They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery. While exploring the online world of photo mosaics, I came across Kyu Hak Lee’s mixed-media mosaics. Beautifully innovative, his work is an homage to the iconic artwork of Vincent Van Gogh. By cutting small slivers of Styrofoam and wrapping them with newsprint and magazine pages, Lee creates lush, vibrant landscapes of color. Each piece is strategically placed to perfectly mimic Van Gogh’s unique brushstrokes.
An online interactive photo mosaic is the perfect way to bring people together for a good cause. Three years ago, we teamed up with the American Diabetes Association to create a fan-driven photo mosaic. The goal was to show the world what a day in the life of diabetes is really like. The photos came pouring in and the results were truly inspirational. With social sharing and audience engagement being a key factor, the ADA online photo mosaic has played an important role in diabetes awareness these past few years.
After the winter season, city streets can wreak on your car. Winters in Chicago can be especially harsh: a recent pothole count reached the 600k mark. Sometime in 2013, Chicago artist Jim Bachor decided to rectify this problem with the art of handmade mosaics. While we tend to keep our focus on photo mosaics, we like to keep our ear to the ground with a wide range of mosaic projects. This project in particular really caught my attention.
Advertisements, calendars, photos, greeting cards, and other mail we receive every day can be white noise to our eyes. I found an artist, New York’s Sandhi Schimmel, who took all that junk and turned it into treasure. She collaged unneeded mail to create breathtaking mosaic portraits of women. Her brilliant use of color give these flat images great depth and detail. This is exactly what I love about photo mosaics,
Sandhi Schimmel’s junkmail photo mosaics
One of the most important components of a photo mosaic is the source image. A source image is the bigger picture that the smaller photos (called “cells”) will create. Any photo can be used as a source image, but not just any photo will the completed photo mosaic that WOW factor. The real question is how well the photo will survive the mosaic transformation. For this post, I’ll be focusing on portrait photos. Landscapes, logos, and other non-human subjects will be addressed in future posts, so stay tuned!
When using a photo of people as your source image, it’s important to consider facial recognition. In order for facial shapes and details to survive the photo mosaic transformation, you’ll want the faces to encompass a fairly large portion of the image, measuring at least 1/3 of the width and height of the entire photo. This will allow a great amount of detail and clarity to come through in the photo mosaic. Here are a couple examples of photos that should produce good facial recognition:
I’ve seen a lot of buzz going around about the (hopefully) triumphant new chapter in the Star Wars saga. I have to say that I’ve been a huge fan since I was a kid (I even enjoy the prequels!). So I’m definitely excited to see this great story unfold even further. While there’s certainly no shortage of Star Wars fan art out there, these portrait mosaics by James Haggerty grabbed my attention right away. I must add that I’m a big mosaic fan, especially photo mosaics.
Photography is a field I haven’t explored thoroughly but have always appreciated. Capturing a moment in time has always seemed so fascinating. I recently found a photographer who forges moments in time together to create truly stunning collages. Singapore-based photographer Fong Qi Wei started a project “Time is a Dimension” where he wanted to capture a series of moments in a single image.
Fong Qi Wei
Simplicity and design go hand in hand, and what could be more simple than a thumb tack? Eric Daigh creates portrait mosaics using hundreds of thumbtacks. From a distance you see what appears to be a pixelated portrait; up close you see an abstract piece of art made of just a few colors. What’s striking about these hand-crafted portraits is they look like they were created digitally. This concept attracted me because I believe the most impacting pieces of art are the most unconventional. As an artist, the question “why didn’t I think of that?” smacks your forehead.
Eric Daigh
In this modern world of photo manipulation and filters, we seem to dismiss the appreciation of fine art. We mustn’t forget the talent and patience it takes to create art by hand. As a graphic design student, I try to incorporate fine art in my design wherever I can. Malaysian artist Hong Yi also remembered every morning as she drank her cup of coffee and a concept began to brew in her mind. My appreciation for fine art drew me to this artist because she used the mosaic concept with a more traditional route.
Hong Yi’s coffee stain art
Cheerios has been a household name for years. So, when they contacted us about creating a fan-driven online photo mosaic, we were more than thrilled! Using a modified version of our interactive mosaic platform*, Cheerios asks parents across Canada to share photos of that special moment when their child enjoys their “First Cheerios.” Parents can upload photos directly from their Facebook album or local PC in a simple Facebook tab.
The “First Cheerios” online photo mosaic
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