Coming soon for iPad

Color first.
Draw what you see.

Start with a finished watercolor.
Draw the lines, shapes and stories you see.

An open-ended drawing ritual to slow down, settle a busy mind and make space for calm—one thoughtful line at a time.

Get in touch
A reverse coloring canvas transformed into a hand-drawn underwater scene

made for quiet discovery ↗

Reverse coloring, simply explained

The color comes first.
You discover the lines.

A calmer way to draw

No outlines to fill and no score to chase—just an absorbing, open-ended activity that brings your attention back to the present.

01

Begin with color

Every canvas starts as a finished watercolor. Follow its edges, shapes and empty spaces, then draw whatever begins to appear.

02

Draw as softly as you like

Choose a pen or pencil, adjust stroke size and opacity, then work in a focused grayscale palette that lets the watercolor shine.

03

There is no right answer

Undo a mark, begin again from the untouched canvas, or share the finished piece whenever it feels complete to you.

See it in action

A studio for
quiet discovery.

Choose an expressive watercolor, draw directly with Apple Pencil, and shape every mark with simple, precise controls.

Ten hand-curated canvases at launch. New collections to follow.

Drag, swipe or use the arrows to see every step

Color Before the Lines onboarding showing a watercolor before and after adding imaginative lines
01 — See how it works
The Color Before the Lines library with ten hand-curated watercolor canvases and a new backgrounds card
02 — Choose a canvas
A colorful watercolor canvas ready for drawing in portrait orientation
03 — Begin with color
Drawing controls for pen, pencil, eraser, grayscale, stroke size and opacity in portrait orientation
04 — Shape every mark
A colorful watercolor canvas ready for Apple Pencil drawing in landscape orientation
05 — Draw your way
Drawing controls for stroke size and opacity shown over a landscape watercolor canvas
06 — Fine-tune the details
Color Before the Lines app icon

Coming soon

Say hello before
the first line.

Have a question or want to talk about the app? Email me directly—I’d love to hear from you.

Color Before the Lines is being crafted independently, with care, for people who want a quieter way to create.

Email me support@colorbeforethelines.com