Paint by numbers from your own photo

Everything between "I have a photo" and "it's on the wall": picking the photo, printing at the right scale, getting the lines onto canvas, mixing colors and painting.

What you need

• A stretched or panel canvas in the size you chose. Primed white canvas from any art store is fine.
• Acrylic paints. A student set with white, black, two yellows, two reds, a blue, a green and two browns covers almost everything. Buy a large tube of white; most mixes use far more of it than anything else.
• Brushes: a fine round (size 0 or 1) for small regions and edges, a small flat for medium regions, and a larger flat for big areas.
• Graphite or carbon transfer paper and a pen or dull pencil for tracing. Graphite paper erases more easily.
• Tape, a palette or a few lidded containers, water, and paper towels.

Choose the photo and settings

Good photos have one clear subject, even light, and not too much busy background. Pets, landscapes and flowers are forgiving. Faces are the hardest: small changes in a few regions change the expression, so give faces a larger canvas or the Fine region size.

Canvas size. Larger canvases hold more detail at the same region size. 16×20 in (40×50 cm) is a good first project; at 8×10 in only the big shapes survive.

Colors. 24 colors suits most photos. 12 gives a bold, poster-like look and fewer mixes. 36 keeps subtle gradients but means more mixing.

Region size. Large is relaxing and quick. Fine is closer to the photo but can take several times longer. Use the Preview tab to compare before you print.

Print at the right scale

Choose Print PDF, then pick your home paper size, Letter or A4. The tiled option splits the pattern across several sheets; the full-size option is one sheet at canvas size for a print shop or large-format printer.

In the print dialog, set scale to 100% or Actual size. "Fit to page" shrinks every sheet slightly and the sheets won't line up. Measure the small ruler under each sheet (2 in or 50 mm) to confirm.

Print the color list page too. It lists every number with its mixing recipe.

Join the sheets

Each sheet is labeled A1, A2, B1 and so on, and has gray overlap strips on its right and bottom edges. Lay the next sheet over the strip so the lines continue, hold it up to a window if that helps, and tape along the back. Join each row first, then join the rows.

Trim the outer border at the corner marks so the pattern matches the canvas edges.

Trace onto the canvas

1. Lay transfer paper on the canvas, dark side down.
2. Place the pattern on top, line its corners up with the canvas corners, and tape the edges so nothing shifts.
3. Trace every line with firm, even pressure. Lift a corner now and then to check the lines are coming through.
4. Write the numbers small in pencil inside each region, or keep the printed pattern next to you and look them up as you go.

A print shop can also print the full-size PDF directly onto canvas, which skips tracing entirely.

Mix the colors

Each recipe is in parts by volume. "Titanium White 10 + Cadmium Yellow 1" means ten equal scoops of white to one scoop of yellow. Use the same small spoon, palette-knife tip or pea-sized dab for every part.

• Start with the lighter paint and add the darker one gradually. It takes far less dark paint to shift a light color than the reverse.
• Add black last and in tiny amounts; it overwhelms everything else.
• Mix a full batch of each number at once, enough for every region with that number, and keep it in a lidded container. Remixing halfway rarely matches.
• Paint brands differ a little. If a mix looks off, compare a dab with the swatch in the app and nudge it.

In the app, My paints lets you switch off tubes you don't own and recalculates every recipe for what you have.

Paint

• Light colors before dark ones. Dark paint covers light easily; the other way needs extra coats.
• Large regions before small ones, working from the top of the canvas down so your hand doesn't smudge wet paint.
• Paint up to the line, not past it. A fine round brush held almost upright gives the cleanest edges.
• Two thin coats beat one thick one. Let the first dry, usually 10 to 20 minutes for acrylics, before the second.
• Keep the Color it tab open on your phone to track which numbers are done.

Fix mistakes and finish

Acrylic dries opaque, so most mistakes disappear under the right color once dry. If a pencil number shows through a light color, add one more coat. After everything has dried for a day, a coat of satin or matte acrylic varnish evens out the sheen and protects the surface.

Ready to start? Make your pattern. It's free and runs in your browser.