![]() Unfortunately, the design wasn’t commercial enough to appeal to the masses, so Robbins, Klein, and a new team of artists started to produce less abstract landscape and portrait hobby kits that proved to be more popular. ![]() One-a vibrant, abstract still life that paid homage to the abstract expressionists of the era. Robbin’s first ever Paint-by-Numbers kit was called Abstract No. paint-by-number kits First Paint-by-Number Kits. ![]() After trial and error, Robbins’ Paint-by-Numbers kits were born, and were introduced to the public with packaging that proclaimed, “Every man a Rembrandt.” Post-war, they were launched during a time when American people had more time for pursuing leisurely activities, and the concept quickly became a cultural phenomenon. Each segment was then given a number and corresponding color. To create each kit, Robbins first painted an original artwork, and then placed a plastic sheet over it and outlined the shapes for each hue and shade. “He would hand out numbered patterns indicating where certain colors should be used in specific projects such as underpainting, preliminary background colors or some lesser works that did not require his immediate attention.” “I remembered hearing about how Leonardo da Vinci would challenge his own students or apprentices with creative assignments,” Robbins recalls in his autobiography. Robbins based his concept on Leonardo da Vinci’s teaching system of numbering sections of his canvases for apprentices to complete. Where did the idea for Paint by Number come from? His solution was to devise a hobby kit that would promote the sale of Klein’s paint products. At first, Robbins was hired to illustrate children’s books, but Klein soon tasked him with a new, more urgent mission: sell more paint. In 1949, he started working at Palmer Show Card Paint Company alongside the company’s founder, Max Klein. Robbins was a Detroit-based commercial artist who began his career working for the art departments of various car manufacturers.
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