Hey! Can someone explain me phrase "We don't have to paint by numbers".

Question

I learn English, I can't understand...

Answer 1

It means that you don't have to do things in the standard or traditional way. You can be innovative in your approach.

Answer 2

You don't have to do things exactly as the instructions say

Answer 3

Basically means reduce to basic, like when kids learn how to paint

Answer 4

There used to be pictures for kids (I don't know if they still have them) to help them with eye-hand coordination.  The pictures would be drawn with black lines and, in each section, it would have a number.

When the kids got it, they would color in each section according to whichever number was written in the spot (for example: 1 = blue, 2= red, 3 = green, etc).

The phrase in your question is basically saying, "hey, we are not kids anymore; we don't have to go by someone else's choice.  We can pick whichever colors we want to use.  We can choose for ourselves how to do things."