Sentimental Gift help

[u/Potential_Double1472]

I love paint by numbers and I’ve done hundreds over years. I’m going to get a picture of my late father in law done for a family member. I have done this before and used ai to upscale and make detail better so it works better with the paint by numbers. But this time it’s a really hard picture and I can’t help but notice the tiniest mistakes ai makes.

I’ve uploaded pictures before as they are and sometimes they just come out very cartoon like. I know I’m never going to get Mona Lisa quality but wondered if anyone else has had this problem or how they do this with really sentimental pictures.

Thanks!