About r/painting
In its own words:
Welcome to /r/Painting! Functioning like an artist cooperative gallery, this is the place where beginning to advanced painters display their work in an ongoing group discussion. Artists who post their work are strongly encouraged to interact with their fellow subscribers and be prepared to discuss their concept, process & technique.
The community was created on Jun 12, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Oct 19, 2026, it has gained 4,077 subscribers (+0.09%). Among the 19 communities on our art list it is number 2 by size.
What sets r/painting apart
Compared with other large communities, r/painting leans heavily on images (60% of recent posts; the typical Top 100 subreddit sits at 9%). r/painting is more of a browsing community than a debating one: 5.3 comments per post on average, well under the Top 100 median of 16.2. For its size it is unusually busy: about 24.6 new posts a day per million members, more than 94% of the Top 100. It is also one of the faster-growing big communities: its 0.39% gain since Sep 19, 2026 beats 91% of the Top 100.
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Oct 29, 2026, r/painting went up from 4,604,421 to 4,622,405 subscribers (+18K, +0.39%). That is about 450 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (8 so far), so it gets longer every week.
What r/painting talks about
Across 678 recent posts (Oct 22–Oct 28), the words that come up most are “acrylic”, “oil”, “canvas”, “paint” and “gouache”. Other frequent themes are paintings, painted, work, paper, finished and watercolor. Recurring phrases include “mixed media”, “acrylic paint”, “oil enamel” and “oil paintings”. By format, 60% are images, 30% are galleries and 5% are text posts.
Popular post flairs: Just Sharing (474), Opinions Needed (83), Discussion (60), Brutal Critique (42), C.C.W. (12), System Identity (5).
Activity and best time to post
r/painting gets about 110 new posts a day. The public archive holds 402,934 posts and 2,137,978 comments in total, about 5.3 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Sunday (126 posts) and the quietest was Friday (102). Posting peaks around 18:00 UTC and is lowest around 06:00 UTC.
Rules of r/painting
The moderators of r/painting list 12 rules. In short:
- Be respectful and civil.
- No advertising of any kind.
- Only post your own works.
- No reposts.
- NSFW paintings are not allowed.
- Painting posts only.
- One post per day.
- This is not a mental health support subreddit.
- Use existing resources.
- Critiques must be constructive.
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/painting and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many members does r/painting have?
r/painting has 4,622,405 subscribers, which makes it the #198 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 17,984 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Oct 29, 2026.
When was r/painting created?
r/painting was created on Jun 12, 2008, so it has been around for 18 years. The oldest post in the public archive is from Jun 17, 2008.
Is r/painting still active?
Yes. r/painting gets about 110 new posts a day (average of the last four weeks). Over its lifetime the archive counts 402,934 posts and 2,137,978 comments. In a sample of 678 recent posts we counted 531 different authors.
What is the best time to post in r/painting?
Based on post counts from Oct 22, 2026 to Oct 28, 2026, the busiest day was Sunday and the quietest Friday, and most posts arrive around 18:00 UTC, with the fewest around 06:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What kind of posts are on r/painting?
The community describes itself as: “Welcome to /r/Painting! Functioning like an artist cooperative gallery, this is the place where beginning to advanced painters display their work in an ongoing group discussion. Artists who post their work are strongly …” Recent post titles often mention acrylic, oil, canvas, paint and gouache. Most posts are images (60%).
Is r/painting SFW?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/painting as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
What are the rules of r/painting?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/painting accepts both text and link posts, with images, videos and galleries enabled. It has 12 posted rules, starting with: “Be respectful and civil.”; “No advertising of any kind.”; “Only post your own works.”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
What subreddits are similar to r/painting?
Communities with similar topics include r/DigitalPainting (3.7M), r/Art (22.6M), r/tattoos (10.3M), r/books (27.3M) and r/TwoXChromosomes (13.7M).
Stats from public data (data updated Oct 29, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Oct 30, 2026). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/painting.