There’s no reason that the interiors of your home and the choices you make for your wall paint colours have to be limited to just colours or textures. Murals are a great choice for people who are looking to liven up their space instantly with an eye catching visual delight. However, getting a mural worthy of the appreciation of your visitors is no small feat, and while it is doable by yourself, there’s a few simple steps you need to follow to help your vision come to life. In this article, we’ll explore how you can take your wall painting ideas and translate them into physical masterpieces your guests will admire.
Step 1: Pick a theme
It’s important to create a piece of art that you are not only proud of, but one that speaks to your personality, perhaps is a reflection of your tastes and preferences. The world is your oyster now and you can pick anything from music to sports, from fashion to films, from nature to famous historical figures. Or, it could just be a radical and abstract figment of your imagination, something that you see in your mind’s eye. Before you get started with the actual mural, it is advisable to think through the theme and drill down further into the actual visual you’d like to recreate and have that image down on paper in front of you. This image will be your guiding light as you translate it onto a much bigger canvas.
Step 2: Prepare the wall
Now that you have an image or a piece of art in mind, you’re ready to face your canvas and start preparing the surface for painting. Depending on the age of the wall and the time since the last coat of wall paint was applied on this particular surface, adequate preparation will be required. Walls are sometimes susceptible to deterioration and dampness and these surfaces may even need an expert to be called in if the damage is severe. Take a close look for mould, grime and dirt and even if it looks clean, it’s a good idea to wash the wall with a mildly soapy solution. The next course of action will be to apply an appropriate primer to prep the surface for paint to be applied. The kind of primer you end up using is important as it will make an impact on the durability of your wall paint since it helps the paint stick effectively.
Step 3: Tracing the image
Once the wall surface is prepped and ready for the wall paint to be applied, you first need to make sure you have the guiding lines of your image up on the wall. There are three ways you can look at doing this:
- The free hand – If you consider yourself artistically inclined and are very confident of having a steady hand, you can go ahead and start the painting process directly. Simply look at the image and begin the painting, similar to what you would do when painting on a smaller canvas. Scale is an important factor here to consider and you will have to be very careful that you trace out the outline first with a pencil or light charcoal, and then evaluate the ratios and angles of your artwork before you apply the paint.
- The projector: This is a much easier way to get your artwork or chosen image up on the wall before you apply the first coat of wall paint. There are a lot of projectors available on the market which can be used to reflect your art onto the wall with sharp lines and edges that make it easy to trace. Once you have the projector placed correctly and aligned with the wall, simply take your pencil and create the outline, getting the skeleton of your artwork up and ready to be painted into.
- The grid format: This method is a little more tricky to follow than the projector, but that doesn’t mean it’s difficult. It’s a simple device used by many successful artists across the globe to apply the same ratios of the art that are on the piece of paper to that up on the wall. All you have to do is use a ruler and trace out evenly spaced lines up and down, and side to side across the page that your image is on. These square boxes should be as close to perfectly spaced as possible as the ratio you are creating here will need to be scaled up for the wall. Once you have these perfect squares on your paper, measure out the space between each square. To keep it simple, try and go for a 1X1 inch square on the paper. Now, let’s say the paper you have has the dimensions of 4 inches length by 12 inches wide, and the size of your wall allows for triple the size. That means, your wall will need to be 12 inches (4X3 times) by 36 inches (12X3 times) and the squares on your wall will be 3 inches (1X3 times) apart. With this grid now in place, work your way one square at a time when you apply the wall paint for any particular area and make sure you follow the grid on paper as exactly as possible.
Step 4: Apply the colour
Most of the hard work is done and now comes the fun part, you finally get to colour it in. Since you’ve selected a theme and the artwork is already in your hands, you can simply follow the same colour scheme or choose any other wall paint colours that suit your fancy. Take your time to first fill out the outline carefully as you cover up the pencil markers you made earlier, proceeding to the colours and shades you’ve chosen. It’s a good idea to take a break every once in a while and step back a few paces to ensure you are within the guidelines and the image is coming out as you expect it to.
Painting your own mural and exploring the possibilities of wall paint colours to bring your vision alive can be an exciting prospect. However, it can be a testing period and you need to have the basic skills and a whole lot of patience and perseverance to keep at it so that you end up with something you absolutely love. If you’d like to call in the experts, Aapka painter is geared to deliver the best in class services to decode your vision and recreate a masterpiece that will last. Give us a call today for a free consultation and we’ll get to work for you right away.