How to Easily Draw Perler Bead Patterns

It’s so easy to draw Perler Bead patterns!

A while back I showed you how to make Perler Bead patterns using an awesome online tool. Today, I thought I’d show you how to draw Perler Bead patterns. One of the best parts of drawing your own patterns is that once created, they are super easy for kids to make.

Now, before we begin, I am not showing you how to become an expert artist. Nope, I can’t teach you to draw, but I can show you how to take some special graph paper that will make it easy to convert your drawing into a Perler Bead design.

This is a really fun project to do with kids because their imagination can allow them to create anything they want, and then they can convert it to a Perler Bead sprite to have with them forever.

So, let’s get started.

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The secret to drawing Perler Bead patterns

Have you ever purchased one of the official Perler Bead books? If you have, you know that the books are designed so that all you have to do is set a clear pegboard on top of the book and the pegs line up perfectly with the pattern to help guide your design. These are great for beginning Perler Bead artists since it’s sometimes easy to lose count on your pattern and then it turns out incorrect. When that happens, you have to make the pattern again. No fun, right?

What if I told you that there is a magical graph paper that lines up perfectly with square Perler Bead pegboards? Well, there is! It’s not really magical, but it is a special size of graph paper. It’s 5 quadrille graph paper. That means that there are 5 x 5 squares per inch, and guess what? That’s the exact size of a Perler Bead pegboard. Woo Hoo! It’s exactly what you need to easily draw Perler Bead patterns.

Now, this graph paper is not the standard graph paper you’ll see at the store. That’s 4×4 squares per inch. BUT, that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to find. I bought some on Amazon, but I also noticed that the sheets of graph paper I had purchased for my daughter’s math class had one side with 4 x 4 squares per inch and the back side of the paper was 5 x 5 squares per inch.

No matter where you buy it, the important thing is that it’s the 5 quadrille graph paper. Some packages just say 5 x 5 per inch, and some say 5 quadrille.

Supplies needed to draw Perler Bead patterns

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5 quadrille graph paper
Markers or colored pencils
Perler Beads
Clear Perler Bead pegboards
Iron
Perler Bead Ironing Paper

If you are fairly new to the world of Perler Beads you may want to check out my Ultimate Perler Bead beginners guide. It’s got all the details on how to use fuse beads that may not be in the rest of this tutorial.

Drawing your Perler Bead pattern

I have always been in love with all the Super Mario mushroom Perler Bead patterns that I’ve seen on the internet. People are really creative when making them. They change the top of the Super Mario mushroom to be something fun…like a Christmas tree, or a Pikachu, or even a watermelon. We call them Toad heads too, but you’ll see from what we create what I mean.

So, I thought we would take the basic Perler Bead Mario mushroom and customize it. Now, if you aren’t geeky like us, you can create any pattern by following the same basic instructions.

I started by drawing the base of the mushroom in black on the graph paper. It gave each of the kids a starting point for their Super Mario mushroom. I then gave them both a sheet of pre-created graph paper and told them to draw their mushroom top.

They thought about it for awhile and then got to designing.

All they needed to do was sketch the pattern in pencil first and then fill in the squares with colors to make their own unique design.

I’d say it would be easiest to use erasable colored pencils in case there are any mistakes. We used markers, and it was fine. I just know I wanted to change mine up a bit while I was creating, and didn’t really feel like starting over. If I would have used a colored pencil, it would have been easy to change my pattern.

Making your Perler Bead design

Once you’ve colored it all in, you’re ready to turn it into a Perler Bead masterpiece.

Place the patterned graph paper underneath your clear pegboard and then line it up so that each square of the pegboard has a peg under it.

Create your Perler Bead pattern using the guide you created on the graph paper. I think we all made a few changes to our pattern as we created them. BUT, that’s ok. You can do like I did, and make adjustments as you bead.