Paint by number or painting by numbers kits are self-contained painting
sets, designed to facilitate painting a pre-designed image. They
generally include brushes, tubs of paint with numbered labels, and a
canvas printed with borders and numbers. The user selects the color
corresponding to one of the numbers then uses it to fill in a delineated
section of the canvas, in a manner similar to a coloring book.
The kits were invented, developed and marketed in 1950 by Max S. Klein,
an engineer and owner of the Palmer Paint Company in Detroit, Michigan,
and Dan Robbins, a commercial artist. When Palmer Paint introduced
crayons to cSonsumers, they also posted images online for a "Crayon by
Number" version.
