Creative projects

The Great Wave, in Faces

Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa, rebuilt from thousands of individual portrait photographs in hexagonal cells. The deep blues of the crest and the pale foam are carried entirely by the tones of the faces themselves.

How It Was Made

1. 01

   The woodblock print’s strong tonal bands — deep indigo, pale foam, warm sky — defined the matching targets.

2. 02

   Hexagonal cells follow the flow of the wave better than a square grid would.

3. 03

   A portrait-only library was mapped so that face brightness carries the wave’s light and shadow.