В журнале есть цветные картинки.

in

Breakdown of В журнале есть цветные картинки.

• журнал: the magazine
• картинка: the picture
• цветной: colored

Questions & Answers about В журнале есть цветные картинки.

Why is it в журнале, not в журнал or в журнала?

Because after в meaning in, Russian uses the prepositional case when you are talking about location.

• журнал = magazine
• в журнале = in the magazine

So:

• в журнал would normally suggest motion into something, but with журнал that would sound unnatural here anyway.
• в журнале is the correct form for inside/in a magazine.

This is a very common pattern:

• в доме = in the house
• в книге = in the book
• в журнале = in the magazine

Why is there есть in the sentence?

Here есть means there is / there are, not eat.

So:

• В журнале есть цветные картинки. = There are color pictures in the magazine.

Russian often uses есть to show that something exists / is present somewhere.

A useful idea:

• X есть Y can sometimes feel like Y exists in X or X has Y depending on the sentence.

In everyday Russian, есть is often omitted in some kinds of sentences, but in an existential sentence like this one, it is very natural.