How to Design Your Own Diamond Painting

Turn any image into a production-ready diamond painting kit — no Photoshop or design skills needed. Pixelmade's design maker handles color conversion, DMC mapping, and mockup generation so you can focus on creating great designs.


In this guide

1. Choose Your Product
2. Upload Your Image
3. Configure Your Design
4. Refine Colors and Details
5. Review and Save
6. Order a Sample
7. Launch in Your Store
8. Design in PhotoshopPro


STEP 1

Choose Your Product

Explore our Catalog and pick a canvas size and diamond type. There are 7 canvas sizes in both Square and Round diamond shapes— 14 products total.

Canvas size determines the grid resolution and how much detail your design can show. 1 Pixel = 1 Diamond Space. So, each pixel in your file becomes one printed diamond space. Diamonds are roughly 0.25–0.29 cm. 

Canvas Size Determines Design Details

20×25 cm
Icons, symbols, bold shapes
30×30 – 30×40 cm
Characters, simple illustrations
40×40 – 40×50 cm
Portraits, patterns, detailed art
50×50 – 50×60 cm
Landscapes, intricate scenes

Round Diamond vs Square Diamond

Round Diamonds
Soft, sparkly look with small gaps between beads. Easier to place — great for gifts and casual crafters.
Square Diamonds
Tight mosaic with no gaps. Sharper detail, fuller coverage. Preferred by experienced crafters.



STEP 2

Upload Your Image

Once you’ve selected your product, click Create Product Template to open the design maker and begin your design. Upload any JPG or PNG file—the tool will automatically fit it to the canvas and convert it into a diamond painting pattern, matching your image’s colors to the DMC (diamond) color palette.

TIPS FOR BEST RESULTS
  • Use high-resolution images — more detail in, more detail out.
  • High-contrast images with distinct colors work best. Soft gradients and subtle transitions can muddy on smaller canvases.
  • Avoid very similar shades in key areas — the algorithm may merge them into one color.
  • Keep it simple for small canvases (20–30 cm). Save complex scenes for 40 cm and up.
  • Every pixel must have a color — transparent areas will turn solid white.


    STEP 3

    Configure Your Design

    Under the Image tab, refine the overall look of your pattern. Changes are applied in real time, so you can instantly see the results as you make adjustments.


    1
    Pan and zoom — Position your image on the canvas. The image always fills the entire grid, so you're choosing which portion becomes the pattern.
    2
    Brightness and contrast — Bring out details in dark photos or make colors pop. Especially useful for photos of people, pets, or nature.
    3
    Max color count — Set how many DMC colors your pattern uses (up to 30). More colors = more detail. Fewer colors = simpler kit, easier for customers to complete. The design maker picks the optimal count automatically — adjust the slider to override.

    STEP 4

    Refine Colors and Details

    Once the overall image looks good, switch to the Diamond Colors tab to fine-tune individual colors and pixels.

    1
    Color palette — See every DMC color in your design with exact diamond counts. Colors with fewer than 10 diamonds are flagged — consider swapping or merging these to avoid shipping a full bag for just a few placements.
    2
    Color swap — Replace any DMC color with another from the full 445+ DMC catalog. Colors are sorted by visual similarity, so the closest matches appear first. Use it to fix unnatural mappings, merge low-count colors, or fine-tune your palette.
    3
    Color highlight — Tap any color in the palette to see exactly where it appears on the grid — helpful for deciding whether to keep or swap a color.
    4
    Paint tool — Paint individual cells to clean up edges, fix small details like eyes or text, or add specific accents the algorithm missed. Select a color from your palette and tap or brush (1–3 cells) to change diamonds.
    5
    Undo and redo — Every color swap and pixel edit can be undone. Experiment freely.

    STEP 5

    Review and Save

    Toggle to Mockup mode to preview your design on a realistic product mockup — great for verifying the overall look and for your product listing images.

    Check how your diamond painting canvas will look when your client receives it.

    When you're happy, click Save Template. Your source image, settings, and final pattern are saved to the portal. You can reopen and edit anytime.

    STEP 6

    Order a Sample

    Before going live, order a test kit. Mockups are approximate — a physical sample is the best way to check real-life color accuracy, detail at the chosen size, and overall material quality.



    STEP 7

    Launch in Your Store

    Once your sample looks right, publish. Pixelmade handles assembly, quality checks, and worldwide shipping — no inventory needed.
    If you've connected your Shopify store, publishing and fulfillment are automatic.



    ADVANCED

    Design in Photoshop

    Prefer full pixel-level control? You can design your pattern in Photoshop and upload a production-ready file. This gives you precise control over every diamond placement and color before it reaches the design maker.

    1. Download the Pixelmade template for your canvas size and diamond type. Each template matches the exact pixel dimensions of the diamond grid (1 pixel = 1 diamond).
    2. Create your artwork inside the template at exact resolution. Design at 100% — don't scale up later.
    3. Reduce to ≤30 colors using indexed color. Go to Image → Mode → Indexed Color and set the maximum number of colors to 30 or fewer. For the most predictable results, use the DMC color chart to pick exact DMC values during design.
    4. Export as PNG at 100% size. No resizing, no compression.
    5. Upload to the design maker. Your colors will be mapped to the closest DMC equivalents. If you used exact DMC values, the mapping should be near-perfect. You can still use color swap and pixel editing for final adjustments.

    Template Dimensions

    Canvas Size Round (px) Square (px)
    20×25 cm 70×88 80×100
    30×30 cm 106×106 120×120
    30×40 cm 106×141 120×161
    40×40 cm 141×141 161×161
    40×50 cm 141×177 161×201
    50×50 cm 177×177 201×201
    50×60 cm 177×212 201×241
    📊 DMC Color Chart (Excel) 🎨 DMC Swatches (.ACO)
    PHOTOSHOP TIPS
    • Use Image → Mode → Indexed Color to enforce the color limit — don't just eyeball it.
    • Merge near-duplicate shades before exporting. The algorithm may merge them in unexpected ways.
    • Every pixel must have a color — transparent pixels turn solid white.
    • After uploading, you can still use the design maker's color swap and pixel editing tools.

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