Diamond Art Render Artist

The Diamond Art Gallery is looking for detail-oriented artists to transform licensed artwork into beautifully hand-rendered diamond painting designs.

Our kits are designed to preserve the character, detail, and atmosphere of the original artwork. Each design is recreated by hand in WinStitch, a grid-based 2D design program, using a limited palette of DMC diamond drill colors. Each square represents one physical diamond, so every color choice and placement matters.

No previous WinStitch experience is required. We provide software access, training, and production procedures. However, applicants must already have strong artistic fundamentals and the ability to closely observe and reproduce what they see.

About the Work

You will work from finished artwork supplied by our team and manually recreate it on a blank grid in WinStitch.

This requires careful artistic judgment: deciding which details are essential, selecting appropriate colors, and translating lighting, texture, and form into individual solid-colored squares.

Our goal is to retain the original artwork’s beauty and identity while creating a clear, cohesive design that translates well into physical diamonds. Different pieces require different approaches; a soft, painterly illustration should retain that feeling, while artwork with crisp shapes should retain its clarity.

All rendering must be completed by hand. AI-generated or AI-assisted rendering, automated image conversion, and cleaning up an automatically converted chart are not permitted. Reference sampling may be used as instructed to help identify appropriate colors, but the production design must be manually constructed.

What You’ll Do

• Receive artwork, specifications, deadlines, and feedback through our project management platform.
• Study the source artwork before rendering, identifying its palette, light source, focal points, important details, and overall style.
• Recreate each assigned piece by hand in WinStitch using the required dimensions and approved DMC palette.
• Preserve the original composition, proportions, expressions, shapes, lighting, and atmosphere.
• Build depth through deliberate highlights, midtones, shadows, and color transitions.
• Adapt fine details thoughtfully to the available grid without unnecessarily simplifying the artwork.
• Review your work against the original throughout the process.
• Complete cleanup and quality checks before submitting.
• Apply feedback accurately and carry those lessons into future assignments.
• Prepare and package final digital files according to our production procedures, including required charts, exports, and supporting information.
• Keep project statuses current and communicate promptly about questions, progress, or potential delays.
• Keep licensed artwork, unreleased designs, and internal materials confidential.

Our Rendering Standards

Accurate Color

We need someone who can recognize differences in hue, value, saturation, and color temperature—not simply choose a color from the same general family.

You should be able to:

• Match colors closely to the source artwork within the available DMC palette.
• Recognize when a color is too warm, cool, bright, dull, light, or dark.
• Select related shades that create convincing transitions.
• Preserve subtle variations in skin, hair, fabric, foliage, water, and other surfaces.
• Use reference sections and our color-sampling process to investigate uncertain matches.
• Avoid muddy colors, unintended color casts, or introducing colors that do not belong in the original.

Dimensional Shading

Our renders should retain the lighting and depth of the source artwork.

You should be able to:

• Identify the direction of light and how it affects different surfaces.
• Preserve meaningful differences between highlights, midtones, and shadows.
• Avoid flattening detailed areas into broad patches of similar midtones.
• Create smooth-looking transitions through carefully placed solid colors.
• Choose shadow colors that suit the surrounding material and lighting.
• Avoid defaulting to solid black for shadows or outlines when the original calls for softer, more nuanced dark tones.

Accurate Shapes and Details

Small changes can significantly affect a face, animal, flower, or other focal point.

You should be able to:

• Recognize and correct inaccurate proportions, silhouettes, and feature placement.
• Preserve facial expressions and the shapes of eyes, noses, mouths, hands, paws, and other recognizable features.
• Retain the direction and structure of hair, fabric folds, petals, leaves, rocks, and similar details.
• Distinguish intentional stylization in the original from accidental distortion in the render.
• Avoid inventing markings, stripes, shapes, or details that are absent from the source artwork.

Thoughtful Edges and Texture

We want artists who understand how to suggest detail within a grid without making every surface look harsh or blocky.

You should be able to:

• Define forms through shading and color relationships.
• Use softer or sharper edges according to the original artwork.
• Avoid heavy, uniform outlines where they do not belong.
• Preserve the impression of painterly textures through intentional color placement.
• Balance detail with readability at the final production size.
• Reduce unnecessary isolated color changes, often called “confetti,” while preserving colors that contribute meaningful detail or texture.
• Each grid square must contain one solid color. Softness and transitions must come from the arrangement of those colors rather than blurred edges, blended pixels, or backstitching.

What We’re Looking For

Required

• Strong observational art skills and the ability to compare your work critically against a reference.
• A solid understanding of color theory, including value, contrast, saturation, temperature, and color relationships.
• An understanding of form, proportion, light, shadow, and texture.
• Patience for detailed, repetitive work that requires sustained concentration.
• The ability to make thoughtful artistic decisions within technical limitations.
• Willingness to learn WinStitch, the DMC palette, and our production workflow.
• The ability to follow written procedures and apply them consistently.
• Comfort receiving detailed feedback and making multiple revision passes when necessary.
• The ability to learn from feedback and apply it beyond the exact area identified.
• Reliable communication, organization, and independent time management.
• Access to a Windows PC capable of running WinStitch.
• Willingness to follow our strict no-AI rendering policy.
  

Nice to Have

• Experience with digital painting, illustration, observational drawing, or traditional painting.
• Experience with Photoshop, Procreate, Illustrator, or similar art tools.
• Experience with pixel art, cross-stitch charting, mosaics, or diamond painting design.
• Familiarity with limited palettes, color matching, or the DMC color system.
• Experience preparing artwork or other digital files for production.
• Experience working through a structured review and revision process.
  

Who Will Do Well in This Role?

This role is a good fit for someone who enjoys studying an image closely and figuring out why a particular color, shape, or lighting choice works.

You should be comfortable spending time refining an area until it feels accurate, checking your own decisions, and asking focused questions when something is unclear. You should also be able to move between close-up detail work and reviewing the overall image.

We value artists who can identify a problem, understand the reason behind a correction, and apply that understanding throughout the piece. Learning the software is only one part of the role; careful observation and consistent artistic judgment are essential.

Application and Unpaid Art Test

Please submit:

1. A brief introduction describing your artistic background and interest in the role.
2. A portfolio or examples of your artwork. Personal work is welcome; professional experience is not required.
3. Samples that demonstrate color, shading, form, texture, or close work from a reference.
4. Your general availability and capacity for freelance projects.
5. Confirmation that you have access to a Windows PC.

Shortlisted applicants will be asked to complete an unpaid art test as part of the selection process.

The test will assess your ability to observe the reference, make appropriate color choices, preserve shapes and depth, follow instructions, and work within a limited grid and palette. Previous WinStitch experience is not required; instructions will be provided.

The test scope, submission requirements, and expected time commitment will be shared before you begin. A brief revision may be requested to assess how you interpret and apply feedback. The test is for evaluation only and will not be used in a commercial product.

Work Arrangement

This is a remote, freelance, project-based opportunity. Project scope, compensation, deadlines, and submission requirements will be discussed before each assignment begins. The volume of available work may vary.

We’re looking to build ongoing relationships with artists who consistently meet our quality standards, communicate reliably, and take pride in preserving the original artist’s work.