Mater coloring pages: 27+ free printable PDF designs featuring Tow Mater from Pixar’s Cars, across solo portraits, expression pages, paired scenes with Lightning McQueen and Sheriff, and activity pages including the tractor tipping scene. Every page is free to download as a PDF or color in the browser, with no account required.
Tow Mater is a rusty brown tow truck and the deuteragonist of the 2006 Pixar film Cars, voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. He is a resident of Radiator Springs on Route 66 and Lightning McQueen’s closest friend. Mater serves as the main character of Cars 2 (2011), a spy comedy, and returns in a supporting role in Cars 3 (2016).
These pages suit Cars franchise fans and younger children who enjoy vehicle characters, with a mix of solo expressions and scene compositions.
The coloring challenge unique to this set is Mater’s rust: a layered combination of warm brown, oxidized orange-red, and deep amber that makes him more technically interesting to color than any clean-painted vehicle in the franchise.
Quick Answer
Mater coloring pages are a free set of 27+ printable PDFs and browser-based sheets from Pixar’s Cars franchise, covering solo portraits, expressions, scenes with other Cars characters, and activity pages.
Best for: Cars franchise fans, younger children who enjoy vehicle and truck characters, and anyone looking for a Pixar coloring set with strong character variety
Formats: printable PDF and online coloring
Popular pages: Tow Mater, Mater and McQueen, Mater Goes Tractor Tipping, Funny Mater, and Sir Tow Mater.
Creative uses: a layered rust coloring study, a character contrast pair, a Radiator Springs multi-scene set, and a night scene
What’s Inside Mater Coloring Pages
The set covers Mater across solo portraits, expression pages, scene compositions with other characters, and activity pages.
Solo Portrait and Expression Pages
Eleven pages show Mater as the sole subject across standing portraits and expressions.
Coloring Mater’s body: Mater is a 1951 International Harvester L-170 tow truck in a weathered, rusted state. The base color is a warm brown, but the rust that covers most of his body introduces orange-red oxidation across the panels, with darker pits and recesses in deep brown, and occasional patches of bare metal in a cooler grey. The warm brown base and the orange-red rust are not the same color: keeping them distinct is what gives Mater his characteristic weathered appearance rather than a flat single-tone brown.
His windshield eyes are a light grey-blue, his tow hook is yellow-gold, and the hook cable is a slightly darker yellow-tan. His bumper and chrome details are a cool, slightly warm grey.
Coloring expressions: Happy Mater and Funny Mater show the wide-mouthed grin that defines the character, with large square teeth. Cute Mater softens the proportions slightly. The expression pages share the same rust palette as the portrait pages; only the face changes.
Coloring Sir Tow Mater and Flying Tow Mater: Sir Tow Mater is a title Mater gives himself, and the page likely shows him in a proud, upright pose. Flying Tow Mater references the Mater’s Tall Tales animated short in which Mater imagines himself as a spy plane: the body retains the same rust palette but with wing attachments added.
Scenes with Other Cars Characters
Six pages place Mater alongside other characters from Radiator Springs and the Cars franchise.
Coloring Mater and McQueen: Lightning McQueen is a vivid red racing car with a slick, clean paint job. The contrast between McQueen’s bright, glossy red and Mater’s muted, weathered rust-brown is one of the most visually effective color relationships in the Cars films. When coloring paired pages, keeping McQueen’s red fully saturated and Mater’s rust kept muted creates the same visual dynamic the films use to distinguish the two characters.
Coloring Sheriff and Mater: Sheriff is a black-and-white 1959 Buick Electra police car. Black and white against Mater’s rust brown gives the Sheriff pages a cool-warm contrast.
Coloring Guido and Mater: Guido is a small yellow Italian forklift, one of the minor characters from Radiator Springs. His bright yellow against Mater’s rust reads as cheerful and warm; both characters sit in the warm half of the color palette, but at different saturations.
Coloring the Rust-Eze page: the Rust-Eze logo is Lightning McQueen’s sponsor in the Cars films. The logo has a blue and red palette against a white background. This page places the logo behind Mater as a visual anchor, contrasting the bold graphic logo with Mater’s weathered body.
Activity and Scene Pages
Seven pages show Mater in specific settings or actions.
Coloring Mater Goes Tractor Tipping: This page references the scene in Cars where Mater and McQueen sneak out at night to tip sleeping tractors. The tractors are green farm vehicles, and the night setting calls for a darker, cooler background palette against Mater’s warm rust tones.
Coloring Mater In The Street: this page shows Mater on the road in Radiator Springs, the Route 66 town that serves as the film’s main setting. Radiator Springs architecture is modeled on 1950s American roadside aesthetics: warm sandstone buildings, neon signs, and the red road of the American Southwest.
Coloring Mater and Tires: this page shows Mater with a collection of tires, consistent with his role as the town’s tow truck. The tires are black with grey detail and contrast with the warm rust palette of his body.
Coloring Cars 3 Lego Duplo Mater: this page uses the simplified, blocky Lego Duplo style rather than the Pixar film aesthetic. The Lego version uses a more vivid, simplified orange-brown rather than the nuanced rust palette of the film pages, and suits flat, bold fills.
Printable PDF and Online Mater Coloring Pages
The detailed rust texture pages and paired scene pages reward printing for close layering work. Expression pages and the Lego Duplo page work well on screen.
What These Pages Do
Mater is the only main character in the Cars franchise whose defining visual feature is damage. Every other vehicle in Radiator Springs (McQueen, Sally, Doc Hudson, Ramone) is painted, maintained, and visually polished. Mater is not. He is a 1951 tow truck covered in rust, missing its hood, and with a cracked windshield. Pixar’s animators spent considerable time developing the rust texture precisely because it was the most important visual element in making Mater feel like a real, lived-in character rather than a background prop.
The rust is warm, not grey. Real oxidized iron is orange-red and amber before it ever becomes the grey-brown of old metal. Mater’s rust has these warm tones throughout, which is why he reads as cheerful rather than sad or broken. The color of his rust is one of the reasons he feels friendly. John Lasseter, the film’s producer, described Mater’s rust as equivalent to the lines on a human face: visible history, not neglect.
Mater is also the only main Pixar character based on a real vehicle model. He is a 1951 International Harvester L-170, a real American tow truck. The specific model was chosen to reflect Radiator Springs’ setting as a Route 66 roadside stop.
The AAP notes that coloring activities featuring vehicles with distinct, identifiable personality traits, rather than generic vehicle designs, support children’s engagement with character-based storytelling and their understanding that appearance can reflect character history and personality.
Art therapy practitioners note that layered warm-toned subjects such as Mater’s rust palette are among the most engaging for older children and adults who enjoy technique-based coloring, as the layering process provides a clear method and visible progression without requiring complex subject matter knowledge.
How to Color Matter Coloring Pages
The rust needs at least two warm tones, not one. The most common coloring mistake on Mater pages is using a single flat brown. Real rust is warm orange-red at the oxidation surface and deeper brown at the recesses. On Mater pages, a lighter orange-brown for the main panels and a darker, richer brown in the dents, door gaps, and recesses creates the layered weathered look that defines the character.
The windshield eyes are light grey-blue, not white. Mater’s large windshield eyes catch light and read as a slightly warm grey-blue rather than pure white. Keeping a slight cool tint in the eye area contrasts with the warm rust body.
On McQueen’s pages, make McQueen’s red vivid and Mater’s rust kept muted. The whole visual relationship between the two characters depends on this contrast. A bright red McQueen next to a muted, weathered Mater is the palette that tells their story. If both are equally saturated, the visual dynamic of the friendship disappears.
The Lego Duplo page uses a different palette. The Cars 3 Lego Duplo Mater page suits flat, bold fills in a simplified orange-brown rather than the nuanced rust approach of the film pages. Apply the standard Pixar approach to the other pages and treat the Lego page as a separate, simpler exercise.
5 Creative Craft Ideas with Mater Coloring Pages
Rust Texture Study
Color the Tow Mater portrait page using two tones: a lighter warm orange-brown for the main body panels and a darker rich brown for the dents, gaps, and recesses.
A focused rust-layering exercise on the most technically interesting car in the franchise. Takes about fifteen minutes.
Radiator Springs Friendship Pair
Color the Mater and McQueen paired page with McQueen in fully saturated red and Mater in muted rust-brown.
The two characters’ contrasting palettes on one page show how Pixar used color to distinguish personalities. Takes about fifteen minutes.
Tractor Tipping Night Scene
Color the Mater Goes Tractor Tipping page with a dark blue-grey night sky background, green tractors, and Mater’s warm, rust-colored glow against the cool darkness.
Warm character against cool night: a simple but effective color temperature contrast. Takes about fifteen minutes.
Radiator Springs Cast Display
Color Mater and McQueen, Sheriff and Mater, and Guido and Mater as a three-page cast display, keeping Mater’s rust palette identical across all three pages.
Three scenes, one consistent Mater, three contrasting co-characters. Takes about twenty-five minutes.
Film versus Lego Comparison
Color one standard Pixar-style Mater page using the nuanced rust palette and the Cars 3 Lego Duplo Mater page in flat, simplified orange-brown.
The same character in two visual languages: Pixar realism and Lego simplification. Takes about fifteen minutes.
FAQ About Mater Coloring Pages
Are these Mater coloring pages free, and can I color them online?
Yes. Every page is free, with no account, email, or payment required. Download the PDF to print at home, or open it in the online coloring tool to color on screen.
Who is Mater in the Cars franchise?
Tow Mater is a rusty brown 1951 International Harvester L-170 tow truck and the deuteragonist of the Pixar Cars franchise. He is voiced by Larry the Cable Guy and lives in Radiator Springs on Route 66. He is Lightning McQueen’s closest friend and serves as the main character of Cars 2, a spy comedy set in Europe and Japan.
Why is Mater so rusty?
Mater’s rust is an intentional design choice by Pixar, not a sign of neglect. The animators developed the rust texture carefully to give Mater a sense of age and history. Producer John Lasseter described the rust as equivalent to the lines on a human face, visible history that contributes to the character’s personality. The warm orange-red tones of the rust also make Mater visually approachable and friendly.
What kind of truck is Mater based on?
Mater is based on a 1951 International Harvester L-170 tow truck, a real American vehicle model. The specific model was chosen to match the Route 66 roadside setting of Radiator Springs and to give Mater the feel of a mid-century working vehicle.
What is the tractor tipping scene?
The tractor tipping scene is a moment in Cars where Mater takes Lightning McQueen out at night to sneak up on sleeping tractors and honk at them, causing the tractors to tip over and fall back down, similar to the real-world story of cow tipping. It is one of the most memorable scenes in the first film and is referenced in several of the short stories in Mater’s Tall Tales.
What is Cars 2 about, and why is Mater the main character?
Cars 2 is a spy comedy in which Mater accidentally becomes involved in an international espionage plot while traveling with Lightning McQueen to compete in the World Grand Prix. McQueen serves as a supporting character in Cars 2, while Mater drives the main story. The film was released on June 24, 2011.
Are these official Cars coloring pages?
No. These are fan-made coloring sheets for personal use and are not affiliated with, licensed by, or endorsed by Pixar Animation Studios, The Walt Disney Company, or any other rights holder of the Cars franchise.
What age group are these pages best suited for?
Mater coloring pages are best for children aged 3 and up. Younger children enjoy the expressive face and simple vehicle form, while the rust texture pages offer enough complexity to engage older children and adults who enjoy technique-based coloring.
Start Coloring
Download any page by clicking the design. No account, email, or payment is required. Pages print directly from the browser at full resolution or open in the online coloring tool for screen use. Share finished pages on Facebook or Pinterest using the share buttons at the top of each design page.
