🎉 What's New

I'm always working on improvements — new tools, smarter AI, and a better experience for you. Here's a running log of everything that's changed over the past six months.

July 2026

PaintyBot

Sharing Works on iPhone

Upload a painting, animate it, or transform it — then tap Share and your iPhone's native share sheet opens so you can send it straight to Messages, WhatsApp, Instagram, or wherever you like. No more "copied to clipboard" workaround.

PaintyBot

Animate Your Painting

Turn any painting into a short, gently moving video with one tap. Upload your artwork, choose Animate, and watch it come to life — complete with a soft ambient soundtrack. Perfect for sharing on social media.

PaintyBot

Smarter AI (GPT-5 Mini)

PaintyBot's quick responses are now powered by GPT-5 Mini — OpenAI's newest model — so answers feel faster and more on-point.

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Crop & Rotate Your Gallery Images

When you upload a painting to your Gallery, you can now crop and rotate it before it goes up. Drag the handles, pinch to zoom on mobile, and hit Crop & Save. Looks great every time.

June 2026

PaintyBot

Smarter AI Across the Board (GPT-5)

PaintyBot's main conversations were upgraded to GPT-5, OpenAI's most capable model. Expect more nuanced painting advice, better lesson recommendations, and more natural responses.

PaintyBot

Frame Your Painting on a Wall or in a Room

Upload a photo of your painting and see it beautifully framed — choose from six frame styles with optional matting, then place it on a plain gallery wall or inside a photorealistic room scene. Great for deciding how a finished piece might look in your home.

PaintyBot

More Natural Lighting & Season Transforms

The Lighting and Season tools now produce much more realistic results. Lighting changes bring warm highlights and cool shadows instead of a flat colour shift. Season changes blend the new mood in gently so your painting still looks like itself — just in a different time of year.

PaintyBot

Request a Refund Through the Chat

Members can now ask PaintyBot about refunds and walk through the process right in the conversation — no need to dig through emails or contact forms.

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Comments & Likes on the Wall of Fame

Now you can comment on and like any painting in the Clubroom Wall of Fame. Encourage your fellow painters — a kind word means the world to an artist!

May 2026

PaintyBot

Pause (and Resume) Your Membership

Not painting much right now? You can pause your membership mid-conversation with PaintyBot and it will automatically resume when you're ready — or you can come back early any time.

PaintyBot

Fullscreen Studio Mode

On a tablet or desktop, PaintyBot now opens into a full three-panel workspace: tools on the left, your image in the centre, and the chat on the right — like a mini art studio. Upload a painting, make adjustments, and chat all in the same view without switching back and forth.

PaintyBot

Grid Overlay for Canvas Transfer

Struggling to scale up a reference photo to your canvas? The new Grid tool overlays a proportional grid onto any image — with options for 4×4, 8×8, or 16×16 subdivisions. Download the gridded version to print and use as your transfer guide.

PaintyBot

Colour Adjustment Tools

Fine-tune any uploaded painting with sliders for Temperature, Vibrancy, Brightness, and Contrast — or just describe what you want ("make it feel moodier") and PaintyBot will apply the changes for you.

April 2026

PaintyBot

Account Recovery Help

Can't log in and the password reset isn't working? PaintyBot now walks you through a guided recovery flow — checking for common issues, looking up your account, and helping you get back in without needing to email support.

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Lesson Planner

Premium members now get a personal painting schedule. Tell us what you love to paint and how often. Your Planner lines up the right lesson for each session and emails you a friendly reminder every week.

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Your Personal Tour with PaintyBot

New members now get a guided walkthrough of the member area with PaintyBot as your guide. Hit "Take the tour" any time from your dashboard to run through it again.

March 2026

PaintyBot

Cancel, Pause, or Stay — Your Choice

If you ever decide to cancel, PaintyBot now guides you through your options in the right order: pause first, then a loyalty offer if you've been a long-time member, and finally a clean cancellation if that's still what you want. No pressure, just options.

PaintyBot

Start a Free Trial Through the Chat

New visitors can now start a free 7-day trial directly from a conversation with PaintyBot — no need to navigate away.

PaintyBot

Alter & Relight Your Paintings with AI

Upload a photo of your painting and ask PaintyBot to change the lighting, repaint it in a different style, swap the season, or make specific alterations — all as a true image edit so your composition stays intact.

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Your Gallery, Now in a Gold Frame

Every painting in your Gallery is now displayed on a dark gallery wall, inside a beautiful gold frame with a cream matt. Because your art deserves to look its best!

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Gamut Mask Tool

A new Gamut Mask tool helps you plan harmonious colour palettes before you pick up a brush. Drag the mask over the colour wheel to find your limited palette sweet spot.

February 2026

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Paint with a Friend

Share a link and your friend gets their first month free. Once they subscribe, you earn a free month too. Everybody wins! Find it under Paint with a Friend in your menu.

January 2026

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PaintyBot — Your AI Painting Assistant

Say hello to PaintyBot! Ask any painting question, get a constructive critique of your work, find the right lesson, run a colour quiz, and more. Trained on all of human painting knowledge plus hundreds of Richard's personal critiques.

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Instant AI Painting Critiques

Upload a photo of your finished painting and get a detailed, constructive critique instantly — composition, colour, edges, what's working, what to improve. Available right inside PaintyBot or directly from your Gallery.