Custom Paint by Numbers

Custom paint by numbers turns your own photo into a numbered canvas kit, printed and shipped in the USA. Send a picture, we do the rest.

People send us the house they grew up in, a wedding photo, a dog that is no longer around, a grandchild, a view from a holiday they keep talking about. We convert the image into a numbered outline, mix the paint set to match its colors, and ship it as a complete kit. The person painting it spends ten or twenty hours with a picture that actually means something, and ends up with something worth hanging.

How it works

1. Choose your size and whether you want it framed, then add to cart.
2. Upload your photo at checkout.
3. We convert it to a numbered canvas and match the paints to your image.
4. It ships as a full kit, ready to paint.

Veteran-owned, and printed in the USA

Ledgebay is a veteran-owned business. Your canvas is printed here after you order, not drop-shipped from overseas. That is the main reason it arrives in a sensible window rather than a month later, and it means if something is wrong with the file there is a person who can look at it before it goes to print.

What makes a good photo

This is the step that decides how the finished painting looks, so it is worth a minute of thought. The conversion reduces your photograph to flat areas of a single color, which means detail that depends on subtle gradation will not survive. Photos that already read clearly as shapes convert best.

Works well:

• Bright, even light. Daylight beats a dim indoor shot every time.
• The subject large in the frame. A face from the shoulders up rather than a full-length figure across a room.
• Clear separation between subject and background. A dog against a plain wall converts cleanly; the same dog in long grass of a similar color does not.
• One or two subjects, or a larger canvas if there are more.

Struggles:

• Heavy backlighting, where the subject is in shadow against a bright window or sky.
• Motion blur, or a low-resolution crop from a group shot.
• Busy patterned backgrounds that compete with the subject.
• Very dark photos, where everything resolves to the same two or three tones.

If you are not sure whether a particular picture will work, send it over before ordering and we will tell you honestly. We would rather say so in advance than have you disappointed by the canvas.

Choosing a size

All three sizes come framed or unframed.

• 12x16 — right for a single subject: one face, one pet, a building. The most popular choice for a first custom kit.
• 16x20 — the middle option, and the easier one on the eyes. Sections are larger, so it suits anyone who finds fine detail tiring.
• 18x24 — choose this if your photo has more than one person in it. The extra size is less about wall presence than about giving every face enough sections to actually look like that person. Two or three faces on a 12x16 gets tight.

Framed arrives pre-stretched on a wooden frame, ready to hang the moment you put the brush down, with a small tabletop easel included. Unframed gives you the same canvas and the same paints for less, rolled in a tube. The unframed canvas is trimmed close to the printed edge, so it suits mounting to a board or taping rather than stretching over your own frame.

What's in the box

• Your photo, printed as a numbered cotton canvas, pre-primed so the paint sits on the surface rather than soaking in
• A full acrylic paint set mixed to match your image, vacuum-sealed so it arrives moist rather than half dried
• Brushes in a range of sizes, wooden handles
• Printed instructions and a color reference of your own photograph to work from
• Rolled in a tube, never folded, so there are no creases to flatten out
• Framed sizes also include a wooden tabletop easel

Will it look like the photo?

It will look like a painting of the photo, which is the point. Fine detail becomes brushwork, so expect a portrait to read as a portrait rather than a photocopy. Skin tones become a handful of numbered shades rather than a continuous gradient, and that is what gives a finished custom canvas its handmade quality.

If you want to see how they turn out, our customer gallery is finished work sent in by the people who painted it, custom canvases included.

How long does it take to paint?

Most people spend ten to twenty hours on one, a bit at a time over a few weeks. Nothing spoils if you leave it for a while between sessions. Work from the darkest colors toward the lightest — darks cover the printed numbers in one coat, pale colors often need two, and light paint straying into a dark section is easy to cover later.

Who it suits

No painting experience is needed. Every section is printed with a number matching a numbered pot, so there is no drawing, no color mixing and nothing to work out in advance.

What is genuinely harder about a custom canvas than a stock design is that you know exactly what it is meant to look like. With a landscape you have never seen before, a slightly wrong edge does not register. With your own grandmother's face, it does. That is worth knowing before you start, and it is also why finishing one feels like it counts.

Common questions

How do I send my photo?
You upload it at checkout, after choosing your size. If you would rather have it checked first, send it to us before you order.

Can you do more than one person in a photo?
Yes. Go up a size if you can. Two or three faces on a 12x16 gets tight, whereas the 18x24 gives each one enough sections to look like themselves.

How long does a custom kit take to arrive?
Longer than a stock design, because your canvas is made after you order. It is printed and shipped from the USA rather than drop-shipped from overseas.

What if I run out of a color?
You can add one or two extra paint sets at checkout when you order. A heavily used color running low is the most common thing people write to us about, and a spare set removes the problem entirely.

Can I use an old or damaged photograph?
Often, yes. Age and slight damage matter less than light and contrast. Send it over and we will tell you what we can do with it.

What kind of paint is it?
Soft body acrylic. Water-based, low odor, cleans up with soap and water, and it dries slightly darker than it looks wet, so judge a color once it has dried.

Is this a good gift?
It is the most-gifted thing we make, usually for a birthday, an anniversary, a retirement or a new home. If you are giving it, order the framed version so there is nothing left to buy afterward, and allow time — the canvas is made after you order, so it is not a same-week gift.

Can I hang it when it is finished?
The framed version is ready to hang as it is. The unframed canvas will need mounting or framing once the paint has fully cured.