VATO Photo to Custom DIY Paint by Numbers for Adults,Your Own Private Picture Personalized Customized PBN, No Frame (16" x 16")

This is in-progress work and i am SO happy with it. I took an image from the internet and thought ‘I’ll take my chances’. Glad i did.The colors are spot on (except the eyes; more to follow) and the details are great. Lines and numbers are printed clearly.Cillian Murphy’s (Tommy Shelby, Peaky Blinders, here) eyes are his best feature (oh, and his lips!) but the image indicated a much darker blue for one area in each eye. I found a better (lighter) color from my stash.The paint brushes are standard cheap but serviceable, in three sizes and I’m doing fine w. them. The paints are good. Love that there’s a second paint pot of a particular color for the one that’ll be used so very much.I had another paint.by.number made from a photo and find that both companies’ images seem to lose the subtle values that seem to show up in the photographs. Their colors tend toward greater extremes, higher contrast, losing the nuances.Of the two paint.by.numbers I’ve had made - this is the company I would use again. Definitely recommend.

This custom order was my first experience with paint-by-number and I was so pleased with the final result. I got the 16x20 size, which took me around 2 weeks of casually painting during the evening while watching a show, to finish.Things I liked:Easy to read. A reference print was also included in the kit which was helpful as I neared the end of the painting and needed to do touch ups on certain colors/numbersDetails! The details that “translated” magnificently from photograph to painting such as a dimple in someone’s cheek, the eyeglasses worn by someone else, the distinct cheekbones on another person. Each family member is 100% recognizable in the painting.Colors: The paint colors were a perfect match compared to the original photograph.Supplies: Before I began the painting I was worried I would run out of paint but there was plenty of each color.The kit included three paint brushes of various sizes.Giftable: This painting is of my parents with all their grandchildren. I gifted it to them for their anniversary. You could do this with wedding pictures, baby pictures, favorite vacation pictures; favorite landscape. The possibilities for making a personal and special gift like this are numerous!Things I didn’t like:Due to the photograph showing sunshine directly on some of the subject’s faces the paint color was bright white. One face in particular was scary-white. Think Dwight Schrute wearing the CPR mask scary. I ended up diluting some other paint a little bit and layering that over the bright faces and it seemed to fix it.Shadows: there were two faces with some shadows on their face- which translates to pure black paint for the eyes and eyebrows. I understand why it was coded with the color black but I thought it looked too harsh so I attempted to soften it on my own.Hardware came in the kit, I believe it’s for hanging the picture but I have no idea how to do it because there weren’t any instructionsThings that helped me:I diluted the paint with a couple drops of water from off my paint brush and stirring it til mixed. This helped the paint go on smoother. I did have to do 2-3 coats for some of the colors but I think it was worth the effort.Lines; make sure to smudge or go over the lines a little when painting so you don’t see the printed outline of each color. It’s okay to paint outside the lines :)I taped the edges of the canvas to keep the outer lines crisp/straight. I am glad I did this!

For reference, I'm an amateur artist. I usually paint animated stuff. I never really learned how to paint anything realistic. I loved painting this photo of my mom's dog. The paint by number helped alot and there were parts that I tweaked to make them look more realistic and less pixilated. It was trial and error, but I loved it because in a way it helped me figure it out on my own. Overall I loved the quality of the picture, paints, and canvas. Will definitely be purchasing again!

UPDATE: I bought a second one. I ordered it “framed” which only means you get a frame, you still have to put it together. But it is worth it because these are not a true 16x20 but they fit the frame included well and easy to put together.I still say they have the best quality paints of all I’ve tried.I received this one a day earlier than predicted but it was 6 days before Christmas. I managed to finish it just in time to give! Had to add a few artistic touches and the colors were a little off but overall, you be the judge with portrait photo I included of actual photo vs painting.I almost returned this. I could not get it on a frame well. It took many attempts and the canvas must be thinner than most as it stretched in places and could not be corrected. Also, the size not only is smaller than 16x20 but the actual canvas material is too small to wrap around a .5” frame. I’ll have to reframe this. So to compensate, you will have to paint beyond the outlines to reach the full frame.That being said... it is my 3rd PBN and the ONLY one to include 36 colors! Not only this, but the paint itself is nice and thick and covered well. I would have given this project one star but the paint made up for all the other negatives.If I order another one from them... I’ll make sure THEY frame it! That was truly a nightmare.Also, nice to have the faint coloring on canvas (which I think all “new” digitals do) and they also gave a numbered copy so you don’t need a before pic to follow. The numbers were easy to read but sometimes were over the lines so the sheet came in handy when you are “forced” to paint over half the number(I took some artistic liberties on my final painting)

My custom kit came early, and I'm already enjoying it. The paint is very creamy and covers well. At first, I was concerned about the substrate since it's more of a fabric and less of a canvas material, but it works fine - no bleeding or wicking.My particular image is of a person (I've posted a WIP picture), and while the face is reproduced extremely faithfully, the choices of paint for the skin color/s is a little dark - it makes my sister look a bit like she's used too much self-tanner :-). In addition, there are two places where her white hair is too close in color to the white snow behind her, so I will need to add lowlights for texture/depth. Very satisfied!!