How hard can a Snoopy Paint-by-Number kit be? It’s quite easy once you manage your expectations of what exactly this creation entails. For me, it took around 24 hours of painting, an email to the manufacturer and letting go of my need for perfection. No doubt, other people would have a lovelier time with this kit. I will admit, my over excitement paired with my need to create interesting content probably didn’t help my mood throughout the project. In the end, I hope you’ll enjoy the journey I took to create this painting as documented in the video.
Where to Buy
This Snoopy Paint-by-Number Kit is available online at various sites. Aquarius also has a Snoopy and Charlie Brown on a pier kit, plus a Halloween and Christmas kit. If you’d like to help CollectPeanuts.com, please support us by using the links below. We earn a small commission from your purchase. More information…
Expectations
What comes in the kit
The kit comes with a printed canvas, twenty-four pots of paint, three brushes, some extra hanging hardware and a guide sheet. The paint was a good consistency. It went on smoothly and none of it was dried out. The lighter colors are definitely a little too translucent and need to be heavily applied for good coverage over the printed canvas. The three brushes are very nice and provide enough sizes for small to large areas. I did supplement with an even larger brush just for the doghouse just for speed. The guide sheet was accurate and helpful.
The problems
I did run out of the red paint and definitely needed two whole pots. Luckily, the manufacturer sent an additional set of paints. It’s a shame they have to spend the extra money to do this, since there is one pot that wasn’t used. Another color was used for a tiny area and could easily be replaced by a similar color.
The colors themselves were off quite a bit from the box art. I’m guessing that Van Gogh’s “Wheat Fields with Cyprus Trees” is just a generic paint by number kit that was repurposed for this Snoopy’s doghouse image. I can understand some of the colors shifts from a dusty green to a bright green, however, the shifting from obviously green to grey is an odd one. See the grey area below the tree. Compared to the original Van Gogh work, it’s definitely meant to be a green bush/plant, not a rock. Did I get Charlie Brown’s painting? That would explain so much!
The skill level
The beauty of this painting is that there’s nothing that has to be perfect. The variable Schulz line work lends itself nicely to looking perfect even if you didn’t quite do it “right.” The random shapes of the background means you don’t need to get those absolutely perfect either. If you can just get a nice looking curve, it doesn’t matter if it’s directly on the line below. Go with what works for your painting skills and don’t fret over it too much.
If I were to do this again, I would start with the light colors and just get them in their various places, ignoring the lines. My eyesight is good enough that I can still see the lines below a first layer of paint. Then I’d go in and refine those lines with the darker colors on top. Instead of painting twice, keep it simple. Afterwards, I’d touch up any areas where the numbers show through with the lighter colors.
If you’re feeling especially artistic, take a look at the original painting and try to reproduce Van Gogh’s style yourself. You’ll probably want to buy a tube of red paint!
Future Project
When I started, I didn’t know this was based on a Van Gogh painting. I was contemplating redoing this whole canvas in a more painterly Van Gogh style after the project stalled because of the missing red paint. However, I put a lot of work into this canvas and don’t want to paint over all that work. I’d also be open to suggestions for other Van Gogh scenes for Snoopy to be in.It would be easy enough to start over on another canvas and I’d love to give it a try. If you’d like to see that happen, support CollectPeanuts.com on Patreon. Thank you!
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