How to Make Lego Mosaic Portrait in Photoshop

In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to make Lego mosaic portrait from any photo in Photoshop. Here’s the effect we’ll be creating:

 

To make Lego mosaic portrait, you’ll need:

• Any recent version of Photoshop

Step 1
Open your picture in Photoshop. This effect works well with at least a 2000×2000 pixels photo. If your photo is smaller, you can make it larger by going to Image > Image Size. Don’t worry about making the photo blurry since we’ll be pixelating the photo anyways.
I’ll be using this stock image.

 

Step 2
Duplicate the background layer by pressing Command+J (Macs) / Ctrl+J (Windows) and rename the duplicate layer “Bricks”. Then, right-click on the Bricks layer and click on Convert to Smart Object.

 

Step 3
Go to Filter > Pixelate > Mosaic and use a cell size that makes your photo barely discernible. Remember the cell size you use since we will be using it in the next step.

 

Step 4
Create a new document with the same width and height as the cell size you used in the previous step. I used 64 as the cell size, so I’ll be making a 64×64 pixels document.

 

Step 5
Go to Edit > Fill and use the settings shown below.

 

 

Step 6
Using the Ellipse Tool, make a circle in the center of the document. Hold Shift while making the circle to get a perfect circle. The color of the circle doesn’t matter here.

 

Step 7
Now, go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options and use the setting shown below.

 

Next, use the following settings for the Bevel & Emboss and Drop Shadow.

 

 

Step 8
We will now apply a layer style to the background layer, but before that, we will convert the background layer into a normal layer by right-clicking on the background layer and selecting Layer from Background.

 

Now, right-click on the background layer, select Blending Options and use the settings shown below for the Bevel & Emboss.

 

Step 9
Turn this image into a pattern by going to Edit > Define Pattern and naming it something descriptive.

 

Step 10
Close the current document and go back to the main image. Click on the New Adjustment Layer option and select Pattern from the list that appears.

 

Choose the brick pattern we just created and click OK.

 

Step 11
Change the Pattern Fill layer’s blending mode to Linear Light.

 

This is what your image would like if Lego bricks came in every shade and color, but since that isn’t the case, we will compress it to a limited color palette in the next step.
Step 12
Click on the New Adjustment Layer option and select Posterize from the list that appears. Move this new layer below the Pattern Fill layer and change its blending mode to Luminosity.

 

Keep the Levels setting anywhere between 4 and 8.

 

Step 13
We will now compress the color saturation of the image. To do so, click on the New Adjustment Layer option and select Solid Color from the list that appears.

 

Choose any color and then set B (Brightness) at 100% and S (Saturation) at 75%. You can choose any color for the H (Hue).

 

Move the Color Fill layer below the Pattern Fill layer and change the Color Fill layer’s blending mode to Saturation.

 

And we’re done! The Lego mosaic portrait tutorial is complete!