A printable paint by numbers sheet and a boxed kit look like the same hobby. They are not the same purchase. One gives you an outline on paper, the other gives you a canvas, matched paints and a picture you chose yourself. Here is where the line falls.

What a free printable gives you

You print a numbered outline and a color key, then fill it in with whatever you own. We publish six of them on our printable paint by numbers page, all made from public domain paintings: Girl with a Pearl Earring (190 areas), Impression, Sunrise (317), The Starry Night (408), Sunflowers (421), Water Lilies (743) and The Great Wave (1,093). Each is a two-page US Letter PDF with 24 colors.

It is a good way to find out whether you like the hobby before spending anything. If you only have an evening and a set of colored pencils, it is enough.

Where printables run out

• Paper. Acrylic wrinkles ordinary copy paper. Use card of 200 g/m2 or heavier, or mixed-media paper your printer accepts.
• Paint. The color key lists a hex code per number. Matching 24 colors by eye, or asking a shop to tint small pots, is a project in itself.
• Size. A home printer stops at Letter or A4. A copy shop can enlarge the outline to 11x17 in, which is still small.
• Subject. You paint what the sheet shows. Your own dog is not on the list.

What a kit changes

A kit arrives as a numbered canvas with acrylic paints matched to those numbers, brushes included. You pick a canvas from 12"x12" (30x30 cm) up to 23.5" square, and 24, 36 or 48 colors. For a custom kit the picture is yours: a pet, a wedding photo, the house you grew up in. Faces and fur usually need 36 or 48 colors for the shading, while landscapes and bold images work with 24.

Prices start at $19.95 in the US store for the smallest size with 24 colors, and the page shows the exact figure in your currency once you choose a size. Delivery is an estimate, not a promise: processing takes 1 to 3 business days and the shipping policy gives 7 to 15 business days for standard delivery.

A simple way to choose

Print one sheet first if you are unsure. Pick the Impression, Sunrise sheet, which has big areas of sky and water, and see whether you enjoy the slow filling-in. If you do, the next step is a picture that matters to you. You can try the free photo generator to see how your own image breaks into areas, or go straight to a custom paint by numbers kit.

Whichever you choose, the habit is the same: one color at a time, no rush.