Make your own mystery color by number pages

If you’ve ever colored a mystery color by number page, you know how it works. Every square on the grid has a code, you match each code to a color in the legend, and the picture slowly shows up as you fill it in. Most people buy these pages in puzzle books, but now you can make your own from any idea or photo, and ColorBliss builds the answer key for you.

A classic mystery mosaic puzzle page covered in numbered squares — The puzzle page. Can you tell what it is yet?

The finished answer key showing a red fox under an autumn tree — The answer key. It’s a fox sitting under a fall tree.

How to make one

Click Create on your dashboard and open the new Mosaic tab.
Type an idea, like “a red fox sitting under a tree,” or upload a photo instead.
Pick a difficulty and click Create mystery mosaic.

Most mosaics finish in under a minute. When yours is ready, it shows up on your dashboard with the colored answer on the card, and you can hover over it to see the coded puzzle underneath.

Here’s what the “blue whale” example idea in the Mosaic tab made on classic.

A classic mystery mosaic puzzle made from the blue whale example idea

The answer key showing a blue whale jumping out of the ocean — A friendly blue whale jumping from the ocean, made from one line of text.

Pick a difficulty

Kids pages use a 20 by 27 grid with big squares and up to 16 colors, which makes them easy for younger kids to read and finish in one sitting.

A kids mystery mosaic answer key showing an orange cat on grass — A kids page uses 540 big squares, and this cat needs only 9 colors.

Classic pages move up to a 33 by 44 grid. Some squares split on the diagonal and carry two codes, one for each half, which gives curves and edges a smoother look once they’re colored. The fox at the top of this post is a classic page.

Expert pages are the big ones, with a 55 by 73 grid, more than 4,000 squares, and up to 26 colors.

An expert mystery mosaic answer key showing a coral reef with tropical fish — An expert page has 4,015 squares. This coral reef is a project for several sittings.

Start from a photo

You can also start from a photo of a pet or a person. Before it builds the grid, ColorBliss redraws the photo in flat colors so the finished page still looks like your picture. You’ll get the best result from a close, well lit photo where the subject fills most of the frame.

Print the puzzle and the answer key

The download menu gives you the puzzle as a PNG, the colored answer key as a separate Solution file, or both together in one PDF with the puzzle on page one and the answer key on page two.

The codes run from 1 to 9 and then switch to letters. We skip M, Q, and R because they’re easy to mix up in small print.

Cost

Each mystery mosaic costs 5 credits, whether you start from a text idea or a photo and whichever difficulty you choose. For now you make them one at a time, since bulk generation doesn’t support mosaics yet.

Try it

Open the Mosaic tab, tap one of the example ideas, and choose kids for your first page. It’s a quick way to see how the puzzle comes together before you try a photo.

Questions?

Read the mystery mosaic guide or email [email protected].

Ben