Murals are a great way to add a color, customization and a theme to a baby or child's room.
Painting a mural for a baby’s or kid’s room
What are Murals?
Murals are large pictures painted onto a wall. They are a fun and exciting way to add a bold theme to a room or to customize the room.
It’s very important to have a picture in your mind of what you want to transfer to the wall. Murals can be as simple or as complex as you are comfortable with, ranging from one or two characters to an entire scene. The rest of the walls can then be painted one shade which complements your mural.
Things to consider before starting:
• Is the Design for a Boy or Girl?
• How much time do you have?
• How confident are you at drawing/painting?
• Where can you get some ideas from?
• Where can you get the pictures from?
Picking a theme or design:
The first thing to decide on is your design.
Is the Design for a Boy or Girl?
You may not know or want to know the sex of the child. If you do not know the sex, choose something that will appeal to any child.
How much time do you have?
Murals take up a lot of time, so if time is a factor keep that in mind when choosing your design.
A fairly intricate mural on 1 wall will take approx. 3 to 4 days working 8 hours a day.
If you don’t have a lot of time, look at a simple design that will take less time to achieve i.e. one large character on a plain background or more abstract art like rainbows and balloons.
How confident are you at drawing or painting?
This is always a major concern.
If you are unsure, it's always best to stick to a simple idea which involves little or no free hand drawing.
If you would love to paint a mural or design, but are just not confident, the option is always there to use an overhead projector and trace the image onto the wall. Stencils are always an excellent option also. Remember you can always paint over it if it goes wrong.
Where to get pictures from?
Books are always great for pictures and most have detailed drawings. Books are also good because you can mix and match pictures and characters giving you a wide range of options.
The Internet is also a great place, but it may take you a long time to find the right picture/s. Using the internet also means that any picture you copy needs to be the type that can be enlarged later, you will often find that after downloading a picture into your software, when you attempt to enlarge it, it will become distorted. There are plenty of sites which have clip art that is ideal for less detailed murals.
Magazines and comics are also a good place to look for design ideas.
Stencils also provide a good source of inspiration, but these can really only be used if your design is abstract. If you cannot find a stencil you like most good DIY shops stock the paper and tools needed to make your own stencil, this however can be tricky and takes a steady hand.
Design Techniques:
So how do you go about pulling your design together? Try and visualize what you want to achieve in a room. Then look at what design you are going to choose.
Take into consideration where the furniture is going to stand, after all there is no point painting a mural on a wall which is going to be half covered by furniture.
If you can find a picture that matches what you want, you then have a template to work from and you can use parts of the picture to carry on a theme. If you would like to use different characters in one background this is where it becomes a bit more tricky.
Gather all the images you like together. If you are good with computers, you can really use it to your benefit. You can use the computer to morph the images together- (see Using Computers) -, then print off the picture you've created.
Using computers:
For those of you who have a computer and scanner, it’s very easy to scan the images and open them in a picture viewer software.
You can take what you want out of one picture and combine it with another to create your mural design.
Once you have your mural image done, you need to change it to black and white. This makes it easier to transfer to the wall as the outlines are much sharper. Change the image and save the result. If necessary make the picture darker to enhance the lines. Or if you don’t know how to do this on your computer, you can get transfer paper and trace the image with a black marker.
Your images are now complete and are ready to be transferred to the wall.
If all else fails, have a friend who knows the computer help you or trace the image with Tracing Paper to use with an overhead projector.
Surface Preparation:
The most important thing before starting any work is to ensure that you have a good surface.
If you are starting from scratch you'll have a blank canvas to work with. If it’s like most people, the room is already decorated. This is where the hard work begins.
If the walls are just painted then fill any cracks or holes first, once this is done paint one coat of white paint over all the walls.
This will cover the walls sufficiently for you to start painting your design. Don't worry if some slight bits of the old color show through the white as your design will cover this completely. What you are looking to achieve is a canvas on which to start.
If you are just doing small characters or images, you can paint directly on the colored walls.
When all the paint is dry you can begin to transfer your design.
Transferring the Design:
Get some Acetates (also known as clear Transparency Films from any computer software retailer and are relatively inexpensive. (Before buying check your make of printer and ensure you buy the transparencies for you specific printer).
Print the images onto the acetate paper. Allow to dry.
Next thing you need is an Over Head Projector. If your lucky you may be able to borrow one from somewhere, work or school, but if not, you can rent them either by the day or longer.
Check your local Yellow pages under Audio and Visual, and you should be able to find an outlet. Some craft/hobby stores also carry small, inexpensive projectors you can buy for smaller murals.
Once you have you’re the projector, set it up in the room. Place your acetate on the glass and shine the image on the wall.
This will give you an exact picture of what the finished design will look like. Make any changes at this point if needed.
Once you have you full image, take a pencil or chalk and draw around the outline on the wall. This will give you a perfect outline drawing. Stand back once in while to check that you haven't missed bits.
All that's left to do now is fill the color in.
Paints and Brushes:
I have found that the easiest paint to use is acrylic paint. This comes in a wide variety of colors and can be bought in different sized containers depending on how much you need. Remember you do not need to buy every different shade of say blue, just buy two or three strong colors then to achieve different shades by adding in white or black acrylic paint to get the hue you want.
Acrylic paints are durable and water soluble. You can apply them using a brush, pad or roller. Acrylic paints are available at DIY stores or craft/hobby stores.
As your design progresses and you become more confident you can build up your colors to give an even more bold effect.
Paint on the first color then once this is dry you can paint in the shading and detail over the top.
Squeeze your chosen color onto your pallet. You can buy painting palettes at the DIY or art stores, or you can use paper plates to mix your colors. Acrylic paint takes very little time to dry in fact 10 minutes or so is enough, so when you're squeezing out your paint use little and often as it will dry quickly and you don't want to waste it.
Buy your brushes at the same time as your buying the paint.
You'll need about three to four brushes of differing sizes; you'll want a very small thin brush for painting in details, a slightly larger one for doing small areas and so on, so you should finish with a range of brushes which will cover every job.
Acrylic paints are easily washable from your brushes etc, just use water, and remember to put the brushes straight into a glass of water after you've finished using them, so that they remain soft and usable.
Don't leave any of your tools in water overnight, clean them thoroughly then reshape the bristles and leave the brushes upturned in your glass to dry.
Final touches:
Once you have your mural completed, I like to take a black permanent marker or paint pen and outline the finished mural or add even more details. This adds a nice final touch to the design.
Make sure to take photos of your finished work to show off your beautiful mural.
Sources- http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/paintingmurals.html
Tools:
Find some of the tools you may need to make the process easier.