Do you crave original art but balk at paying gallery prices? No problem! Paint By Numbers software empowers you to create original paintings that will amaze your friends. Forget your paint by number biases against bad still-lifes and sad clowns; here you choose the image, the size, and the level of detail to create a painting that's uniquely yours.

 

We used Paint By Numbers software (available at colorwheelcompany.com) to turn a photograph into large-scale, inexpensive artwork. Here's how we did it:

• You can use a digital photo you've taken or scan a printed photo onto a computer running Microsoft Windows.
• Install the Paint By Numbers software onto the same PC.

• Launch the program and view the image. Crop if needed.
• Choose the size and level of detail you want for your finished painting.

• Pick the brand of paint you plan to use from the pull-down menu.
• Brands include most major crafts and artist's acrylics.
  Print out your paint palette of brand-specific colors and ratios for mixing custom colors.

• The software turns the original photo into a black-and-white line drawing that you can print out to the desired size. The image can be tiled onto several pieces of paper and taped together for a large image.
• Each area of the drawing is numbered to correspond to the colors of the palette.

• Place a piece of graphite paper on top of a canvas, then put the pattern on top of that and trace the image. Use a color pencil so you can see what you've traced. (Or use an opaque projector for large pieces.)
• Paint according to the color key.