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I work at a non-profit facility with kids and have been looking for projects to work on with them that won't cost a fortune. One thing that caught my eye was the Post-It mosaic of Elvis that made the online rounds a little while back. That looked to be a perfect project that the kids could work on over time, and would certainly brighten up some unused wall space.
While I would love to have Photoshop at work, it's simply not going to happen, so I did a little searching and found a terrific open source app that does the job well. Post-Its are not outrageously expensive, and this technique can be used with any square colored bits of paper, so if you have the time to cut up construction paper or colored copy paper and tape and/or glue them to a wall, you could certainly do so. You can even use this technique to convert an image into any mosaic tile medium.
Many thanks to the original for the inspiration, and to all of the other Post-It mosaic designers out there. Also thanks to the mtPaint developers, as without that software, this would be infinitely more difficult.
UPDATE: I'm digging around on the Wikimedia Commons site and will convert a few more images, as it will take quite a while to get the actual mosaics completed. I'm also working on a really short summary page, as it only takes about 3 minutes tops to make one of the images, and the instructions look like it would take hours.
Note that I only have created the palettes using Sunbrite and Aquatic so far, so they are all in that color scheme.
While I would love to have Photoshop at work, it's simply not going to happen, so I did a little searching and found a terrific open source app that does the job well. Post-Its are not outrageously expensive, and this technique can be used with any square colored bits of paper, so if you have the time to cut up construction paper or colored copy paper and tape and/or glue them to a wall, you could certainly do so. You can even use this technique to convert an image into any mosaic tile medium.
Many thanks to the original for the inspiration, and to all of the other Post-It mosaic designers out there. Also thanks to the mtPaint developers, as without that software, this would be infinitely more difficult.
UPDATE: I'm digging around on the Wikimedia Commons site and will convert a few more images, as it will take quite a while to get the actual mosaics completed. I'm also working on a really short summary page, as it only takes about 3 minutes tops to make one of the images, and the instructions look like it would take hours.
Note that I only have created the palettes using Sunbrite and Aquatic so far, so they are all in that color scheme.
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Signing UpStep 1Supplies and prep work.
You will need:
1) A computer running either Windows or Linux.
2) mtPaint software
3) A color printer - semi-optional - used to print the final design. You could just eyeball it off of your computer screen, but that would drive me batty.
4) Loads and loads of sticky notes. NOTE - The software will be able to tell you exactly how many of each color you need. Just be prepared.
5) Some wall space, and the means to measure it.
6) An idea of what picture you would like to put on the wall. This may change, so be flexible.
7) Patience. Lots of patience.
Theoretically, you could use this software to create mosaics of any square, colorful objects, so there really isn't a need to limit yourself to the Post-It color palettes. Of course, using more colors or smaller tiles will probably take much longer.
Prep work:
1) Measure the area. Standard Post-Its are 3" x 3", so convert your measurements to inches and divide by three to get the possible number of Post-Its across and down.
Example - 6 feet by 8 feet = 72 inches by 96 inches. Divided by three that works out to 24 Post-Its across by 32 Post-Its down.
This should be obvious, but the more space you have means more Post-Its, which means much more detail. To improve detail you could always use smaller Post-Its, small pieces of paper taped or glued to the wall, or even little ceramic tiles. Whatever. Just remember that more detail also means more time.
2) Download and install the mtPaint software.
In looking for a free solution I had first tried to use some of the popular Photo Mosaic programs out there, but working with such a limited palette meant that none of them could do what I needed to have them do. Once I started thinking about this as pixel art, rather than as a mosaic, mtPaint emerged as the perfect solution.
3) Reserve some serious time. Once you get the hang of the software it should only take you a few minutes to generate out some images, but hanging them up takes forever. Well, not quite forever, but you get the idea.
1) A computer running either Windows or Linux.
2) mtPaint software
3) A color printer - semi-optional - used to print the final design. You could just eyeball it off of your computer screen, but that would drive me batty.
4) Loads and loads of sticky notes. NOTE - The software will be able to tell you exactly how many of each color you need. Just be prepared.
5) Some wall space, and the means to measure it.
6) An idea of what picture you would like to put on the wall. This may change, so be flexible.
7) Patience. Lots of patience.
Theoretically, you could use this software to create mosaics of any square, colorful objects, so there really isn't a need to limit yourself to the Post-It color palettes. Of course, using more colors or smaller tiles will probably take much longer.
Prep work:
1) Measure the area. Standard Post-Its are 3" x 3", so convert your measurements to inches and divide by three to get the possible number of Post-Its across and down.
Example - 6 feet by 8 feet = 72 inches by 96 inches. Divided by three that works out to 24 Post-Its across by 32 Post-Its down.
This should be obvious, but the more space you have means more Post-Its, which means much more detail. To improve detail you could always use smaller Post-Its, small pieces of paper taped or glued to the wall, or even little ceramic tiles. Whatever. Just remember that more detail also means more time.
2) Download and install the mtPaint software.
In looking for a free solution I had first tried to use some of the popular Photo Mosaic programs out there, but working with such a limited palette meant that none of them could do what I needed to have them do. Once I started thinking about this as pixel art, rather than as a mosaic, mtPaint emerged as the perfect solution.
3) Reserve some serious time. Once you get the hang of the software it should only take you a few minutes to generate out some images, but hanging them up takes forever. Well, not quite forever, but you get the idea.
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I'm looking for a way to create a mosaic by using photographs, sort of gathering 50 or so photos and use a program to create a big mosaic from them so I can put it on the wall. Does anyone know how to do that?
You can do it at http://www.picartia.com/ but the're using their own pictures..