A paint by number book and a paint by number kit are different products that happen to share a name. One is a bound book of numbered designs printed on paper. The other is a single cotton canvas with the paints mixed to match it. Which you want depends entirely on whether the finished thing is meant to go on a wall.
What a paint by number book actually is
A paperback or spiral-bound book with numbered designs printed on the pages, usually two or three dozen of them. Some come with a small set of paints or paint-filled markers; many come with nothing and expect you to supply your own watercolor or acrylic.
The pages are paper. Better books use a heavier paper stock and perforate the pages so they can be removed; cheaper ones are printed on ordinary book paper on both sides, which means painting one page ruins the one behind it.
What that means in practice
Paper buckles
This is the main thing to know. Water-based paint swells paper fibers, and a page that has taken any quantity of wet paint will cockle into ripples as it dries. Heavy stock and thin paint reduce it. Nothing eliminates it.
It matters less than you might think if the book is for the doing rather than the keeping, and it matters a great deal if you wanted to frame the result.
Colors are usually approximate
A canvas kit ships with paints mixed specifically for that design, so number 14 is exactly the color number 14 is meant to be. A book with a general paint set gives you a palette that has to cover thirty different designs, so you are matching by eye and mixing.
Some people enjoy that. It is genuinely closer to painting than following a kit is. But it is a different activity from what most people mean when they say paint by numbers.
Scale
A book page is small, so the sections are small, and small sections on paper need a fine brush and good light. If reading small print is any effort at all, a book is harder work than a 16x20 canvas, not easier.
What a book is genuinely good for
- Practice. Thirty designs at low cost is a lot of brush time. If you want to get better at edges and paint loading before committing to a large canvas, this is an efficient way to do it.
- Travel. A book, a small paint set and a water brush pack into a bag. A stretched canvas does not.
- Short sittings. A page takes an evening or two rather than several weeks. If you like finishing things, that is a real advantage.
- Trying the format cheaply. If you are not sure this is for you at all, a book answers the question for very little money.
What a canvas kit is good for
- Something to hang. This is the whole difference. A finished canvas is a painting on a wall; a finished book page is a page in a book.
- A licensed original design. Ledgebay's 39 designs are licensed from working painters rather than generated to fill a book.
- Paints matched to the picture. No mixing, no guessing, and a matching set in the extra paint collection when a color runs out.
- Larger sections. A 16x20 canvas is considerably easier on the eyes than a book page of the same design.
- A subject that is yours. A custom canvas made from your own photo has no equivalent in book form.
If you buy a book, what to look for
- Perforated pages, printed one side only. Otherwise you cannot remove a finished page and you lose the design on the back.
- Paper weight. Heavier stock buckles less. If the listing does not say, assume it is ordinary book paper.
- Whether paint is included, and if so what kind. Acrylic covers the printed numbers; watercolor is transparent and largely does not, which is why watercolor numbered books tend to leave the numbers faintly visible in the finished picture.
- Section size, visible in the sample images. Dense, intricate designs on a small page are a magnifier job.
To reduce buckling: use as little water as the paint will tolerate, work in thin coats, and tape the removed page down flat to a board on all four edges while you paint. Let it dry taped down and it will stay much flatter.
Why Ledgebay does not sell books
Worth stating plainly rather than dancing around it. Ledgebay sells canvas kits and nothing else in this category: 39 licensed designs in 12x16 framed, 16x20 framed and 16x20 unframed, plus custom canvases made from customer photographs.
The reasoning is the wall. Almost everything people say about why they enjoy these is about the object at the end of it, and paper does not give you that. If a book is what you want, buy a book. It is a perfectly good thing to want, and it is not what this catalog is for.
Common questions
Can I frame a page from a paint by number book?
Yes, if the pages are perforated and printed on one side. Cut or tear it out cleanly, weight it flat under books for a day or two to take out the buckling, then mount it to a backing board and frame it. Treat it as a work on paper, which means glazing it rather than hanging it bare.
Can I use my canvas kit paints in a book?
You can, and acrylic covers the printed numbers well. Thin it very slightly and use less than you would on canvas, because paper takes far less paint before it saturates.
Are there paint by number books for adults specifically?
Yes, and the useful distinction is section density rather than subject. Adult titles have more, smaller sections. Check the sample pages rather than the cover.
Which should I start with?
If you want to find out whether you enjoy the format, a book. If you already know you do and you want something to hang, a canvas. The beginner guide covers what makes a first canvas easy or hard, and the catalog lists all 39 designs.
