Painting the Great Masters by Number: Create Your Own Masterpiece with this Easy Paint-by-Number Program

I just got this book and I can't wait to get my brushes dipping into paint. There are 30 masterpiece paintings in this book. From Botticelli to Whistler, with Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Klimt, Modigliani, etc. in between. All with directions, step by step photos, supply and palette lists, glossery and basic information on techniques. It is written for the Acrylic painter with some gouache, watercolor and pastel information for converting. It is not your old fashioned paint-by-number. These paintings have much more blending so that they look like the originals. What a hoot to paint your own version of the masterpieces.

thought this was a paint by number but it is a book telling you how

I have changed my opinion of this book. I am learning to paint using it. It is great! Just wish there was Book II as I am working my way through all the ones I really like in this one!

The name is misleading. In order to paint any of these, you need to photocopy and enlarge everything or sketch the outlines in the book onto a canvas. Also, even the outlines are vague. It says these masterpieces are not conducive to a PBN style homage so it's best to really look at a copy of the original while trying to replicate it with the vague number patterns given in this book. It is a good informational book but not a paint-by-numbers.

I don't know about others, but the "paint-by-numbers" that I grew up with involves an actual canvas & paint. Neither of those elements are in this book. The book...which is what it is, not a kit of any sort...is simply a book about painting. It includes the diagrams that you can copy onto a canvas, but that's it. It was not what I wanted when I ordered something involving paint-by-numbers & I promply sent it back.

It has always been my dream to paint a painting that people could actually look at with pleasure. I found this book, and now my walls are filling up with wonderful paintings I did myself! Not only are the instructions easy to follow, but the techniques can be applied to copy paintings other than the ones in the book. I just finished my own copy of THE STARRY NIGHT using these techniques, and it looks great! I recommend this book to anyone who always wanted to paint but never thought she could.

Ugly choices, difficult instructions, expensive and messy art supplies are all part of the downside of this book. Don't waste your time or money on a poorly thought-out art instruction book like this! Take a class and enjoy the support and guidance of a real teacher and fellow students--in other words, have some fun and be sure of success at the same time. Becoming an artist takes time and encouragement, not a book with insufficient information. Anyone thinking they can pick up this book and reproduce the art work shown in its pages is doomed to disappointment. And why would you want to? Many of the "great master" paintings shown are down-right ugly and not worth hanging in your home in the first place. Plus, the technique to reproduce them is nothing new. The bottom line is that the "paint by numbers" system the author is showing is nothing but the grid system, used for thousands of years to break down any painting project into a workable size. (It was used by the ancient Egyptians for making those huge tomb murals, for instance.) A book like this is only going to crush the hopes of any eager beginner. It's going in the recycling bin at my house.

Fulfilled all my expectations, inexpensive, innovative, instructive. Combining all the elements of technique and color combinationfor amateur and intermediate students alike.