Paint by number

Technique of producing a painting by filling in outlined shapes and delineated areas of shading with a designated color of paint; typically available in a packaged kit. The technique was developed commercially in the 1950s in the United States, intended for amateurs but based on a technique that had reportedly been used in the Renaissance and earlier for teaching painting and to aid a master's assistants in painting large frescoes. Modern paint-by-number technique typically employs small containers of different colored paints that are each identified with a number; areas and patterns on a board or canvas are coded with the corresponding numbers for these colors. When the painter fills in the areas with the designated colors, the finished painting emerges.