Kingfisher Mosaic: Improvising over a Pattern

I made a video that shows how to translate an image into mosaic by improvising loosely over a pattern.

The pattern I used for this demonstration was the pattern I created quickly using Photoshop for a friend.

The Video

The Captions

I am improvising over the pattern instead of following it closely:

I’m not even following the colors of the illustration I used to generate the pattern:

I am interpreting the photo in terms of the colors available in the tile color palette.

I also have to render with the shapes I can cut, and I have to think about the work lines (rows).

I am working on a temporary surface (sticky contact paper taped over the pattern).

The temporary surface allows me to easily make changes and try different variations.

First full version with monochrome green background:

The background was made more interesting before the mosaic was mounted:

There were two things changed after the first full version was laid out.

The red-brown belt patterning on the bird’s breast was smoothed while the mosaic was still on the contact paper.

Before Mounting (face down on mosaic mounting tape):

The background was revised after the mosaic was already upside down on mosaic mounting tape.

A dental pick was used to pull select background tiles off the mounting tape.

Those tiles were quickly replaced with lighter chartreus tiles.

Laying out the background originally in monochrome allowed me to work out the andamento rapidly.

The addition of a second color to the background was necessary for visual interest and depth.