How do I make a paint by number from a photo?

Add the photo and set the number of colours and the detail. The tool makes the line sheet, the numbers and the colour key; check the result with "Finished (colored)" and save it as PDF or PNG.

How many colours should a paint-by-number sheet have?

16 to 24 for landscapes and flowers, 24 to 30 for portraits. Fewer colours give large, easy areas; more colours look natural but make many more areas.

How do I paint areas without a number?

An area too small for a brush gets no number. Paint it in the colour of the neighbouring area it touches, or raise "Merge small areas" to merge it away.

How do I match the paint colours?

Choose the paint closest to the swatch and its hex value in the key. The mixing hints such as "add white" or "a little black" only point in the direction of the lightness to aim for.

Does changing the canvas size change the sheet?

No. The sheet stays the same; only the real width of the smallest area is recalculated. A larger canvas makes every area wider and easier to paint.

Paint by Number Pattern Maker

Turn a photo into a paint-by-number canvas: 12 to 36 colours, detail control, small areas merged, a number in every area, a line sheet with a colour key and a coloured preview

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Turns a photo into a paint-by-number sheet. The colours are reduced to 12 to 36, areas of connected colour are found and numbered, and the tool produces a line sheet with black outlines and numbers, a colour key and a coloured preview of the finished painting. Use it to make a custom paint by number canvas from a family or pet photo.

How to use

A sheet made from the lakeside sample is shown first. For your own photo, click "Drop a photo or drawing here or click to choose" or paste it with Ctrl+V.
Set the number of paints with "Colors" and how much small detail to keep with "Detail". If many areas are too small for a number, raise "Merge small areas".
Switch "Preview" between "Line sheet" and "Finished (colored)", and use the compare slider at the top to overlay the original and the sheet.
Enter "Canvas width" in cm to see the canvas size and the real width of the smallest area. Tap a number in the colour key to show only that colour's areas.
Use "Save as PDF", "Print", "Line sheet PNG" or "Colored PNG". The first printed sheet is the line drawing, the second the colour key.

How it works

The photo is scaled to a long side of 320 to 900 px depending on "Detail", blurred slightly, and its colours are grouped with k-means in the CIELAB colour space into as many colours as chosen. A 3 × 3 majority filter smooths the borders and connected areas of one colour are found.
Areas smaller than the chosen size, or too thin for a brush, are merged into the neighbouring colour they border most. Each number sits at the deepest point of its area, and an area that is still too small stays unnumbered.
Outlines are vector lines along the area borders, simplified and rounded, so they print crisply at any size. The colour names and mixing hints in the key describe lightness and hue in words; the hex value is the exact colour.
The picture is processed in this browser on this device and is never uploaded. Only the settings are saved in this browser.

Choosing colours and detail for a paint by number from a photo

Commercial paint-by-number kits use about 24 colours. A portrait needs separate numbers for the light, middle and shadow tones of skin to look solid, so 24 to 30 colours suit it; landscapes and flowers work with 16 to 24. More colours mean more areas and more painting time.

"Detail" changes the working resolution and the size an area must reach. For a child or a small canvas (20 to 30 cm), set detail 3 or 4 for large areas; on a canvas of 50 cm or more, detail 6 to 8 still leaves areas wide enough for a brush. If "Smallest area width" drops below 3 mm, raise "Merge small areas".

Transferring the printed sheet to a canvas

Print the line sheet at the canvas size, or print it smaller and transfer it with a grid, a projector or carbon paper. The saved PNG of the line sheet can also be printed at canvas size for tracing.

Paint one colour at a time in the order of the key, light colours before dark ones, for clean borders. Paint unnumbered small areas in the colour of the neighbouring area they touch. Keep the "Finished (colored)" preview next to you to check the colours.

Questions and answers

How do I make a paint by number from a photo?: Add the photo and set the number of colours and the detail. The tool makes the line sheet, the numbers and the colour key; check the result with "Finished (colored)" and save it as PDF or PNG.
How many colours should a paint-by-number sheet have?: 16 to 24 for landscapes and flowers, 24 to 30 for portraits. Fewer colours give large, easy areas; more colours look natural but make many more areas.
How do I paint areas without a number?: An area too small for a brush gets no number. Paint it in the colour of the neighbouring area it touches, or raise "Merge small areas" to merge it away.
How do I match the paint colours?: Choose the paint closest to the swatch and its hex value in the key. The mixing hints such as "add white" or "a little black" only point in the direction of the lightness to aim for.
Does changing the canvas size change the sheet?: No. The sheet stays the same; only the real width of the smallest area is recalculated. A larger canvas makes every area wider and easier to paint.