# Learning to Color from Language

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.06026 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.06026/

## Key facts

- Cited by 16 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Apr 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [Control Color: Multimodal Diffusion-based Interactive Image Colorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10855/) (2024)
- [Diffusing Colors: Image Colorization with Text Guided Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.04145/) (2023)
- [Semantic-Sparse Colorization Network for Deep Exemplar-based Colorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.01335/) (2021)
- [UniColor: A Unified Framework for Multi-Modal Colorization with Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.11223/) (2022)
- [Automatic Controllable Colorization via Imagination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.05661/) (2024)
- [Focusing on Persons: Colorizing Old Images Learning from Modern Historical Movies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.06515/) (2021)
- [ColorFlow: Retrieval-Augmented Image Sequence Colorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.11815/) (2024)
- [L-CAD: Language-based Colorization with Any-level Descriptions using Diffusion Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.15217/) (2023)
- [Generating Compositional Color Representations from Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.10477/) (2021)
- [L-C4: Language-Based Video Colorization for Creative and Consistent Color](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.04972/) (2024)
- [ViT-Inception-GAN for Image Colourising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.06321/) (2021)
- [MMC: Multi-Modal Colorization of Images using Textual Descriptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.11993/) (2023)
- [Audio-Infused Automatic Image Colorization by Exploiting Audio Scene Semantics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.13270/) (2024)
- [Computer-aided Colorization State-of-the-science: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.02288/) (2024)
- [Enabling Region-Specific Control via Lassos in Point-Based Colorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.13469/) (2024)
- [Prompt-based Consistent Video Colorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.22330/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Automatic colorization is the process of adding color to greyscale images. We condition this process on language, allowing end users to manipulate a colorized image by feeding in different captions. We present two different architectures for language-conditioned colorization, both of which produce more accurate and plausible colorizations than a language-agnostic version. Through this language-based framework, we can dramatically alter colorizations by manipulating descriptive color words in captions.