You can turn a photo into paint by number at home with a free online pattern, a printer and your own paints. The photo gets reduced to a set of flat colors, each area gets a number, and a key tells you which paint goes where.
Our Custom Paint by Number tool makes a digital pattern. You download a PDF and PNG files, and nothing arrives in the mail. There is no canvas, no paint and no brushes unless you buy them yourself. If you want a boxed kit with paints included, look for a kit company instead.
Use your own photos, or pictures you have the rights to. We read the tool's code on November 3, 2026, and the numbers in this guide come from it. We have not painted a finished canvas from one of these patterns.
- Pick a photo with one clear subject, such as a pet or one or two people close to the camera.
- Upload it to the Custom Paint by Number tool. It takes JPG, PNG, WebP and HEIC files of at least 256 pixels on each side.
- Choose 12, 24 or 36 colors.
- Choose Easy, Medium or Detailed.
- Switch between Finished look and Numbered sheet in the preview. The preview runs in your browser and is free.
- Choose Letter, A4 or A3.
- Press Create my template. You need a free account to download, and it uses no credits.
The tool uses image processing and no AI, so you can predict what it will do. It smooths the photo in a way that flattens noise and skin texture but keeps edges like eyes and glasses. Then it groups similar colors into your chosen number of paints.
After that comes the step that changes your picture most. Any area too small or too thin to hold a printed number gets absorbed by the neighbor it shares the longest border with. So a thin necklace or a small highlight in an eye can vanish, even when the rest of the face looks right.
If a small detail matters to you, crop tighter before you upload. A face that fills the frame gets more pixels than a face in a group photo, so its details are more likely to survive.
Detail sets the smallest area the tool allows. The code gives this as a minimum radius, which is the largest circle that fits inside the area. We worked out what that means on paper for a 4:3 photo, large enough to use the tool's full 1100-pixel working size, printed in landscape.
| Detail | Smallest circle on Letter | Smallest circle on A3 |
|---|
| Easy | about 4.1 mm wide | about 5.9 mm wide |
| Medium | about 2.6 mm wide | about 3.7 mm wide |
| Detailed | about 1.9 mm wide | about 2.7 mm wide |
An area can have narrow arms, but its widest point should be about this wide, and most areas are larger. Try a pencil dot in a circle of that size on scrap paper. If you cannot paint inside a 2 mm circle on a good day, skip Detailed on Letter paper.
Going from Letter to A3 makes everything about 1.44 times wider, which is a cheap way to make the same pattern easier. A home printer usually stops at Letter or A4, so a print shop can handle the A3 file. A3 is the largest size in the tool.
The tool offers 12 colors for quick projects, 24 for balance and 36 for a richer result. More colors means more areas of slightly different shades, so a skin tone breaks into more patches.
The count is a maximum. The tool only keeps colors still in use after small areas merge, so you may get fewer than you asked for.
The preview line reads "about N areas in this preview." The preview runs at 420 pixels and the download at 1100, so the final sheet will have a different count. Treat the preview as a rough guide to the look.
The PDF has two pages.
Page one is the numbered outline. The tool places each number at the point deepest inside its area, so the number sits in the roomiest spot. Number 1 is always the lightest color, and the numbers go up as colors get darker.
Page two has a preview of the finished painting and the color key. Each row of the key shows the number, a swatch, a hex code and a rough paint mix.
You also get PNG files of the numbered sheet and the finished look. If you plan to print on canvas, those are the files to take to the shop.
The tool suggests a mix from five basic paints: white, black, red, yellow and blue. It lists only the three biggest parts, rounded to the nearest 5 percent.
We ran that function on one orange-brown, #C8783C, and it returned "30% red + 25% white + 25% yellow." Those parts add up to 80 percent, because a fourth part was dropped. Treat the mix as a starting point. Real paints differ from brand to brand, so mix a little and hold it against the printed swatch. The PDF itself says to match by eye.
If you are new to mixing, our color mixing chart explains why the colors shift. Since number 1 is the lightest, you can paint in number order and let darker colors cover small slips.
You have three options, depending on what you will paint on.
- Paint straight on the print. Use thick paper or cardstock so the paper does not buckle. This is the easiest choice for a first try or for kids.
- Trace onto canvas. Art in Context's guide on its own paint-by-number generator suggests printing at the size of your canvas, then tracing with graphite transfer paper or a light box.
- Pay for a canvas print. The same guide mentions taking the PNG to a print shop that prints on canvas. If lines show through pale paint, add a second coat.
Acrylic works well on canvas and thick paper. For watercolor, print on watercolor paper and choose fewer colors with larger areas.
Art in Context's generator uses a similar method, grouping colors in the same color space. Its page says it runs in your browser with no account and no watermark, prints on US Letter or A4, and offers paler lines for light paints. Ours needs a free account to download and adds A3. Try both on the same photo and keep the sheet you would rather paint.
If you only want crayons or colored pencils, you may not need any of this. Our guide to making your own color by number covers the simpler version, and what is color by number explains how the two differ. For a coloring page with no numbers, see how to turn a picture into a coloring page.
No. It is a digital pattern you print yourself or at a print shop. You supply the paint, brushes and canvas or thick paper.
Yes. The preview is free with no account. The download needs a free account and uses no credits.
Start with 24 and look at the preview. Go to 36 if the fur looks flat, or drop to 12 for a young painter.
Print as large as you can. For a 4:3 photo, A3 makes every area about 1.44 times wider than Letter.
Yes. Print the pattern, add a small paint set and brushes, and include the color key page so the person can check each shade.
Last checked November 3, 2026.
