This is the page we send people who email asking "where do I start". It is long on purpose. Skim the headings and read the parts that apply to you.

What an adult kit is

A primed cotton canvas printed with numbered zones, a set of acrylic paint pots numbered to match, brushes and a reference image. Adult kits differ from children's sets in zone size (much smaller), color count (24 to 48 instead of 6 to 12) and canvas quality (stretchable, varnishable cotton rather than card). Every design in our catalog is an adult kit in this sense; the adults collection is simply the designs chosen most by grown-ups.

Choosing a design

Pick something you want on your wall, not something that looks easy. Motivation finishes canvases; ease does not. That said, for a first kit avoid dense foliage and crowds, which have hundreds of tiny zones. Skies, water, architecture and single subjects (a face, a pet, a vase) have a comfortable mix of large and small areas. Our beginner-friendly shelf is sorted on that basis.

Size

Five sizes, from 12x12 to 23.5x23.5 inches. The recommended size is 16x20 (40x50 cm): detail is comfortable, standard frames fit, and most reviews refer to it. Smaller is harder because zones shrink. Larger takes longer but paints more pleasantly. Full detail in the size guide.

Number of colors

24 for a relaxed project or a small canvas. 36 as the default; it is what most people choose. 48 for portraits and museum reproductions where gradients matter, accepting more tiny zones.

How long it takes

A 16x20 inch, 36 color canvas takes most people 15 to 30 hours. Two hours an evening, three evenings a week, means two to three weeks. A 20x26 inch canvas at 48 colors can take double that. There is no prize for speed; several customers keep a canvas going for months as a background habit.

What it costs over a year

A standard kit is $19.95 at the base size, up to $64.95 for the largest with stretcher bars. The store-wide rule is buy two kits, get a third free, applied in the cart. A customer who paints one canvas a month and buys in threes spends roughly $160 to $500 a year depending on size, which per hour of occupation is hard to beat. Accessories worth adding once are a set of liner brushes ($12.95) and a tabletop easel ($22.95); see supplies worth adding.

Technique in six lines

• Dark to light, large zones to small.
• Finish every zone of one number before opening the next pot.
• Barely any water. Two coats on light colors over printed numbers is normal.
• Overlap lines slightly; dark covers light.
• Photograph the reference sheet so you can zoom when a number vanishes.
• 24 hours dry, then varnish.

The longer version is the beginner tutorial.

Finishing and hanging

Add the DIY Frame Kit option at checkout and you get pine stretcher bars cut to size. Stretch, varnish, hang. Or take the rolled canvas to a framer. Four routes with costs are in the framing guide.

Custom kits

Any photo can become a kit: upload it on the custom kit page, from $19.95. Portraits and pets are the usual subjects. Order three weeks before a date you care about.

Shipping and returns

Free shipping to the US, Canada, the UK, the EU, Australia and New Zealand with no minimum. Orders are packed within 1 to 3 business days and delivered in 7 to 15. Tracking is included on every order.

A first canvas for a grown-up who wants something sophisticated

If florals and sunsets feel too gentle, a city at dusk gives you architecture (large planes, clean edges), a sky, and lit windows as the detail. It looks like adult art on the wall and it paints more easily than it looks.

Shipping is free to the US, Canada, the UK, the EU, Australia and New Zealand, with no minimum. Orders leave the workshop within 1 to 3 business days and arrive in 7 to 15. Put two kits in the cart and the third one is taken off at checkout, no code to type.