Dice Art: Everything You Need to Know

What is dice art?

Dice art is a form of mosaic art where standard six-sided dice are arranged in a grid to recreate an image. Each die face (1 dot through 6 dots) acts as a different shade of gray. When hundreds or thousands of dice are placed together, the individual faces blend into a cohesive image, much like pixels on a screen.

The concept is rooted in a simple principle: brightness mapping. A die showing 1 (mostly white surface, tiny dot) represents light areas, while a die showing 6 (heavily dotted, darker) represents shadows.

Why black and white dice together?

Most people think of dice art using only black dice with white pips. That works, but it only gives you 6 brightness levels to work with. The result can feel flat or hard to read.

By combining black dice (white pips) and white dice (black pips), you unlock 12 distinct brightness levels. A white die showing 1 (nearly all white) is the lightest possible shade, while a black die showing 6 (nearly all black) is the darkest. This doubled range produces noticeably clearer, more detailed portraits with smoother gradients and better contrast.

Using only white dice does not produce recognizable images because the contrast between a white surface and black pips simply isn't enough range. So your options are: black + white dice (best quality) or black dice only (simpler but inferior).

Dice art portraits of Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, and the Mona Lisa, all made with Diceify.

Types of dice art

The most common form of dice art is the dice portrait: a photograph of a face converted into a grid of dice. These are often made as personalized gifts, tributes, or home décor. But dice art isn't limited to portraits:

• Dice portraits: the most popular form. A photograph (usually a face) converted to a dice grid. Great for gifts, memorials, and fan art.
• Dice mosaics: any image turned into dice, including logos, icons, famous paintings, album covers, or pop culture art.
• Large-scale dice art: wall-sized installations using thousands or tens of thousands of dice. Often commissioned for events, offices, or public spaces.

Dice art as a gift

One of the reasons dice art has become so popular is that it makes an incredibly personal and unique gift. Unlike something you'd pick up at a store, a dice portrait is handmade. The person building it spends hours placing each die, one at a time, and that time and effort is part of what makes it meaningful.

You can create dice art of loved ones, pets, celebrities, or any image that matters to the person receiving it. Because it's generated from a personal photo, no two pieces are alike. It's a truly one-of-a-kind gift that you won't find anywhere else.

Dice portraits make great gifts for birthdays, weddings, graduations, memorials, or just because. The building process itself can be a fun project, and some people even build them together with the person they're gifting it to.

How dice art works: the brightness mapping principle

The core idea behind all dice art is brightness mapping. Here's how it works:

1. Convert the image to grayscale. Strip away color so each pixel has a single brightness value.
2. Divide into a grid. Split the image into cells, where each cell represents one die. Each cell aggregates a group of neighboring pixels into a single average brightness, which is why even low-resolution images work perfectly fine.
3. Map brightness to die faces. For each cell, assign a die color (black or white) and face number. With both colors, you get 12 distinct shades across the full brightness range.
4. Build the grid. Place physical dice on a board or frame following the pattern, one row at a time.

This is exactly what a dice art generator automates. You upload a photo, and it calculates the optimal die color and face for every cell in the grid.

How to make your own dice art

Making dice art is surprisingly straightforward. Here's the basic process:

1. Choose your image

The best images for dice art are zoomed-in and have clear contrast between the subject and background. You don't need a high-resolution photo since the generator downscales and aggregates pixels anyway, so even a casual phone photo works well.

A few tips for picking the right image:

• Zoom in on a single face. Family photos can work, but crop to focus on one person. The more of the grid the face fills, the more detail you'll see.
• Look for hair-to-background contrast. Dark hair against a light background produces great results. Blonde or lighter hair works best against a darker background.
• High-contrast lighting helps. Photos with clear light and shadow on the face create more dramatic, readable dice portraits.

2. Generate your pattern

Use a tool like Diceify to convert your photo into a dice grid. The tool will tell you exactly how many dice you need and let you preview the result in real time.

Crucially, you can adjust contrast and brightness to dial in the look before you start building. Increasing contrast can make facial features pop, while tweaking brightness helps when the original photo is too dark or washed out. These adjustments make a huge difference in how recognizable and beautiful the final piece turns out.

3. Gather your materials

You'll need: standard 16mm dice in both black and white (buy in bulk), a frame or backing board, and adhesive (wood glue or epoxy). A ruler or straight edge helps keep rows aligned.

4. Build it

Follow the pattern row by row. Diceify's step-by-step builder highlights your current position and tells you exactly which die to place next, so you never lose your place or miscount.

Dice art examples

Here are some dice portraits and mosaics created with Diceify, each one built by hand from a generated pattern:

Frequently asked questions about dice art

How long does it take to build a dice portrait?

It depends on the size. A small 20×20 portrait (400 dice) might take 2–4 hours. A medium 40×40 piece (1,600 dice) can take a full day or two. Larger projects (50×50 and above) often take multiple sessions spread over several days.

Using a tool like Diceify speeds things up significantly compared to working from a static blueprint. Instead of eyeballing which die goes where, the builder zooms in on your current position, tells you how many continuous dice of the same value to place in a row, and tracks your overall progress. That means less time counting and recounting, and more time actually building.

Where can I buy dice in bulk?

Amazon, gaming supply stores, and educational supply stores sell dice in bulk packs of 100–1,000. Look for uniform 16mm white dice with black pips. These give the cleanest look for dice art.

Should I use black dice, white dice, or both?

For the best results, use both black and white dice. This gives you 12 brightness levels instead of 6, producing much clearer images with smoother shading. Black dice alone still work and some people prefer the look, but the detail is noticeably reduced. White dice alone don't produce recognizable images because there isn't enough contrast range between a white surface and small black pips.

Do I need a high-quality photo?

No. Dice art generators downscale your image by aggregating groups of pixels into single brightness values, so a low-resolution or even slightly blurry photo works fine. What matters more is the composition. Zoom in on a face and make sure there's good contrast between the subject and the background.

What's the difference between dice art and pixel art?

Both are grid-based, but they use different elements. Pixel art uses colored squares (like screen pixels or Perler beads), giving you unlimited colors. Dice art uses six-sided dice, giving you up to 12 shades (with black and white dice) and adding a three-dimensional, tactile quality that you can't get with flat media.

Further reading

• Dice Art Gallery — browse portraits and abstract mosaics created with Diceify.
• Why I Built Diceify — the story behind Diceify and a video of building a dice portrait from scratch.
• How Jeremy Made Dice Portraits for His Nieces — a community story about making personalized dice art gifts.