Turn a photo into
a brick mosaic.

Built from 3D brick parts

Many "brick effect" tools paint studs on top of a pixelated image. Mosey builds the mosaic from modeled brick parts (bricks, plates, tiles, slopes and corners) and merges neighboring cells of similar color into bigger pieces, the way a builder would.

Colors are matched in CIE LAB space, which measures how different two colors look to the eye rather than how different their numbers are. Each piece gets the brick color that looks closest to that part of your photo.

Choosing a photo for a brick mosaic

Brick mosaics have a small palette and a coarse grid, so contrast matters more than detail. Faces and pets work best when the subject fills the frame and is lit from the front. A busy background turns into noise, so use background removal (1 AI credit) to cut the subject out and put it on a plain color.

Start with a medium tile size and step it down until the eyes read clearly. That's usually the point where a portrait becomes recognizable. Smaller tiles keep finer features but need more pieces.

Choosing colors and pieces

The palette has 69 solid and 16 translucent brick colors, and each one can be switched off. Build only from colors you already own, keep to a narrow range for a graphic look, or drop the translucent ones for a solid wall piece. The mosaic re-matches instantly.

Pieces work the same way. Mosey can use footprints from 1×1 up to 2×8, plus 4×4 and corner pieces. Switch any of them off if you'd rather build with a few standard sizes.

Flat wall art or a sculpted relief

With depth off, you get a flat mosaic with one layer of studs, like the brick art frames people hang on walls. It costs nothing to make and export.

With depth on, an AI depth map (one AI credit) raises the subject off the base so faces and pets stand out in 3D. Shell mode builds only the visible surface, which keeps the piece count down. Solid fills every stack from the base up for a sturdier build.

Plan the build before you buy bricks

The LDraw export gives the position and color of every piece. Open the .ldr file in free LDraw-compatible software such as BrickLink Studio or LeoCAD to inspect the model and see which parts it uses.

Because it's a 3D model, you can check how the mosaic reads from across the room and try a different size before you spend anything on pieces.

Start from a 3D model instead of a photo

You can also drop in a GLB or OBJ model. Mosey voxelizes it and rebuilds it in bricks, which is how the scooter example on this page started. It's a quick way to test whether a character or object will work as a brick sculpture before you plan it properly.

Brick mosaic ideas

Portraits of partners and grandparents, pet portraits, album covers, team logos and pixel-art characters. Build one for real, print the render as a poster, or 3D-print the STL as a desk piece.