Make Some Fabulous Wall Art With a DIY Map Pet Portrait
1 Material
$5
2 Hours
Easy
Would you like to have some personalized wall art in your home? Such as a portrait of your pet. But you are not confident about your painting or drawing skills.
Have you ever thought of doing a collage? They are much more forgiving. I love crafting with maps so I decided to do a map portrait of my beloved Foxy Russell Toby.
It is a lot easier then you think here I show how you can turn a photo of your pet into some unique map wall art.
To start with you will need a photo of your pet. Don't worry it doesn't have to be the best photo in the world.
All you need for this project is some paper, a photo of your pet, scissors, paper glue, tracing paper and maps.
If you don't have any old maps don't worry you can buy some gorgeous vintage map gift wrap cheaply from Cavallini online they have loads of cities and countries to choose from.
The next thing to do is by using your computer to posterize your photo. There are lots of programs on the web where you can do this for free just google it or click the link on my blog.
Posterizing your picture simplifies it and makes it easier to work with.
Using tracing paper trace around your posterized picture of your pet. You don't need to copy too many details keep your shapes nice and simple.
Transfer your traced image onto the paper for your finalized artwork.
Using the tracing paper select map shapes to fit your portrait shapes. I like to refer to the original photo when doing this. Select bits of map that fit the tone of your picture.
For example, Toby's ears are a darker color to the rest of him so I used darker colored maps for his ears.
To get a bit more detail with your map portrait you can use some stamps and bits of a newspaper for the eyes and nose.
Toby is a scruffy dog to I added some texture to the paper by fringing it, especially with his beard.
More detailed instructions are on the blog.
I love how my map portrait turned out. It is certainly a conversation piece in my home. A map portrait would also make a lovely gift.
Posterizing photos is a great way to simplify them making it easier to create artwork. You should check out my Posterized Giant Dog Portrait tutorial.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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3 of 39 comments
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Fantastic idea! Love, love, love it. Am redecorating the computer room with maps and old atlas pages. I would like to do this with a picture of my 14 year old cat. Thanks for sharing!
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Love this
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