Button Mosaic Art Tutorial

Button Mosaic Art Tutorial

Last week, I created a "Button Tree" and shared a tutorial for it (which you can find here). This week, I wanted to try something bolder: a portrait of my wife made entirely from buttons. I promised myself that I wouldn’t write this tutorial unless she liked the final result. Well, she liked it, so here I am! I hope you’ll follow along.

What you need:

  • Buttons I used approximately 150 buttons for this project. In this guide, I will show you how to use AI and photo editing to create a template for any image you like. This allows you to preview exactly how the final piece will look before you even start placing the buttons.
  • Computer (for editing and AI) I will be using Photopea, a free online photo editing tool, so that everyone can follow along. For the AI generation, I used Google AI Studio, which is also free. I tested several other AI tools, but none could replicate the specific style I got from Google AI Studio (I used the Gemini Flash/Nano model).
  • Printer I printed my template in A3 size at a local print shop (I’m lucky to have one just 100 meters away!). If you are printing at home, you can make a smaller art piece on A4, or split your image across two A4 sheets and tape them together to create a larger canvas.
  • Glue or Tape For this version, I used clear double-sided tape. I wanted to verify the look before permanently gluing the buttons. This gave me the flexibility to move buttons around or, if the project didn't work out, reuse the buttons for something else.

Choosing what to make

Originally, I planned to make something simple: a black and white piece with high contrast and very few details. However, when I saw the results from the AI, I decided to challenge myself with a more detailed image. I think I may have aimed a bit too high for a first attempt, but it was a fun process! I’m definitely planning to give it another shot soon.

For this project, I started with this photo: 

I began by opening Photopea (photopea.com). 

I named the new file ButtonArt and chose to make it 1920px x 1080px. I clicked create. Then I opened up my photo and made it Black And White: Image-Adjustments-Black & White. 

Then I clicked on Image - Adjustments - Posterize. 

I chose Levels: 3 and clicked OK. 

Then I saved the image by clicking on File - Export as: 

I saved the image as a .jpg file. 

Making the outline for the Button Art with Google AI Studio

I went to Google AI studio (https://aistudio.google.com/), uploaded the previous image. and used this text prompt: 

“Create a detailed guideline for button art, depicting a portrait of a person. The artwork should be rendered as if made exclusively from sewing buttons on an A4 canvas. This image is intended as a direct visual guide for placing physical buttons.

The portrait should feature a maximum of 150 buttons in total, with sizes varying from 16L to 40L. Only four distinct colors/shades are permitted: black, dark grey, light grey, and white.

Crucially, every visible element of the portrait (outlines, features, and shading) must be formed entirely by the arrangement of these physical buttons. There should be absolutely no lines, pixels, or artistic rendering that are not themselves represented by a distinct button.

Black buttons should be predominantly used to define the hair and any darker shadows. White and grey buttons should be strategically placed to form the facial features and skin tones, mimicking the contrast and shading of the provided source image with a limited number of buttons. The arrangement should be sparse yet clear enough to convey the likeness.

The background should be a plain, light-colored canvas, showing only a subtle canvas weave texture, to ensure the button placement is the focal point. The final output must look like a precise, albeit minimalist, instruction set for button placement.”

Google AI Studio made the above image. I liked it and decided to print it out. But first I opened the image that Google AI created in a google doc, changed the layout to A3, made the image as big as possible and saved it as a PDF. 

I printed the PDF in A3 and taped it to a table so that it would not move when I started adding buttons to it. 

Then I started adding buttons to the image. I chose lighter colored buttons where the guide showed me to put lighter colored buttons. 

And then different types of black colored buttons for the hair. Below is the final result. It is far from perfect and I will make a better one soon but I think it is good for being a first trial. 

 

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