Top 5 Tips for Making a Masterpiece

[Freaky Friday]

Freaky's top 5 tips for creating a masterpiece at TheBroth.

1. The right subject.

Pick your subject before you begin. Have a clear idea in your head of what it should look like even before you begin. When you work with a group of people, find a reference photo and discuss in detail what aspects of the photo the artwork should resemble, and what aspects will be different and how it will be different.

Make it original! We have enough cats, fish, flowers and geometric patterns.

Think of the scale! While a nice big object in the middle of the mosaic may look nice, do you really have enough tiles to achieve this? 1000 tiles may sound like a lot, but it doesn't fill up that much space.

2. The right colours.

Depending on your subject, seed your mosaic with the right amount of colours that you'll need. Think about your colour composition, 30% shades of yellow? 60% shades of green? Then find a seeding picture that corresponds to your colour requirements. If it's not quite perfect, use an image editing application like Photoshop to add more of the right colours in.

3. Use all of your tiles.

Because spare tiles suck, seriously, they ruin the look of a perfectly good mosaic. Use all the tiles or creatively hide them under each other.

4. No more borders.

Because borders around the edge of the mosaic suck (just like spare tiles). Even an artwork with a purposefully placed border would look 10 times better without it. So please, please, please, no more borders!

5. Have fun!

When you enjoy what you do, it shows in your creation. Getting annoyed with your work? Take a private snapshot and come back to it later.

[xreko]

Those are great tips

[bex_90]

I agree with the point about the borders, I don't think they help to make a mosaic look better. Sometimes they look suitable, for example, shamymx's sushi. But they don't always look good. (Yes, thats a compliment shamymx )

Thanks for the tips Freaky Friday.

[Freaky Friday]

I guess (as the saying goes) we'll have to agree to disagree about borders.

I love shammy's sushi, I severely dislike the border that was left behind. Imagine the sushi artwork without the border, it would look 100 times better and I wouldn't have hesitated to give it 10+ if that were possible.

P.S. Shammy's sushi artwork in question.

[thirty-seven]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of borders. But I still liked the sushi mosaic enough to give it a plus.

[Internet Weasel]

I'd also suggest (for people who don't already) to sort the tiles by colors before starting. It takes a while to do, but if you do it before starting to work on your art, it helps you know what you're working with.

[thirty-seven]

[cryogenic]

These are good tips all round... but it encourages very naturalistic pieces of a similar style. Me I start with the tile that attracts me first and work from there tile by tile. Instinct, feelings and making it up as you go along can create just as 'good' art as preparation, planning and sorting tiles into colours. There seems to me to be a lack of cerebral abstract art on the broth. Don't get me wrong, love the work produced for the most part but art has many guises.

[dollydaydream]

i agree, my winter scene started life as an irish cottage, i selected an image and appropriate colours but when i tried to make it , it just didn`t work. In the end I looked at the colours and started by creating a tree (again!) and voila a snowscape emerged and has been my most successful mosaic!

[Freaky Friday]

That's true, I guess I'm just a planning freak by nature

I've seen you (as in cryo) do your work by starting with one tile and going by feel and instincts. I have to say, it was a pleasure to watch.

I'm not saying that my tips are the be all and end all of how to create a masterpiece, they're just my tips, based on what has worked for me in the past.

[Roman Centurion]

I don't do the same works of art that some people do around here. I like to look at the colours in a room, and just go from there.

I enjoy the patterns, but I don't strive for realism, mostly. I don't mind leaving tiles all over the place; they're a reminder of the medium we're using.

But then, I don't do a lot of snapshots, either. Maybe if I did, I'd make everything look perfect, like some of our talented people here.

[Adam Kid]

Nice tips, im thinking of starting my first real project soon, wish me luck!

[Wonderful Goose]

good luck mate!

I am useless at realistic pics,unless I happen to be working well on that particular day,so I prefer to use a cartoon start point and work from there.www.thebroth.com/art11962.htmlthis is one of my better pics.