insects and creepy crawlers
Very easy to medium. Two images hit/pass 200px in a single direction.
Advent 3
November 26 2021
Fewer than 10
Advent opens one image per day until Christmas. 24 total images.
Very easy to medium. Three images hit/pass the 200px mark in a single direction.


2022 DLC Book Releases
Each coloring pack DLC is $1 USD. Most have 20 images each. Exceptions are noted in descriptions.

DLC + Link
Release Date
Review Rating
Description
Difficulty
Isometric 2
January 14, 2022
Fewer than 10
Images are all in an isometric style.
Very easy to hard.
Cute
February 11, 2022
Mixed (13)
Animals, babies, and other cute stuff.
Very easy to hard. Two images pass the 200px mark in both directions.
Platformers
March 11, 2022
Fewer than 10
Images in the vein of the game genre platformers IE: Super Mario Brothers.
Easy to hard. Eight images hit/pass the 200px mark in one or both directions. Two pass 300px in one direction.
Tarot
April 08 2022
Mostly Negative (26)
Tarot cards. All images are the same size of 100x171px.
Medium/Hard. All images are the same size of 100x171px. And between 10 and 14 colors each. Some may find monotonous.
Mythology 2
May 13 2022
Fewer than 10
More characters from mythology.
Medium to hard.
Summer
June 10 2022
Mostly Positive (11)
Cool off at the beach with a cold treat or go on a roadtrip. Hot summer vibes.
Very easy to hard.
Sci-Fi Fantasy Vistas
July 08 2022
Fewer than 10.
The third vistas book, but it has a theme. It covers the fantastical and space from the imagination.
Medium to hard.
Bakery
August 12 2022
Fewer than 10
Baked goods and tasty treats.
Medium to hard.
Flags 2
September 09 2022
Fewer than 10
World flags within the maps they originate.
Medium to hard.
Halloween 4
October 14 2022
Fewer than 10
Spooky Season. Isn't it obvious by now? :3
Easy to hard.
Autumn
November 11 2022
Fewer than 10
Oranges and browns, campfires and falling leaves. Cozy autumn vibes.
Very easy to medium. Only one image passes the 200px mark. 200x240px.
Advent 4
November 25 2022
Fewer than 10
Holiday season. 25 images. One unlocks per day until December 25.
(Speculation since I only glanced at a few and they're hidden initially.) Easy to hard.
2023 DLC Book Releases
Each coloring pack DLC is $1 USD. Most have 20 images each. Exceptions are noted in descriptions.

DLC + Link
Release Date
Description
Difficulty
Steampunk
Jan 20 2023
Vehicles, gears and punkish outfits abound!
Very easy to medium. About half the images are under 100x100. Several mediums. The last is quite large at 300x225.
Gems and Minerals Pack
Feb 10 2023
Shiny gems, fascinating minerals and useful ores!
Very easy to hard. 2 rows of under 100px images. A few images pass the 200px mark in one direction. The last one is 336x252.
Japan
Mar 10 2023
Japanese icons and Japanese culture.
Very easy to hard. More than a handful of under 100px. Several medium sized. Three surpass 200px in one direction. and a single 300x300.
Fun & Games
Apr 14 2023
A variety of toys, games, and activities.
Easy to hard.
Stained Glass
May 12 2023
Colorful abstract mosaic style stained glass art.
Easy to hard.
Pirates
Jun 9 2023
Swashbuckling pirates, ships, and clothing.
Easy to hard.
Transport
Jul 14 2023
Ways to travel from roller blades and skateboards to cars and trains.
Very easy to medium.
Magic
Aug 11 2023
Magical images from parlour tricks to fantastical magic.
Very easy to medium.
Medieval
Sep 8 2023
Romanticised European History
Very easy to medium.
Halloween 5
Oct 13 2023
Your annual spooky images!
Very easy to medium.
Onion Pack
Nov 17 2023
Each image is part of a greater whole. Color the whole book to understand the setting.
TBD
Advent 5???
.
.
.
Other DLC
Coloring Pixels - Soundtrack

Released on 19 April 2019
Review Rating: Less than 10
Price: 4.99 USD

Description
The official soundtrack for Coloring Pixels captures the relaxed nature of the game. This soundtrack gives you access to Coloring Pixel's array of purposefully composed piano tracks to listen to at your leisure.
Album lasts for approximately 60 minutes and is composed by various artists.
Settings
Setting
Description
Music
Volume control and mute options.
Hide level names and images
This one is good if you want to do each image without knowing what it is. It does still tell you how large the image is and how many colours it has.
Hide Completed Books
Hides finished books from the sidebar. *Bug: Fixed. Last opened book loads at start-up.
Keep Old Advent Books Unlocked
Advent Books can be done yearly for those inclined enough to. Check this if you want them to remain unlocked through December.
Lock Completed Pixels
Prevents you from accidentally overwriting a correctly placed color.
Hints
* Off
* Last 10 tiles; it'll highlight the last ten you need to fill in.
* Last 5 pixels of selected color.
Seasonal Effects
Adds additional effects during certain times of the year
* October - reddish background with pixel rising from the bottom to simulate fire
* December - white background with animated falling snow
* February - pink background with rising hearts
* March 17 - Light green background with falling clovers.
Remove completed colors from palette
When you finish with a color, it'll disappear from the color box at the bottom. And reappear if you accidentally color a completed tile over.
Image Complete Animation
Shows your progress in full animation after completing the image. Options: On/Off. No speed control at this time.
Show Percentage / Show Timer
* Percentage: On/Off. If you have it off, you can still use tab to see it.
* Show Timer: This is strictly for New Game+ for folks who want to challenge themselves with speed runs and has no effect on regular play (or achievements).
Accessibility
There are a handful of options here, and a preview that updates with your changes so you don't have to hop back and forth to puzzles to see the differences.
Nightmode
Light Mode is the default. Nightmode activates darker backgrounds and lighter fonts.
Contrast
Normal / Palette / Pixels / Both
Font
Silkscreen / Open Dyslexic / Tahoma
Magnifier
* Disabled / Touch Only / Cursor Only / Both
* Magnifier Zoom. A slide bar that goes from x1.0 to x10.0
Keyboard Pan Speed
How fast the screen moves while using the arrows or WASD on the keyboard.
UI Scale
Make the game's UI smaller or larger. The apply button let's you see it right away in settings.
Bugs & Issues
Thankfully, there are very few. Here's the ones I'm familiar with.

Achievement loophole where players could cheat to obtain achievements, without owning the DLC, has been fixed. Announcement

__________________

These are images with known errors in them. The reason this won't be "fixed" is because it will affect people's saves. Dev Post

Book 1 (Free) - Title: "America" (20th image)
Last star in the third row is misaligned.
Book 3 (Free) - "Red" (11th image)
Second last "full" block is missing a black line through it.
Book 3 (Free) - Title: "Pattern" (17th image)
One of the black lines near the bottom right is one pixel too short.
Patterns Book (DLC) Title: Rainbow Weave (15th image)
The last "full" tooth on the red row is one row shorter than the rest.
Change log & Credits
2023-Nov-11 - Introduction, books, announcements, and estimated difficulties are now all updated to the current information. If there are any errors or concerns, please feel welcome to leave a comment. As a general note, I have been playing regularly lately, so updates might be more consistent for a time. ♥
2023-Nov-11 - Going forward, I'm no longer keep record of 'user rating' as it's more tedium than it's worth; I've removed the column starting in the 2023 section. And may possibly neglect updating past ones as of the Feb 2022 update; I may remove them entirely in the future.
2023-Jan-16 - Purged old change log to a back up spot to keep this space clean. Thanks have been kept for those who've helped improve the guide (based on names at the time)
2023-Jan-16 - Updating the guide since I've started playing again. Getting the tables set up and the basic info done first. Announcement links will be added later. Comments are welcome to let me know if I missed something.

Thanks to Nobody, Crunch, Min_Lee, ToastieLabs_Lee, and Alexis Bloodwood for tips and suggestions.
29 Comments
< >
quietvertigo  [author] 27 Jan @ 7:36am 
psytected >

It's been more than a year since I played. You're best bet would be to ask on the discussion board or their Discord server.
psytected 27 Jan @ 6:21am 
hello i have a problem with my gameplay.when i choose a image to play then i cant go downwards anymore .the game put it automatically always up.what is the problem?
through_the_limbo 28 Nov, 2024 @ 7:13am 
It's not that, I don't have the hints on. I first found it on one of the first three images on the Halloween book, I would've been able to notice is there was a pixel missing. I deleted the image and redid it and then the bug was fixed for that image, but it keeps happening with bigger images too
quietvertigo  [author] 28 Nov, 2024 @ 6:49am 
through_the_limbo>

Do you have either hint option on? Depending on color, it might be hard to see.

I also haven't played since my last update here. So, if there is any on-going bugs, I wouldn't be aware of them.
through_the_limbo 28 Nov, 2024 @ 6:41am 
Uh I don't know if it's just me, but there's a bug I've experienced where I will complete an image (all pixel painted) but it will still say that there is one pixel left to paint, even if there isn't one
Jekofob 16 Nov, 2023 @ 3:41am 
This is a great guide when you are newly started like me. Just one question if I may.. you write that for steam deck there are some community layouts to make it look better. I never tried one of those in a game before and have no idea where to find them, do you know it? Thanks!
quietvertigo  [author] 10 Sep, 2023 @ 8:49am 
I've received a few friend requests as a result of this guide... and I don't know if that's a normal thing that happens to guide writers, but I decline all such requests as I prefer to keep my friend list to people I know.
Alexis Bloodwood 11 Apr, 2023 @ 6:32am 
You can use Backspace to access the eraser instead of typing "00" every time you want it
HYPERED1 5 Aug, 2021 @ 2:09pm 
The Bonus Book now has 14 images.
quietvertigo  [author] 19 Oct, 2020 @ 10:25am 
Thank you, @ToastieLabs_Lee! :FFIX_Moogle: