Marpig 的处女 LEGO 杰作

Wanted to blog chronically but really 忍不住, hence, this entry 1st!! *other entries under the carpet for the time being*

Itz not really Marpigz 处女 LEGO 杰作, since she had a few Technics but Marpig have been 闭关修炼-ing on this PROJECT. Itz not smth new, since there are professionals whoz done this. Most of them start off as a hobby and then started doing it as a career, selling the idea to companies and the masses who wanted smth diff and can afford it

Indeed, quite a few individuals had curved out a great career out of it (since this is 1 of the rare occasions when 1 get to enjoy the job they do!!)

Project = 2D LEGO Mosaic!! You must be asking why in the 1st place would Marpig want to try her trotters on it and how 珠子 got the idea and motivation to do it;

1) Was at a small art gallery in London 1 fine dae with Marpigz sis and BIL. They passed a LEGO mosaic of sm1 which was selling for 1700+ quid. Al of them agreed tt the price was mad and after taking a closer look, Marpig 大言不惭 said, "Chey, 我也会做!!"

2) Wanted to do smth as bdae/Xmas presents for Marpigz dad and sis since, if Marpig were to buy smth for them, they could buy it themselves too, i.e., not special/unique

3) A challenge to do LEGO Mosaic in the 贫民 way, without having to purchase any software like Photoshop, etc. 突破 is wat we al need!! Marpig wanted to break the perceived WOW factor and reveal the secret to LEGO mosaic DIY!!

And now!! To al aunties, uncles, 小弟 and 小妹们, 大家来学做 LEGO!!

If u are to search online for LEGO mosaic, 99.9% of pros and non-pros whoz attempted it wil tel/teach/share with u this: tt u need to have Photoshop to pixelate a photo but Marpig wil say no and she did it without!! Heh!! Rem, 我们的目的是要 keep it simple!! (biangz, 开始有点像 hold 住姐!! OMG!!)

1) Photoshop is XXXpensive
2) Even for the average enthusiast, learning Photoshop wil put u off
3) Every1 seems to be following wat others say, hence, every1 who wanted to do it seems to be using Photoshop (of cos, Photoshop is a great photo editing tool which Marpig used)

So the secret to LEGO mosaic DIY consists of the following (any1 whoz got a comp is already 50% there!!):

1) Patience
2) Paint
3) Excel
4) LEGO colour code (corresponding RGB codes for available LEGO bricks)
5) http://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Pick-A-Brick-ByTheme

1 th to note is tt LEGO baseplate comes in 2 std sizes, 10" x 10" (equate to 32 1x1 LEGO studs) and 15" x 15" (equate to 48 1x1 LEGO studs) For starter, Marpig used 48 studs baseplate. Of cos, 1 can make a bigger mosaic by combining a few baseplates, it just means more work and effort

a) In Paint, open the photo and crop it, leaving the impt features only

b) Check the number of pixels so tt is = 48 x 48. Go to Image --> Attributes

c) Then go to Image --> Resize/Skew and resize it by 5% - 10%, constantly checking the number of pixels by repeating b)

d) After resizing, go to View --> Zoom --> Custom --> 800% and 1 wil see tt the photo has been pixelated
e) Once done, save the edited photo as 16-bit colour like this:
Reason why 1 need to save it in 16-bit colour is bcos of the limited colours of LEGO bricks

f) Go to View --> Zoom --> Show Grid and touch up the 'straying' shades/colours
g) Open Excel and create a 48 x 48 cells of data to represent 48 x 48 pixels/1x1 LEGO bricks. Viewing Paint and Excel side by side (here comes the tedious part), give each cell the corresponding colour in Paint and a letter to rep the colour. (Impt step!!) Complete the process of filling out each cell (FYI, 48 x 48 = 2304 cells)

h) After filling in all cells, check the available LEGO brick colours by clicking on the website above. Where a colour is not available on LEGO, replace it with smth similar

And this is where the RGB codes for LEGO bricks are useful. To replace an unavailable colour and see the effect, in Excel, go to a cell, right click --> Format Cells --> Fill --> More Colours and Custom and enter the RGB codes of the selected LEGO colour

i) After h), itz time to create assembly spreadsheets which is also the list of the precise number of LEGO bricks to order

Assembly spreadsheets are impt bcos 1 need to noe where each brick goes (location and orientation). Of cos, if 1 is to use 1x1 LEGO bricks, then this is step can be omitted. However, Marpig had done a cost cal; using 1x1 LEGO bricks wil be more xpensive than using larger brick sizes like 1x10, 2x8, 2x6, etc for the same colour, specially if tt colour is used over a large area

The assembly spreadsheets are also impt bcos this is where 1 would start the tedious process of counting the number and type of LEGO bricks, for each colour used, meticulously

Rem step g) where each cell will contain a letter to rep itz colour? There is also a lengthy formula in Excel which can count the number of cells, within a data range, tt gives information on the number of red, blue, green, grey, etc LEGO bricks 1 used

This data can be used if 1 is using 1x1 LEGO bricks or in Marpigz case, as a double check for the number and type of LEGO bricks Marpig used on top of 1x1 LEGO bricks. Marpig also used this to work out the total costs of the LEGO bricks!!
Above is how the assembly spreadsheets and the order / number list looks like

Once done, itz time to order the LEGO bricks online!!
The LEGO bricks wil come in a big box, al messed up, thank u very much. And itz time to separate the colours as wel as checking tt the numbers are correct and they havent miss a single 1!! (They didnt!! Very precise!!)

And now!! The 杰作!!

FYI, if 1 is buy the LEGO mosaic as gifts from online, it would cost (Marpig checked) approx 370 - 400 quid for a 48x48 portrait. Guess how much Marpig spent in total for her 杰作 above? less than 70 quid!! :D