Guide
Learn how to create and install custom Minecraft paintings.
What this tool does
This tool lets you create custom Minecraft paintings from your own images.
It is designed for Minecraft 1.21 and later, which introduced a new datapack-based system for defining custom painting variants. With this system, you can add new paintings with custom sizes, up to 16×16 blocks, without replacing any existing Minecraft paintings.
The tool handles:
- • Image upload
- • Cropping to valid painting dimensions
- • Generating a ready-to-use datapack
- • Generating the associated resource pack for textures
Why this requires Minecraft 1.21+
Before 1.21 (old system)
Before Minecraft 1.21, it was not possible to add new paintings.
To use custom images, players had to:
- • Create a resource pack
- • Replace textures of existing Minecraft paintings
- • Lose the original paintings in the process
- • Coordinate resource packs manually on servers
This worked, but it was a hack, not a real feature.
If you are playing Minecraft 1.20 or earlier, you should use a tool designed for that system, such as: mcpaintings.com
Since 1.21 (new system)
Minecraft 1.21 introduced painting variants via datapacks.
This means:
- • You can add new paintings instead of replacing old ones
- • Paintings can have custom dimensions (up to 16×16)
- • Paintings are defined in datapacks
- • Images are provided through a resource pack
This tool is built specifically around this new system.
Installing custom paintings in a singleplayer world
- 1
Use this tool to generate your datapack and resource pack.
- 2
Open your Minecraft world folder:
.minecraft/saves/<your_world>/ - 3
Copy the generated datapack into:
datapacks/ - 4
Copy the generated resource pack into:
.minecraft/resourcepacks/ - 5
Launch Minecraft and open your world.
- 6
In Options → Resource Packs, enable the generated resource pack.
- 7
Run
/reloador rejoin the world.
Your custom paintings will now be available in-game.
Installing custom paintings on a server
Step 1: Add the datapack
- 1. Stop your server.
- 2. Open your world folder on the server.
- 3. Copy the generated datapack into:
<world_name>/datapacks/ - 4. Start the server or run
/reload.
Step 2: Host the resource pack
Minecraft servers cannot directly store resource packs for clients. You must host the resource pack online.
Common options:
- • Dropbox
- • GitHub Releases
- • Any static file hosting
Important: The file must be publicly accessible and the download link must point directly to the ZIP file.
Step 3: Configure server.properties
In your server.properties file, add or update:
resource-pack=<direct_download_url> To force all players to use the resource pack (recommended), also add:
require-resource-pack=true Then restart the server.
When players join, Minecraft will automatically download the resource pack and custom paintings will render correctly for everyone.
Painting options explained
Title
The title is displayed on the painting item in your inventory. It helps you identify your paintings, especially when you have many.
In Creative mode, you can search for a painting by its title in the search bar, making it easy to find specific paintings.
If left empty, no title will be shown on the item.
Placeable in Survival
This option controls whether the painting can appear when placing paintings in Survival mode.
- • Enabled: The painting can randomly appear when placing a painting in Survival or Creative mode.
- • Disabled: The painting can only be placed using the specific painting item in Creative mode.
Disabling this is useful for special paintings you want to keep exclusive, or for very large paintings that shouldn't randomly appear.
Notes & limitations
- • Maximum painting size is 16×16 blocks (Minecraft limitation)
- • All players must use the resource pack to see the paintings correctly
- • Datapacks control what exists, resource packs control how it looks