“I am so thrilled with my paint by numbers. It is so incredible and is already hung up in my home. This photo was from our wedding and having it as a painting is amazing!”
“This review follows my other two reviews (“Route 66” by Ken Zylla and “Bridges,” my first custom) that outline all the aspects of PBN and MPBN that I think important. I have also painted “At the Movies” by Mr. Zylla. “Anchors” is from my photo of a bay along the island of Limnos, Greece. In my review of “Bridges” I mentioned that MPBN may get you to 70 to 90% of what you want for a finished product (I made those numbers up) if you want to go beyond what you get out of the tube. That certainly was the case for this PBN. There was much room for creativity and experimentation that included adding stuff (e.g., lamp posts and anchors to all the boats instead of a few), removing stuff (e.g., funky patterns that did not translate well from the original photo like the man standing in the back of the boat with the blue cab), and fixing stuff (e.g., better defining buildings and boats). I do mix my own colors including using those from an acrylic paint set (e.g., better defining sky and water gradients). For fun I included my initials and those of my wife and son in the painting. I am not an artist; I am a scientist (although there is much art in science such as constructing testable hypotheses). My dad was an artist and gave all the good stuff to my sister, who is now working on a MPBN PBN after seeing our collection. Thus, the custom painting experience for me has been rewarding. I did not include the original photo in “Bridges” as I consider the final product to be the most important. I included the original photo here to help illustrate that there are creative opportunities beyond photos of people and animals and the flexibility in painting. I did do something interesting. I sent the same Greek photo to another PBN company. I ordered the one with a larger color palette than the 24 we get. However, there was no detail in the translation. Not worth it. As you all know if you are going to spend months (3 to 4 for me) on a painting you need to “own” it. The custom route in MPBN offers an extremely creative process from the taking of the photo to the adding and subtracting of material on a detailed canvas that goes beyond what comes out of the tube. You do have to accept that the translation from photo to canvas is not perfect. Speaking of extreme detail, my current custom (a scene I shot from a rural village in Bulgaria) is, well, interesting to say the least. If I do a review on it, it may not be till the snow flies (this is Michigan).”
“The background, an oriental rug, was a serious challenge to get right. You got it perfectly! As you did for the dogs. Thanks so much. You are a pleasure to work with.”
“I've done several Masterpiece PBN's and finally decided to do customs of my dogs. Here's my Maizy, what a great job Masterpiece did reproducing the photo! I'm now starting on my other dogs custom painting. Great relaxation for a little while each day.”
“I recently completed a black and white custom painting. I am very pleased with the finished piece. Thank you for suggesting I do it in black and white instead of color - the painting looks like a photograph from across the room.”
“I could not do a review of “At the Movies” by Ken Zylla as it apparently has been retired. I wanted to say we find MPBN to be the best. We like the work of Ken Zylla and found another PBN company that had a few different offerings of his work. There was no detail in them like you expect for an adult PBN, and the colors were not so good. Needless to say, they will not be getting done. My rating would have been 5/5 for “At the Movies.”. The rating reflects not only the painting but also the PBN-MPBN experience. For some, going “as is” with the kit works well. But, taking advantage of the ability to be creative enhances the experience. I read the suggestions for considering photos for custom painting and well, did not fully follow. I submitted a landscape. This, my first custom painting, “Bridge” is a small creek draining a kettle lake in Hartwick Pines State Park in northern lower Michigan. The “translation” from photo to PBN, has much of the same challenges in such a conversion related to color and pattern shapes that I pointed out in my review of Ken Zylla’s “Route 66.” But as I would have said in the “At the Movies” review, “Now things really change.” What changes is this is my photo. Some (obviously not the MPBN group) have considered PBN a non-creative process. However, as pointed out in my ’66 review, yes there is room for creativity. Here creativity ramps up a few notches. First there is the creativity of taking the photo and “processing” the image. I shoot raw. Then, you get to paint your image. Reviewing “tweaks” to the PBN does not mean anything as you are not trying to replicate someone else’s work. At first, I was a bit disappointed in the translation of the photo to PBN. But then I realized that the translation is only the first step. I am making up numbers here, but let’s say the translation gets you 70 to 90% along the way (how close you want it to resemble your original photo) to the finished painting. You can leave at that and paint and have a nice piece of work. Or, you can dive in on the remaining % and create. I have other MPBNs waiting in the wings, including those by Mr. Zylla, and see some new arrivals that look interesting. But based on this experience, I don’t think I will be working on the creations of others for a while. An interesting aspect of this custom PBN experience is that I now look at my photos differently. I think, “Now how would that look as a PBN?” And yes, landscapes and interesting buildings like lighthouses (this is Michigan) all come into play. Next up my second custom, “Anchors.””
“Still doing some finishing touches of my own but it’s turning out as beautiful as I had hoped! This is the latest of several custom pieces I’ve ordered. I have been very pleased with all of them. I’ve used other sources in the past but MBN has been the best so I now use them exclusively. And they are an American company. Yea! I just wish the brushes were of slightly better quality as I seem to have to clip stray hairs often. Keep up the great work! Thanks.”
“I can’t believe the quality of this painting. My husband said I should sell it! What a fantastic job you guys did of duplicating this image! The detail is amazing. Thank you so much, it was worth the wait!”
