Painting by numbers

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Painting by numbers is the process of filling in a given picture with colors. The template is formed by a network of surface contours. The task for the artistic layman is to paint these surfaces. The color to be used is indicated by a number within each area.

In some cases it is possible to create several different images from one drawing. Painting by numbers has long been one of the most popular ways to try painting as a layperson in the field of hobby art.

Painting by Numbers is usually available as a complete pack (set), which contains a brush, water-based "acrylic paints" (painting without odor nuisance) or oil paints as well as a canvas-structured cardboard with the printed motif for coloring and detailed instructions. There are also sets in which the individual surfaces are not only provided with numbers but also with letters. Buyers can find the numbers on the paint pots. The areas with letters are mixed one to one, for example from the colors 1 + 10 = A the same amount in each case. These sets also contain a control sheet with the color combinations to be mixed.

In the 1960s Andy Warhol made painting by numbers in his Do-It-Yourself pictures the subject of his own artistic work.

Painting by numbers is a word mark of Ravensburger AG and the Mammut sales organization as well as the American Dimensions-crafts (PaintWorks Paint-by-number), which are now also available in Germany. Another supplier of paint-by-numbers motifs is the company Schipper Arts & Crafts GmbH from Nuremberg. The technique was invented by Palmer's Paint Company.

inventor

The invention is attributed to the artist Dan Robbins . The American developed the idea in the 1940s and died on April 1, 2019, at the age of 93 in Ohio . Back then he was working for a paint manufacturer. In 2004, he stated in an interview that he was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. Company boss Max S. Klein († 1993) suggested landscape and animal motifs, Robbins made the first dozen templates, later other artists were commissioned. Many of these templates were sold in the 1950s, and in 2001 the National Museum of American History , Washington devoted an exhibition to the do-it-yourself pictures.

Modifications

A variation of the principle is to complete a picture by connecting numbered points in ascending order with straight lines. This variant can often be found on the packaging of breakfast cereals .

Occasionally, areas of given knitting patterns are numbered in order to avoid confusing similar colors .

See also

Web links

Commons : Paint by number  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Inventor of “Painting by Numbers” died orf.at, April 5, 2019, accessed April 5, 2019. - With the template: Dan Robbins Paint By Numbers self portrait. (1997)
  2. ↑ John Seewer: Artist who created first paint-by-numbers pictures dies apnews.com, April 4, 2019, accessed April 5, 2019. (English)