Turn Photos Into Kids’ Coloring Pages With AI
▼ Summary
– The team behind the Retro app created a new app called Splat to experiment with creative uses of generative AI.
– Splat transforms personal photos or its own library of images into printable or on-screen coloring book pages for children.
– The app offers various artistic styles for the transformation, such as anime, cartoon, or comic, and customizes the experience based on a child’s interests.
– It operates on a subscription model, costing $4.99 per week or $49.99 per year after an initial free trial, with parental controls to block purchases.
– Splat is part of a broader trend of using generative AI to foster children’s creativity, alongside other apps like Stickerbox.
Parents looking for a fun and creative activity for their children now have a new digital tool at their disposal. A team from the photo-sharing app Retro has developed Splat, an application that uses generative AI to transform any photograph into a custom coloring book page. This innovative approach allows families to create personalized art projects directly from their own pictures, offering a fresh alternative to generic online printables.
While the internet is full of websites offering coloring pages, many are cluttered with advertisements or require small payments. Given how quickly children move through their artistic creations, these fees can feel unnecessary. Splat addresses this by letting users generate pages from their personal photo libraries or from a curated selection of kid-friendly categories. These include themes like animals, space, flowers, fairy tales, robots, and cars.
Using the app is straightforward. You simply take a new picture or select one from your device’s gallery. Next, you choose an artistic style such as anime, 3D movie, manga, cartoon, or comic. The AI then processes the image, converting it into a clean-line drawing suitable for coloring. The final result can be used on-screen or printed out for a traditional coloring experience.
The initial setup is designed to be simple and avoids a lengthy sign-up. First-time users are guided through a few customization options, including selecting a preferred app icon and indicating their child’s interests. A key feature is the ability to choose between printable pages and an on-screen coloring mode, which is perfect for moments when you need a quick, screen-based activity that isn’t a video game or show.
Users can test the AI generation once for free to see how it works. Continued access requires a subscription, priced at $4.99 per week for 25 pages or $49.99 annually for 500 pages. To prevent accidental purchases by children, the settings and payment options are protected by a parental gate that asks for an adult’s birth year.
In practical use, the app performs reliably, with fast processing times that let you go from a photo idea to a finished, printable page in moments. This speed is ideal for spontaneous craft sessions or last-minute activity needs.
Splat represents a growing trend of using AI to foster children’s creativity. It joins other projects like Stickerbox, which provides AI-generated stickers for coloring, and products like Casio’s Moflin, an AI-powered robotic pet. By turning personal memories into interactive art, Splat offers a uniquely engaging way for kids to play and create. The app is available for download on both iOS and Android devices.
(Source: TechCrunch)
