Deciding to paint a Mural:

The most important requirements for painting a wall mural are enthusiasm for the project and stamina. You're painting a large area and it's going to take a while, but the rewards make it worthwhile. If you've never painted a mural before, don't panic. You'll simply be applying the painting skills you do have from your 'normal' painting. Be inspired by the murals of the greats such as Leonardo da Vinci and remember that in past centuries mural painting was more highly regarded than easel painting

How to Prepare a Surface for a Wall Mural:
Thoroughly clean the wall to remove any dust and grease, and leave it to dry. Consider applying a fresh coat of paint or primer before you begin your design, especially if there are color variations on the wall.

How to Get Your Mural Design on the Wall:
The easiest way to transfer your mural design to the wall is to use the grid method. As you become more experienced, you'll likely find you sketch the design out in less detail on the wall.

Simply put, to grid a design, you draw a set of 1" or 5cm squares across your original design and then a grid on the wall that's got the same number of squares but obviously they're considerably larger. You then use the squares to guide you as you redraw the design on the wall. (See also: How to Grid from About's Drawing Guide and The Grid Method by muralist Doug Myerscough.)

What Paint to Use for a Wall Mural:
If the mural is going to be exposed to the sun, you'll need paint that'll stand up to this. Check the lightfastness (UV) qualities of the paint you're going to use.

Quality acrylic mural paints are the ideal, but check your budget as they may work out too expensive for the whole mural. If this is the case, use them for the details and 'ordinary' household paint for blocking in the under layers or large areas. Choose paint with a matt or eggshell finish so light doesn't reflect off the mural.

If your wall mural is accessible to small children with their inevitable sticky fingers, protect the mural with a final coat of protective clear varnish, which also makes cleaning it simple.

Tips for Painting a Wall Mural

Remember to step back regularly and see what the mural looks like from a distance. A wall mural must 'look right' whether you're close-up or just entered the room. Step back to get some perspective on what you've done.
Use decent brushes; cheap ones will make it even harder work.[For loads of useful info, Read Grumpy`s guide to Mural Workshops. Read this mural painting information sheet from Golden Paints. It's aimed at exterior murals, but is relevant to interior murals too].

 

• 1/. Plan the details of your project. Some of the most important details are these:

Location. Painting a mural requires a suitable location, with a surface that can be painted. Flat, smooth surfaces are ideal, but with planning, even rough-textured or round surfaces can be used for your project.
Type of paint. For exterior projects that are expected to last for years, using an oil based alkyd enamel or polyurethane enamel, or newer 100% acrylic exterior paints may be your best bet. For interior walls, latex paints may offer easier cleanup, lower costs, and less odor, but regardless of your choice, make sure the paint you use is available in colors which are suitable for your project.
Quantity of paint. Because a mural can be dozens of feet long, and even dozens of feet tall, large amounts of paint will be required. By measuring the total area to be covered, the total amount of paint can be calculated, but since mural painting can require many different colors, figuring the actual area to be painted each color is necessary to allow purchasing the right amount of each one.
Method of paint application. Large areas like backgrounds may be rolled or sprayed with a paint sprayer, where details may be added with brushes or an airbrush.
Protection from the elements. Paints are sensitive to direct sunlight, extreme temperatures, and humidity, so planning to deal with these factors before beginning will make your job easier. Obviously, interior projects don't have as many complications as exterior ones, but in public places, keeping the project protected may still require attention. You can consider using varnish for your mural.
Design. Begin your project with a design you choose, either a photograph or sketches, to give you a sense of proportion and ideas for the color scheme you will use. Landscape scenes are greatly different from still life or portraits, and each will have unique requirements and elements.

 

• 2/. Produce a scaled down version of your finished mural. Use a photograph (or pasted photographs) or accurate sketches of your subject, and measure at scale the distances and locations of various points of your subject. An example would be the horizon in a landscape, possibly being located at the one-third point of the total area to be covered. Measuring key features will allow you to calculate the amount of paint when each feature is identified by its color.

 

• 3/. Prepare the wall or other surface to be painted. If the surface is low enough the whole mural can be painted standing on the ground or from a step ladder, you are ready to begin cleaning and priming it, but for higher work, you may have to build a scaffold or rent an aerial lift.

 

 

• 4/. Measure the location of specific features for your mural after you have primed the surface to receive your choice of paint. On a landscape (or seascape), you will want to mark the horizon line, since this is the place sky will become land, a distinctive change of background colors.

 

 

• 5/. Paint in the base coat of the background, again, if your subject is a landscape, painting the sky a pale blue (for a daylight sky, of course), the foreground grey, brown, or green, depending on the type of landscape you intend to portray.

 

 

• 6/. Allow the background and base coats to dry, then begin marking, using your scaled sketch, the location of key elements of objects located in the foreground. Depending on the complexity of your choice of subject, you may want to actually plot enough points to create a connect-the-dots effect, or if you are confident in your artistic ability, you may choose to sketch all of the details in freehand.

 

 

• 7/. Work from the back of your picture to the front, covering large areas in single colors as you go, being careful to keep clean transition edges from one color (an element of your subject) to the next, but keeping in mind that mistakes can be touched up later. Blocking out the largest areas of color first allows you to apply the paint with the most efficient method, whether you choose a paint roller or a sprayer. Always allow each color to dry before proceeding to the next adjacent color unless you need to actually blend the two (or more) to create shading or intermediate hues and tones as part of your design.

 

 

• 8/. Paint in details with brushes of suitable size for the portion of work you are painting. An example would be painting a large tree, using large brushes (or even a roller or sprayer) for the trunk and large limbs, then using small brushes for tiny limbs and twigs, if you choose to work in this detail.

 

 

• 9/. Cleanup your work with the original paints. If you have a drip or run, paint over it with the paint appropriate for that location, sharpen lines if they are blurred between colors, and add highlights or deep shadows if these are desired.

 

 

• 10/. Overcoat your entire project with a clear sealer if it is intended to last a long time on a surface that will require cleaning.

 Murals are more than just giant paintings. You should think of murals not only as art projects, but as an interactive process that blends collaborative grouping, history, current events, local communities, social change, and leadership skills. Below are some thoughts on what I believe makes a successful mural and a step-by-step introduction to mural making for K-12 teachers.

The following tips are for acrylic paints, but the mural making process can be applied to any of the art materials teachers find at their schools, including markers, crayons, butcher paper, etc.

Seven Great Things A Mural Should Do:

• 1/. Give students a voice and a platform to express themselves. Murals should reflect the history, experiences, needs, and aspirations of the mural makers and the local community. It is important that everybody has a role to play--everybody’s ideas are considered. This is especially important for our students who have not found success in academics, but have other strengths ready to share.

 

• 2/. Bring people together. Making murals using collaborative and democratic methods, provides a tiny microcosm, a working model of the world we want to build. Even though we can’t create total unity and cooperation among all people, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t paint and aspire towards it. With this in mind, as an organizing tool, murals can bring students, parents, and school staff personally closer together.

 

• 3/. Have a meaningful message. Murals should not only be aesthetically beautiful, but should also educate, challenge, and inspire. At their best, murals are layered with meaning and speak to wide audiences, unveiling their messages over time. Some messages are literal, some symbolic and abstract.

 

• 4/. Build success and hope. Participants not only learn how to make a mural, they gain skills and confidence to take on future community projects. If students realize what they can accomplish by working together on the mural, they will take away a powerful lesson on what people can do if they organize, collaborate, and work together to make their neighborhoods/lives better.

 

• 5/. Expand the concept of history and history makers. Murals give voice and presence to those communities and historical events often excluded in our society--women, people of color, gender issues, working class people, freedom fighters, etc. Mural making is a perfect time to go beyond the text books and have students and teachers get out into the community, incorporate local concerns, and through oral histories and photos, access the richness and wisdom of our students’ families.

 

• 6/. Strengthen the ties between school and the community. Murals provides students practice in bringing their educations back to their communities to benefit others. Language arts skills like reading, researching and writing take on authentic relevance as students see how their educational skills can be applied in meaningfully ways.

 

• 7/. Allows students and teachers to learn and have fun!

Simple Steps To Mural Making
Below is a brief outline of the mural making process. I’ve tried including the most important information to get you started. But like all lesson plans and How Tos, teachers must bring their own skills, creativity, and experiences to make them work. Use the following guide only as a springboard.
If you’ve never done a mural, start small. Don’t let inexperience keep you from trying, but don’t get in over your head. The size of the mural is not as important as the mural message and what you and your students will learn making it. Go for it, get your feet wet and use the experience to build on.
The following is specific to a wood panel mural. Murals are usually painted on walls, but for classroom teachers, moveable wood or canvas murals have several advantages over those painted on walls.
First, wood panel murals do not require school-site permission to paint. Even if you can’t find a location or permission from your principal, you can still get started. Secondly, wood panel murals can be painted safely inside the classroom in a controlled environment. Lastly, moveable murals can be permanently hung in awkward locations too high or dangerous for students to access safely and if the need ever arises, they can be moved to new locations.

Getting Started
Before you start you should have an idea of where the mural will be hung once it’s finished. This is important to build not only student motivation, but it will also affect the mural design. The amount of small and large details will depends on how close the mural will be to its audience. Also, don’t let the school be the only location for your mural. Preschools, social service agencies, senior centers, parks, and local businesses are all potential sites for murals.

• 1/. Decide on a theme: Like the Writing Process, deciding on a mural theme is similar to the brainstorming process. After deciding who the mural’s audience will be, students brainstorm mural ideas and the message they want to communicate. For teachers, this is an opportunity for students to interpret and culminate the learning they’ve been doing. Students can work as a whole class or in small groups.

 

• 2/. Brainstorm mural images: Once the mural’s theme is chosen, students should brainstorm images that communicate the theme. Similar to the Drafting Stage of the Writing Process, students get their ideas down on paper. Some of the most successful mural images communicate their messages without the need of text because the visuals are self-explanatory. Keep an eye out for drawings that display wonderful insight and creativity, but lack artistic skill. Don’t forget to use magazines, family photos and history books as resources. Images can be manipulated and changed to fit your needs. Tracing paper can be used to copy images.

 

• 3/. Combining the best of the best: With teacher guidance, students take the best of their drawings and mix and match images to come up with a design that’s a balance between being aesthetically pleasing and educationally relevant and meaningful. Get students started by photocopying student drawings and having them cut and paste their images together.

 

• 4/. Photocopying the image: Once the design is decided upon, photocopy the blackline master so students can color the mural in. It is important that the mural colors are decided upon before painting begins so the painting process will go smoothly. Now that you have the mural design, it’s time to get the painting surface ready. There a numerous sizes of plywood panels available, 4’ x 8’, 4’ x 4’, and 2’ x 4’. The larger the panel, the thicker it should be. If the mural is going to be hung outside and exposed to the elements, the panel should be at least 1/2’’, 5/8", or 3/4". If the mural is going to be located inside, a 1/4" or thicker is sufficient.  There are numerous grades and qualities of plywood at the hardware store. Go for something economical, but don’t let a few dollars keep you from buying a better piece of wood. Stay away from particle board and heavily bowed plywood.

 

• 5/. Preparing the wood surface: Sand the wood surface, especially the front and sides. Smooth the corners and any sharp edges. After removing all sawdust, paint two base coats of white paint (gesso). On large panels such as 4’x8’, use a paint roller on the front and back and a brush on the sides to seal small gaps.

 

• 6/. Trace the outline of the mural image onto the panel: Using an overhead projector align the design and have students trace the image using a pencil. Warning: Do not erase any mistakes. The rubber from the eraser can keep the paint from sticking. Depending on the grade level, once the lines are drawn, the teacher or students should outline image with a dark colored paint.

 

• 7/. Paint and fill in the images like a giant coloring book: This is where many people get nervous because they feel they don’t have any artistic skills. So, first off, relax. Acrylic paints can always be painted over, so don’t worry about mistakes.

Secondly, while art does take some skills, so does reading, writing and arithmetic. And we expect these skills from ourselves and our students. Art should be no different. Artists are often no more "skilled" than the rest of us, except for one important difference: They feel much more confident and comfortable about making art. Use mural making as a time to give students - and ourselves - the confidence to make art part of our daily lives instead of a process left to a "talented" few. Here are several painting tips to get you started:
* Paint in smooth even strokes. Painting too thick or gobbing on the paint can cause peeling later on. Keep paint from mixing, by not painting one section to another section that is still wet.

 

• 8/. Clear coat the mural.

Once the mural is done, protect it from the elements by painting on two coats of a clear varnish or medium. Stay away from clear coats that are too shiny. This is best done by the teacher or someone with experience because if the varnish is overworked it can lead to a hazing effect after it dries. Read the directions carefully and if you have any questions ask to the salesperson.

 

• 9/. Make final arrangements for the mural to be hung.

Campus maintenance, District crews or skilled parents can help. If screws are drilled into the mural, make that you later cover and protect those areas with the clear coat varnish.

Some Final Tips for Teachers:

• * Do not forget to video and take photos of the mural making process.

• * Build up the mural unveiling to a school-wide event and invite parents and the media.

• * Collect old shirts for smocks or ask students to come with their own.

• * Keep reflective journals throughout mural process. Reflective questions can be pulled from Seven Great Things Murals Should Do.

• * The mural should not be seen as something added extra to the curriculum. Use every opportunity to tie in the Language Arts, Social Studies, art history/criticism, current events, and anything else you can think of. For example, students can write about their mural ideas, make oral presentations, and conduct student mural tours.

• * Do not forget that the collective process of making the mural is as important as the mural itself. Giving ourselves and students opportunities to dream, express ourselves, and work together to build something bigger than we could have done individually, are what really make the paint come alive.

Mural Making Substrates:

• * Both MDF & Plywood panels: Available at larger hardware stores and retail wood stores. Both come in standard sizes such as 8’x4’ and smaller precut 4’x4’ and 2’x4’ sizes.

 

Mural Making Materials:

• * acrylic paints: Available at any art stores.

• * brushes: Available at schools or can be ordered through District supplies. Fine hair watercolor brushes are too small and flimsy for acrylic paints. Stay with flat edged 1/2 and larger brushes. When painting the white primer (gesso) base coat, use 2-4 inch paint brushes or a paint roller for larger murals. For the final clear coating use a quality 3 to 4 inch house painting brush.

• * art supplies: crayons, markers, rulers, pencils, scrap paper and tracing paper.

• * Digital projector, overhead projector and transparencies