I Wrote An Algorithm That Transforms Photos Into Mosaics, And My Bot Draws Them For Me

In my free time I teach my plotter bot Karel to draw with a pen. This is one of his styles. The photo is first divided into small tiles and then Karel randomly selects a style for each tile. For each image Karel can have more than 5*10^158 different outcomes. This number is higher than the estimated number of atoms in the whole universe! Which means every drawing is essentially unique.

The result is chaotic, messy but yet recognizable and fascinating (especially when you look at them from a distance or your phone).

Karel is using a simple sharpie to draw these illustrations, for each of them he needed about 5 hours without any coffee brake.

Not all of the below photos are drawn with a pen. One is a huge print out (you will know which one it is when you see it). Some are just simulations of how the real drawing will look like.

More info: Etsy

I wrote an algorithm that transforms photos into mosaics, and my plotter bot draws them for me. Finished drawings look like that

The drawing process includes whole drawing printed out on 25 sheets

And then the assembly begins

Now the face is recognizable

The finished mosaic

Comparison of input and drawing preview

A drawing of David Bowie

Leon the professional one of my favorite movies

Portrait of a homeless man

Portrait of Alicia Vikander

Perview of Barbara Palvins portrait

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