What is DNA Painter?

DNA Painter is an online web app that allows users to take chromosome-level data from DNA testing companies and visualize exactly where those matching segments of our DNA are. The brilliance of such a tool is not apparent to folks who are new to genetic genealogy, and some specific vocabulary is helpful to learning about genetic genealogy. However, the basic thrust of it is this: if we can assign a chunk of our own DNA to a specific ancestor (e.g., a 5th great-grandparent), we can then assume that anyone who matches this same chunk ("segment") is in fact a relative of this ancestor. Which relative? That's where DNA Painter comes in.

DNA Painter is an easy-to-use tool that helps genealogists make sense of DNA testing. By mapping segments of DNA to chromosomes, we can begin to see which ancestors gave us which pieces of DNA, and thus how new matches are related. As a result, DNA Painter has quickly become an essential tool for genealogists! Blaine Bettinger

DNA Painter works as a visual database for our DNA. We can catalog all these segments any way we like. For example, I might like to group my segments together by ethnicity or geography. On my mother's side I have a lot of Rhode Island ancestry, and on my father's side I have a lot of German ancestry. I could classify part of my DNA by location or ethnicity, but I could also classify it by family or a specific ancestor. If I know a segment is from my 5th great-grandfather, I could name the group after him. In the end, how we group the segments is completely up to us. That's what makes this software so great--total flexibility.

Over time, as I collect more segments, I will eventually make a painting of my own DNA, where I can see what I am truly made of! An example of my painting is below. It's important to note that there are a lot of colors, and it may even look messy. DNA Painter is always a work-in-progress as we work to refine each segment into smaller and smaller parts. I have found segments that date back to my 11th great-grandparents. How do I know?

Start with the "Beginners" page to your left. There are a lot of methods that we employ to do this type of analysis. Learning the methods and vocabulary gradually will make it easiest to learn more complicated analysis. Once you feel comfortable with the beginners section, move on to Triangulation--the bread and butter of segment-mapping. Once you learn how triangulation works, I invite you to check out my video that I made in August of 2018. Please note that it was made using the previous version of DNA Painter, so the layout might look a bit different, but the concepts are still the same. Finally, you can check out my own method and workflow for segment mapping. In these pages, I detail other tools and methods for learning about my DNA.

Finding a Community

Many of these methods are adapted from some of the very popular communities on Facebook. If you are not yet a member, I encourage you to join! In particular are Blaine Bettinger's fantastic Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques, as well as the DNA Painter User Group. These groups are a huge part of the educational process to learning about genetic genealogy. This field is advancing rapidly! The best way to stay on top of your game is to join one of these communities and come along for the ride!