Cat Paint by Numbers: Which Kit Is Right for You?
Summary
Our cat paint by numbers collection covers every style, skill level, and budget - from curious kitten portraits to Van Gogh parodies. This guide reviews every kit, tells you exactly what to expect from each one, and helps you choose the right design whether you are painting for yourself, as a gift, or to create a portrait of your own cat.
Cats are, by a considerable distance, the most searched subject in paint by numbers. The reasons are not hard to understand. The texture of fur, the intensity of feline eyes, the particular quality of stillness that cats carry even in motion - these are exactly the qualities that the numbered canvas format handles best. A well-designed cat paint by numbers kit produces a finished result that genuinely looks like a skilled painting, and it does so in a way that any adult can achieve regardless of prior experience.
Our cat paint by numbers collection ranges from approachable beginner designs to complex famous-art parodies that will genuinely challenge experienced painters. This guide covers all of them: what each one looks like, what it is like to paint, who it is best for, and how it compares to the others in the range.
The Paint on Numbers cat collection spans curious kittens, atmospheric coastal scenes, garden compositions, and full famous-art parodies. There is a design for every painter and every wall.
What Makes a Great Cat Paint by Numbers Kit
Not all cat paint by numbers designs are equal. Before reviewing the collection, it is worth understanding what separates the kits that produce genuinely impressive results from those that disappoint.
Canvas Quality and Printed Line Clarity
The numbered sections on a cat canvas need to be precise. Fur is made of hundreds of small tonal shifts, and if the printed lines are blurry or the numbers are hard to read, the result will lack the crispness that makes a feline portrait convincing. All kits in this collection are printed on HD linen canvas with sharp, clearly numbered sections and pre-matched acrylic paints that go on opaque and true to colour.
Colour Depth and Tonal Range
Cat fur is not one colour. Even a black cat has warm highlights, cool shadow tones, and mid-range values that separate the form. A kit with too few colours will produce a flat, unconvincing result. The kits in this collection use 24 colours as standard, which is the correct number for the beginner-to-intermediate range: enough tonal variation to produce genuine depth, not so many that the process becomes confusing. For those who want to go further, 36 and 48 colour options are available on most designs.
Composition and Subject Character
The best cat paint by numbers designs give the subject genuine personality. A blank, symmetrical face with no expression is technically easy to paint but produces a result that nobody wants to hang on their wall. The strongest designs in this collection give the cat a specific mood, setting, or narrative: a kitten caught mid-blink, a cat framed against a moonlit sky, a feline rendered with the imperial gravitas of a Napoleonic portrait.
The Starry Night Black Cat is the most visually dramatic design in the collection. The swirling Van Gogh sky sections are the most absorbing part of the kit to paint.
Every Cat Paint by Numbers Kit Reviewed
Curious Kitten Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
A young kitten looking directly at the viewer with wide, curious eyes. This is the most beginner-friendly design in the collection and the best starting point for anyone new to cat paint by numbers. The composition is clean and centred, the colour sections are clearly defined, and the soft warm background fills quickly to establish the mood before you reach the more detailed face and fur sections. The eyes are the focal point and the most rewarding section to complete. Part of our beginner-friendly collection.
Best for: First-time painters, gifts for cat lovers, anyone who wants a beautiful result without a steep learning curve.
Flower Crown Cat Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
A cat wearing a crown of flowers: soft petals in warm pinks and creams, a serene feline expression, and a composition that manages to be both striking and gentle. This is the most popular design in the collection for good reason. It combines two of the highest-demand paint by numbers subjects - cats and florals - in a single beautifully composed kit. The flower crown sections paint quickly and satisfyingly, building visible progress from the first session. The finished piece works as wall art in almost any room and makes one of the strongest gifts in the range. Part of our floral and botanical collection.
Best for: Intermediate painters, floral enthusiasts, home decor gifts, anyone who wants a universally appealing finished piece.
Garden Kittens Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
Two kittens in a lush garden setting: the only multi-cat design in the collection, and the most compositionally layered of the beginner-to-intermediate range. The green garden background fills quickly and establishes a warm, sunny outdoor atmosphere, while the two kitten figures in the foreground deliver the detail work that makes completing this kit so satisfying. The interaction between the two subjects - the way they are positioned, the suggestion of a shared moment - gives this piece more warmth and narrative than any single-subject design can produce. Part of our landscapes and scenery collection.
Best for: Intermediate painters, those who love garden scenes, gifts for people with multiple cats.
Kitchen Cat Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
A cat settled in a domestic kitchen scene: warm surfaces, everyday objects, the particular quality of comfort that cats bring to interior spaces. This is the most narrative and character-driven design in the collection. If you want a finished piece that tells a story rather than simply portrays a subject in isolation, this is the kit. The interior setting and the cat's utterly at-home expression make this one of the most emotionally resonant designs to paint - particularly for cat owners who recognise the scene from their own homes. Part of our paint by numbers for adults collection.
Best for: Intermediate painters, cat owners who want something with personality, gifts for people who love cosy interior art.
Lightkeeper Cat Paint by Numbers | £24.99
A cat beside a lighthouse in moody coastal tones: deep blues, the warm amber glow of the lamp cutting through darkness, the implied drama of a sea storm beyond the frame. This is the most atmospheric and cinematically composed design in the collection. The contrast between the cat's absolute stillness and the suggested turbulence of the coastal setting is the tension that makes the finished piece so striking. The sky and water sections require careful attention to tonal shifts, making this one of the more challenging but genuinely rewarding kits to complete. Part of our landscapes and scenery collection.
Best for: Intermediate to advanced painters, coastal art lovers, those who want a statement piece rather than a decorative one.
Midnight Cat Paint by Numbers | £24.99
A cat against a midnight sky: deep blue, soft moonlight, a dark feline silhouette that reads powerfully from across a room. This is the boldest and most graphic design in the collection. The large sky sections fill quickly, and the high-contrast composition means visible progress comes fast, making it an ideal choice for painters who want momentum early in a session. The black cat paint by numbers silhouette in the foreground is painted last and anchors the whole composition with elegant simplicity. Part of our abstract and modern collection.
Best for: All skill levels, those who prefer bold graphic compositions over fine detail work, black cat owners.
Autumn Cat Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
A cat surrounded by autumn leaves in rich seasonal tones: golds, ambers, russets, and the deep warm greens of a late-season garden. The most seasonally evocative design in the collection and one of the strongest choices for gifting in the autumn months. The leaf sections are particularly satisfying to paint - loose, impressionistic shapes that accumulate quickly into a lush, layered background that frames the cat with genuine warmth. The overall effect, when finished and framed, is a painting that feels genuinely seasonal rather than decorative. Part of our floral and botanical collection.
Best for: All skill levels, autumn and nature lovers, seasonal gifting, anyone who wants a kit that suits the time of year.
Napoleon Cat Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
A cat painted in the style of Jacques-Louis David's famous Napoleon Crossing the Alps - the full military uniform, the rearing horse, the imperial grandeur, and a cat's utterly unbothered expression where the emperor's face should be. The funniest and most shareable design in the collection, and genuinely impressive as a finished painting. The rich colour palette, the detailed equestrian background, and the complexity of the uniform make this one of the more demanding kits. The payoff is a piece that stops conversation the moment anyone sees it on the wall. Part of our famous art collection.
Best for: Intermediate to advanced painters, famous art enthusiasts, anyone who wants a finished piece that is both genuinely beautiful and genuinely funny.
Mona Lisa Cat Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, with a cat. The same enigmatic pose, the same Italian landscape background, the same soft Renaissance palette, and a cat's serene and slightly smug expression where the subject's face should be. As a cat paint by numbers for adults kit, this is beautiful to paint as well as to look at. The sfumato-style soft toning of the face and the detailed mountainous background are two of the most absorbing sections in the collection. The subtle tonal shifts that make the original painting so famous translate remarkably well into numbered canvas form. Part of our famous art collection.
Best for: Intermediate to advanced painters, art history enthusiasts, anyone who wants a piece that is both technically beautiful and immediately recognisable.
Starry Night Black Cat Paint by Numbers Kit | £24.99
A black cat silhouetted against Van Gogh's Starry Night sky - one of the most visually dramatic and instantly recognisable designs in the entire collection. The swirling blues, yellows, and whites of the Van Gogh sky are the main event and the most absorbing sections to paint: small directional areas of colour that accumulate, pass by pass, into something genuinely extraordinary. The black cat silhouette in the foreground is painted last and anchors the composition with bold, elegant simplicity. The combination of an iconic art reference with a strong subject makes this the design most likely to draw comments from everyone who sees the finished piece. Part of our famous art collection.
Best for: Intermediate painters, Van Gogh fans, black cat owners, those who want the most visually striking result in the collection.
Personalised Pet Paint by Numbers | £29.99
The most personal option in the collection. Upload a photograph of your own cat, and we create a fully numbered canvas from it: every whisker, every marking, every familiar expression converted into a paint by numbers kit that produces a genuine hand-painted portrait of your own animal. Available in 24, 36, or 48 colour depths to suit your preferred level of detail and challenge. At £29.99, this is also the most affordable route to owning an original hand-painted portrait of a pet. The result is something that no print or photograph can replicate. For advice on choosing the best source photograph, see our guide to choosing the perfect photo.
Best for: Cat owners who want a portrait of their own pet, the most meaningful and personal cat-lover gift available anywhere in the range.
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How to Choose the Right Kit
The right choice depends on who is painting, at what skill level, and what the finished piece is for.
For Beginners
Start with the Curious Kitten or the Midnight Cat. Both have bold, clearly defined compositions that build confidence quickly and produce impressive results without requiring fine detail work. The Midnight Cat is particularly well suited to beginners because the large sky sections create fast visible progress from the first session. For broader beginner guidance, our guide to easy paint by numbers for adults covers how to choose a first kit across all subjects.
For Intermediate Painters
The Flower Crown Cat, Lightkeeper Cat, and Autumn Cat all offer more compositional complexity and tonal range without the demanding detail work of the famous art parodies. The Lightkeeper is the most technically rewarding of these three, with sky and water sections that require genuine attention to tonal gradation.
For Advanced Painters
The Napoleon Cat, Mona Lisa Cat, and Starry Night Black Cat are the most complex designs in the range. Each has a detailed background that rewards patient, section-by-section painting and produces a result that genuinely rewards the investment of time. Our guide to painting realistic fur and feathers covers the specific techniques that make cat portraits look genuinely professional.
For Gifting
The Flower Crown Cat and Autumn Cat are the most universally appealing designs for gifts. For a truly personal gift, the Personalised Pet Paint by Numbers at £29.99 is in a different category entirely: it produces a hand-painted portrait of the recipient's own cat, which is something no other gift can replicate.
The most common mistake when painting cat portrait kits is applying fur-coloured sections too flatly. Work with small, directional brush strokes that follow the natural direction the fur grows - outward from the face, downward along the body. This simple technique is the difference between a finished cat portrait that looks flat and one that looks genuinely three-dimensional. Paint the darkest shadow tones first, allow them to dry, then work the mid-tones and highlights on top. For a full breakdown of animal painting techniques, read our dedicated guide to painting realistic fur and feathers.
Cat Paint by Numbers as a Gift
Paint by numbers cat kits are among the most consistently popular gifts in the entire collection, and for good reason. They combine the novelty of a creative activity with the personal resonance of a subject the recipient genuinely loves. Unlike most gifts, they produce something lasting: a finished painting that the recipient has made with their own hands and can display in their home.
For a cat lover who has never painted before, the Curious Kitten or the Flower Crown Cat makes an ideal entry point. For someone with painting experience who will appreciate the challenge, the Starry Night Black Cat or the Napoleon Cat delivers a result they will be genuinely proud of.
For the most meaningful gift of all, the Personalised Pet Paint by Numbers creates a numbered canvas from a photograph of the recipient's own cat. It arrives as a complete kit with everything needed to produce a genuine hand-painted portrait of their animal. There is nothing else quite like it.
Related Guides You May Find Useful
- Paint by Numbers Animals: the full wildlife and pet collection reviewed, including cats, owls, and more
- How to Paint Realistic Fur and Feathers: The Technique Guide for Getting Animal Portraits Right
- Easy Paint by Numbers for Adults: how to choose the right kit if you are new to painting
- How to Choose the Perfect Photo: get the best result from a personalised pet portrait kit
- Paint by Numbers Flowers: If you love the Flower Crown Cat, explore the full floral collection
- Van Gogh Paint by Numbers: explore the full Van Gogh range, including the original Starry Night kit
- Best Paint by Numbers Kits UK 2026: our full ranked guide across every category
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best cat paint by numbers kit for beginners?
The Curious Kitten and Midnight Cat are the most accessible designs for beginners. Both have clearly defined colour sections, manageable complexity, and produce a strong finished result without requiring fine detail work. Start with the Curious Kitten if you want a warm, portrait-focused composition, or the Midnight Cat if you prefer bold, graphic contrasts.
Can I get a paint by numbers kit of my own cat?
Yes. Our Personalised Pet Paint by Numbers creates a fully numbered canvas from a photograph of your own cat, available in 24, 36, or 48 colour depths. It is the most personal option in the range and the most popular gift in the collection. The kit costs £29.99 and includes everything needed to paint a genuine hand-painted portrait of your pet.
How long does a cat paint by numbers kit take to complete?
Most adults complete a standard 40x50cm kit across four to eight sessions of around an hour each. Simpler designs like the Curious Kitten and Midnight Cat tend toward the lower end of that range. More complex designs like the Napoleon Cat and Mona Lisa Cat take longer due to the detailed backgrounds. For a full breakdown, read our guide to how long paint by numbers takes.
What is included in each kit?
Every kit includes a pre-printed HD linen canvas (40x50cm), a full set of numbered acrylic paint pots (24 colours standard), a three-piece brush set, and a full-colour printed reference guide. The personalised kit includes the same contents, produced from your uploaded photograph.
Are these kits suitable as gifts?
Yes. Cat paint by numbers kits are among our most popular gifts. The Flower Crown Cat and Autumn Cat are the most universally appealing choices for gifting. For a truly personal gift, the Personalised Pet Paint by Numbers at £29.99 creates a hand-painted portrait of the recipient's own cat.
How quickly will my kit arrive?
Kits are processed within two to three business days and delivered within six to eight business days across the UK once shipped
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