This guide walks through using the Tomodachi Grid toolkit end-to-end: converting an image into a paint-by-numbers reference and then painting it inside the Palette House on Switch or Switch 2.
Step 1 · Open the Grid Maker
Visit the Grid Maker. There's nothing to install, no account to create, and your image never leaves your device.
Step 2 · Upload an image
Drag any PNG or JPG into the drop zone, or click to browse. Photos work, logos work, screenshots work. Anything with clear shapes and colour separation converts best — busy textures get muddy at 64×64 or smaller.
If you don't have an image handy, click Try the demo smiley below the drop zone to load a sample.
Step 3 · Pick a brush size
This is the most important choice. Brush size determines how many cells you'll paint:
- 4 px → 64×64 grid (4,096 cells) · Best for faces, logos, detailed pixel art. Takes 30–60 minutes to paint in-game.
- 8 px → 32×32 grid (1,024 cells) · Good balance. Detailed enough for most icons, fast to paint. Recommended default.
- 16 px → 16×16 grid (256 cells) · Chunky retro icons. Paints in 10–15 minutes.
- 32 px → 8×8 grid (64 cells) · Very low resolution. Useful only for simple symbols or test runs.
Step 4 · Tune the output
Use the controls to dial in the result:
- Brightness — pull up to recover dark photos, pull down for washed-out images.
- Contrast — increase to make edges pop, decrease for softer blends.
- Max colours — fewer colours = simpler, faster painting. 12–20 is a good range for icons.
- Dither — Floyd–Steinberg dithering produces smoother gradients at the cost of a noisy look. Turn off for clean flat designs.
Step 5 · Read the recipe card
The recipe card on the right shows: canvas size, brush size, mode, total cells, and the palette swatches used. Take a photo of this card with your phone — you'll reference it constantly while painting.
Step 6 · Open the Palette House
On your Switch or Switch 2, launch Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. Open the Palette House (unlocked early in the game), pick the design category you want (clothes, food, pets, decor, TVs, book covers).
Step 7 · Select your brush, mode, and Grid view
Tap the brush selector. Choose:
- The exact brush size from your recipe card
- Pixel-perfect mode (rightmost stroke icon)
- Grid view set to 8×8 (densest setting) — this aligns the in-game reference lines with our preview
Step 8 · Paint cell-by-cell
Open the Grid Maker preview on a second screen or your phone. Paint from top-left to bottom-right, row by row. Block out one colour at a time — for example, paint all the dark outline cells first, then fill in the body colour, then the highlights. This makes mistakes easier to spot.
The in-game undo button rolls back your last stroke. If you're worried about lost progress, exit the Palette House every few minutes — the game auto-saves on exit.
Common pitfalls
The colours don't match my preview
Two likely causes: (1) you're in smooth mode instead of pixel-perfect, so colours are blending across cells; (2) you're painting with a different brush than the recipe — make sure the numbers match.
My pixels are too small / too big
Brush size determines pixel size. The "Grid view" setting only changes reference-line density and never affects pixel size. If your pixels look wrong, change brush.
The preview is blurry at 100% zoom
The browser preview renders at the canvas's actual pixel size scaled to fit your screen — at certain zoom levels it can show interpolation artifacts. The in-game result is always crisp because the game renders at exact pixel sizes.