How to Design Your Own Puzzle Artwork

Original botanical artwork presented as a page banner, not an upload-ready puzzle canvas or a photograph of a printed puzzle. For your own design, follow the selected product’s upload recommendation.

To design your own puzzle artwork, build the complete design in an editor you know, keep an editable original, export the whole canvas as one JPG or PNG, and reopen that exported file before you upload it. This is preparation before ordering: the outcome is a checked image file, not an order or a photo choice. The editor screen shows your project; the exported copy is what you actually send, so the export is the version to check.

Choose what belongs in one finished image

Create one complete image containing the artwork you want on the puzzle, and keep the editable project separately. Artwork here means the finished visible composition: everything you want to see on the assembled puzzle, in one flat picture. It is not a cutting template or a piece layout.

That composition can be an original illustration or graphic, a photograph with lettering added, or several images arranged together. Whatever the mix, decide on one main subject and only the words that genuinely need to be in the picture, such as a title, a name or a date. Each extra element competes for the same space.

If the design is mainly several photographs arranged together, the photo collage puzzle uses one finished collage image you prepare. If your artwork starts on paper, capture it as an image file first, then treat that file as one element of the design.

Set the canvas for the selected puzzle format

Start with the 5:7 image ratio recommended on the custom jigsaw product page, rather than deriving an upload canvas from the listed finished inches. The product description recommends 5:7, and the note on its photo upload field repeats that recommendation. Setting the canvas shape first means the layout is planned for that shape from the start, instead of being trimmed to fit afterwards.

This guide's worked example uses a portrait canvas of 2700 x 3780 pixels, which is exactly 5:7. Those numbers illustrate the method; they are not a minimum size or a quality guarantee. If you plan a landscape design, check the product page's current instructions before you build the layout.

The recommended upload ratio and the finished puzzle dimensions are related but not identical. Each listed size is close to 5:7 without matching it exactly:

Piece count	Listed finished size	Width divided by height
99	3.5 x 5.1 in	0.686
100 XL	13.5 x 19 in	0.711
500	13.5 x 19 in	0.711
1000	19 x 27 in	0.704
5:7 canvas	Upload recommendation	0.714

Because these shapes differ slightly, a 5:7 file is not a promise that nothing is fitted or trimmed. Keep essential lettering and the main subject away from the outer edges as a precaution. The product page does not list an exact safe margin or bleed allowance, so treat the illustration below as a layout study, not a production template, and follow the product page's upload instructions if they differ from this guide.

The 100 XL and 500 puzzles share the same 13.5 x 19 inch finished image area. Choosing between them changes the number and size of the pieces, not the detail in your image.

Gather the elements and keep an editable original

Keep a version in which you can still change the artwork before exporting the submission image. Use an editor you already know, as long as it can arrange your elements on a fixed canvas and export a JPG or PNG. No particular program is required.

• Keep the original photos and illustrations you place, plus the editable project if your editor saves one. You will need them if a later check finds a problem.
• Use elements you made yourself or have permission to reproduce. Downloading an image, or seeing it labelled as AI-generated, does not by itself give you the right to print it.
• If you use AI-generated elements, inspect the actual image for malformed shapes, unwanted lettering and any details that matter to you. AI styling does not reliably recover detail that was missing from a source.

If your design includes a photograph, check that source with our guide to choosing a photo for your puzzle before placing it in the artwork.

Build a layout that preserves the parts that matter

Give the main illustration and essential words enough room, then check the whole composition and its smaller details. The Garden Days example below shows the same idea, a botanical illustration with a short title and caption, laid out in two ways on 5:7 portrait panels.

Layout A places twelve small flowers in a grid, with one small caption under each flower that alternates between "Garden Days" and "A place to grow". No single element leads, and the lettering is the smallest thing in the picture. Layout B uses one large "Garden Days" title, one short line beneath it and three flowers at different sizes, each with its own space. The words and the illustration no longer compete.

A shorter title frees space for larger lettering, but no font, size or contrast setting guarantees how the printed result will read. Keep every letter complete inside the canvas. Piece cuts can still cross lettering, so placement alone cannot keep every word within a single piece.

Large plain areas and repeated patterns are design choices with different image clues. Neither is automatically good or bad; they change what each piece shows. Choose a complete background on purpose as well. PNG can store transparent areas, but how transparency would be printed is not something to rely on, so fill the background with the color or texture you want.

Design choice	What changes in the image	What to inspect before export
Repeated small captions	Words become a pattern rather than a title	Whether each caption is needed and readable
One main title	Lettering gets more room and a clear position	Spelling and complete letters
Many small motifs	Each motif gets less space	Whether small details still matter to you
Fewer, larger motifs	Distinct regions with more space each	Balance across the whole canvas
Lettering near an edge	Words sit where the finished shape differs slightly from 5:7	Move essential words further in
Transparent background	Empty areas with no chosen fill	Fill the background on purpose

Export the complete artwork as JPG or PNG

Export the whole intended canvas as one JPG or PNG copy, rather than uploading the editable project or a screenshot of the editor. The custom jigsaw product page lists JPG and PNG and gives a 20 MB upload limit, so check the exported file against both.

Some editors separate the two steps: saving keeps the editable project in the program's own format, while exporting writes a separate JPG or PNG copy without changing the working project. Whatever your editor calls it, the practical check is the same. Confirm that the exported file contains the whole composition, not one selected layer, a cropped area or a reduced preview.

• Choose JPG or PNG through the editor's export or save-as option. Renaming a file's extension does not convert it.
• PNG compression is lossless and JPG compression is lossy. Either format can work for this product; the file you actually export still needs checking.
• Note the exported pixel dimensions and file size before you upload.
• A higher resolution tag or a larger pixel count does not prove that real detail is present. Enlarging an image cannot restore detail an element never had, and a lossless PNG keeps only what is already in it.

Reopen the exported file before uploading

Open the exact saved JPG or PNG you plan to submit and compare it with the intended design. Check the file itself rather than the editor view:

• It is the correct file and the latest version.
• The whole design is present, edge to edge.
• The pixel dimensions and the 5:7 shape are what you planned.
• Titles and names are spelled correctly.
• Every letter is complete and nothing is cut off.
• No element is missing, hidden or unexpectedly changed.
• The background is the one you chose.
• Photos and illustrations keep the detail and crop you expected.
• The file still matches the product page's current upload instructions.

Dimensions are the quickest place to catch an accidental reduction. In the worked example, the planned canvas and a smaller export keep the same shape but hold very different amounts of image information:

Planned dimensions	Saved dimensions	What this shows	Next action
2700 x 3780 px (10.206 MP)	2700 x 3780 px (10.206 MP)	Export kept the planned size	Continue with the content checks
2700 x 3780 px (10.206 MP)	1350 x 1890 px (2.5515 MP)	Same 5:7 shape, half of each side, one quarter of the pixels	Export again from the editable original

The second row is an export problem, not a size recommendation. These numbers are not a minimum and do not predict how the printed puzzle will look. If the saved file differs from your design, return to the editable original, check the export settings and export again. Do not enlarge the reduced copy and treat it as restored.

Look at the image in two ways. View the whole file at once to judge the composition, then zoom in to inspect lettering and fine detail. Viewing the whole image or zooming in does not automatically show its physical size on the finished puzzle.

When the saved image is checked, choose the matching format on the custom jigsaw puzzle product page and follow its current upload instructions.