diff --git a/skimage/draw/_draw.pyx b/skimage/draw/_draw.pyx
index c22600a4..db63d343 100644
--- a/skimage/draw/_draw.pyx
+++ b/skimage/draw/_draw.pyx
@@ -834,31 +834,3 @@ def bezier_curve(Py_ssize_t y0, Py_ssize_t x0,
     px.extend(rr)
     py.extend(cc)
     return np.array(px, dtype=np.intp), np.array(py, dtype=np.intp)
-
-
-def set_color(img, coords, color):
-    """Set pixel color in the image at the given coordinates.
-
-    Coordinates that exceed the shape of the image will be ignored.
-
-    Parameters
-    ----------
-    img : (M, N, D) ndarray
-        Image
-    coords : ((P,) ndarray, (P,) ndarray)
-        Coordinates of pixels to be colored.
-    color : (D,) ndarray
-        Color to be assigned to coordinates in the image.
-
-    Returns
-    -------
-    img : (M, N, D) ndarray
-        The updated image.
-
-    """
-
-    rr, cc = coords
-    rr_inside = np.logical_and(rr >= 0, rr < img.shape[0])
-    cc_inside = np.logical_and(cc >= 0, cc < img.shape[1])
-    inside = np.logical_and(rr_inside, cc_inside)
-    img[rr[inside], cc[inside]] = color
diff --git a/skimage/draw/draw.py b/skimage/draw/draw.py
index cbf3ced2..c823b73e 100644
--- a/skimage/draw/draw.py
+++ b/skimage/draw/draw.py
@@ -2,11 +2,6 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 
-def _coords_inside_image(rr, cc, shape):
-    mask = (rr >= 0) & (rr < shape[0]) & (cc >= 0) & (cc < shape[1])
-    return rr[mask], cc[mask]
-
-
 def ellipse(cy, cx, yradius, xradius, shape=None):
     """Generate coordinates of pixels within ellipse.
 
@@ -131,26 +126,10 @@ def set_color(img, coords, color):
     img : (M, N, D) ndarray
         The updated image.
 
-    Examples
-    --------
-    >>> from skimage.draw import line, set_color
-    >>> img = np.zeros((10, 10), dtype=np.uint8)
-    >>> rr, cc = line(1, 1, 20, 20)
-    >>> set_color(img, (rr, cc), 1)
-    >>> img
-    array([[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
-           [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
-           [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
-           [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
-           [0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
-           [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0],
-           [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0],
-           [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0],
-           [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0],
-           [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1]], dtype=uint8)
-
     """
 
     rr, cc = coords
-    rr, cc = _coords_inside_image(rr, cc, img.shape)
-    img[rr, cc] = color
+    rr_inside = np.logical_and(rr >= 0, rr < img.shape[0])
+    cc_inside = np.logical_and(cc >= 0, cc < img.shape[1])
+    inside = np.logical_and(rr_inside, cc_inside)
+    img[rr[inside], cc[inside]] = color