DIY Paint By Numbers

Jamie from C.R.A.F.T is back sharing a fun gift to give kids and adults too!  It is a custom paint by number set.  All you need is your favorite photograph and once painted you get an Andy Warhol style pop art for your walls.

I’ve always enjoyed doing paint by number kits! It’s relaxing, creative, and you end up with a painted masterpiece! I like giving gifts that I would be excited to open, and I can tell you 100% that I would absolutely love a personalized paint by number gift set! I also love it because it’s an easy, lightweight gift to send in the mail…

Supplies:

An 8×10 canvas

Carbon copy tracing paper (You can get it at Michael’s!)

A pencil

Plastic paint cups

Acrylic paint

picmonkey.com or other editing software

printer

First, upload your picture to picmonkey.com, and use the posterize button. You can see my original picture and the edited version of the one I used to create the paint by number. Play around with color, contrast, and shadows to make the picture work for you. I also use the straighten feature in picmonkey.com to make him on more of a diagonal. Here is the before and after of a the picture I used.

Next, print out the edited version of your picture and start creating the by number! I used a black pen to define exactly what shape was what on my printed picture. You can see my printed picture, canvas, and paint cups below.

I’ve got my paint by number graph made up and I’m ready to transfer it to the canvas.

Transferring the image to the canvas was a lot easier than I thought! I used the carbon copy transfer paper, my printed image, and the tip of a mechanical pencil with no lead to trace my image. After you trace the image, pick up your tracing paper and go over the carbon lines with a pencil. Add in the numbers from your original printed sheet.

Here is a close up of the final paint by number graph on the canvas.

The last thing to do is mix up your paint colors! I decided to use 7 colors for my paint by number. I mixed up a dark and light skin color.

I added numbers to the tops of the plastic paint containers that correspond to the paint by number graph. Then I packaged it up with a paintbrush, and sent it on it’s way! Hopefully, the painting turns out as lovely as it did in my brain!

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