Before you order a custom paint-by-numbers kit, it's fair to want to know exactly what shows up in the box. We get asked this almost every day.
The honest answer is that the contents of a good custom kit are mostly the same across the industry — but the details, the quality, and what's quietly missing from cheaper kits, make a much bigger difference to the finished painting than people realise.
Here is exactly what's in a Be Artistic Club custom kit, and what each piece is actually for.
1. Your numbered canvas
The single most important item in the box. A pre-stretched (or rolled, depending on size) linen canvas printed with your custom design — your pet, your portrait, your landscape — broken into numbered regions.
What to look for: linen rather than thin printer paper, sharp number printing that doesn't bleed under paint, and a quality you can actually hang on a wall when finished. We offer multiple sizes so you can match the canvas to the space you have in mind.
2. Pre-mixed numbered paint pots
Every region on your canvas corresponds to a numbered pot of acrylic paint. The colours are pre-mixed and matched specifically to your design — you don't blend anything yourself.
Good acrylics matter here. Cheap kits use watery paint that needs two or three coats to cover the printed numbers underneath. A quality kit uses opaque pigment that covers in a single confident layer.
3. Three brushes — not six, not twelve
Three brushes is the right number for almost every paint-by-numbers project. A fine tip for small numbered regions and details, a medium round for most of the canvas, and a slightly broader brush for backgrounds and large areas.
Kits that come with six or twelve brushes are usually padding the perceived value. You don't need them. You'll use the same three brushes for the entire painting.
4. A color card and reference sheet
Every kit ships with a printed color card showing each numbered colour as a small painted square, plus a reference image of the finished design at a glance.
This is the quiet hero of the kit. When you're three hours in and looking at a half-finished canvas wondering if the next region is meant to be 'warm grey' or 'cool grey', the color card answers it instantly.
5. Custom add-ons (only if you want them)
We offer optional add-ons at checkout: an extra painting (great as a gift), upgrading your photo into a stylised cartoon design, and larger canvas sizes for statement walls.
None of these are required. The standard kit contains everything you need to finish a real, framable painting.
What's not in the kit (and why)
No easel — we assume you'll paint on a table or kitchen counter. No frame — that's a personal choice based on your wall and home, though if you'd rather skip that decision there is a framed 40×50cm kit. No water cup — almost any glass or jar from your kitchen works perfectly.
We don't include items you almost certainly already have at home. That keeps the kit lean, the box smaller, and shipping free anywhere in the world.
A good custom paint-by-numbers kit is a small box with everything you need and nothing you don't. Canvas, paints, brushes, color card, a clear design. That's it. The painting happens because you sit down and start, not because the box has more stuff in it.
Every Be Artistic Club kit ships free worldwide — see how the process works and get a free AI preview of your own design first, before you order anything.
— Be Artistic Club