mural paint

[the_allejo05]

i was doing a portrait for a friend..you know pencil and then oil..it will be my first..but anyways..we were talking and she showed a wall on her apartment where i could do a mural..we will be discussing the subject and ideas..mainly i will design it and drew it out..then off course paint it but my concern if any of you guys have done a mural on a wall before ..if so which paint do you recomend? brushes? etc..i now acrylic is a good choice..but dont know much about....i dont want the best just decent paint..because when she will move out..she will probably have it painted over..but still im exited..I will probably work with the 3 primary colors plus black, white..maybe green..i wanna have a limited palette...i have like two months from sketches to completion before i move out of this artless town...hehe

[EccoXile]

I did some mural paint research soem time ago...though for outdoor application. I have used just normal house paint, and that seems to work. Gets kinda messy if your not careful with it and you get those nasty globs in the can because you left hte lid open too long If you don't need super details on it, it works fien with regular housepainting brushes. Not the easiest to work with though, paints not so smooth and colors not so great.
As you said, acrylic is probably the best choice. Easy to work with, good color choices, blah blah blah. I don't have personal experience with it, but when I was about to do a mural that ended up not working, the materials list was long and spendy. Since yours doenst need to be as permanent, probably don't need all the prep and varnishing crap that drains the bank. Just a few big jars of paint should work. http://www.goldenpaints.com has some information on mural painting, and googling of course might find results.
Brushes...I have no clue Just anything cheap but durable, not synthetic plastic crap and it shoudld. Don't pile on the paint, work it on thin, but still opaque. Backgroudn to foreground, big shapes to little ones....
That's all the advice I have to offer. I'm not at all the most knowledgeable on this topic, so don't take my advice as the golden word or anything... Just hope it helps for something.

[Uziel]

there are some threads on this forum about murals use the search tool.
Here is one of them:
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=mural

I did some line art on my wall/ceiling also with normal house paint.I got the drawing from some comic and wanted to color it too but my parents didn't agree so I only used 2 colors.
The ref



If you like vector and simple stylish designs try this link
http://www.walldesign.se/portfolio/

[the_allejo05]

thanks for your advice..i will keep you guys post it on beginning to end..it seems that it will be a go..

[Gilead]

Latex house paints work really well for your duller colors. Acrylics such as Utrecht or Liquitex will be great for the brighter more intense parts of the image. Because of the roughness of most walls i've developed a sort of scrubby style to my brushwork. I use filberts from Utrecht # 10 and #8's mostly. and 2" or 4" housepaint brushes for the large shapes.

[ReAkshun]

Interesting thread.

If your painting a human head for instance on a big ass wall...how do you blend the facial features? Or just how do you turn forms that big period?
Would you pre-mix light, halftones, and shadows, for each thing your painting or just freestyle the thing?

With spraycans and airbrushes, it seems easier, but with brushes, I don't know how to attack...but, I wanna know.

[Uziel]

Well perhaps I'll do a spraypaint toturial during summer. But inside with spraycans I am not so fond of that perhaps airbrush. Spraycans inside -> It will bring a lot of work with it. you need to move/cover everything and probably you'll have to repaint the other walls when you finished. I didn't even mention the smell.

To paint such big heads. Well you need to step backwards a lot of times. I had a stiff neck after a while because that wall had a certain angle.
Once I saw someone beaming his sketch on panels for larger scale with a projector. I think it was on deviantart..

[Gilead]

For blending really large shapes it helps to have a big brush like a 4" house painting brush. House paints take a longer time to dry than artist acrylics and you can buy extenders like Readyflow to keep the paint "open" a little longer.
I also do a lot of large size blending and smoothing with sponges or rags. Just kind of scrubbing it on. It depends on the surface though because with a rough surface that wouldnt work. It'd just tear up the sponge. If you have rough stucco or brick you need a big brush or a sprayer.

[Porgy]

An Interesting post about murals on a concept art page, but I suppose murals are just another area of art, just painting on a wall insted of a canvas.
Anyway, my advice would be acrylics too, due to their water solubilty it allows also combined with like the other chap (Gilead) said an extender like "readyflow" to cover large areas with washes of colours and tones.
My Dad has done a few murals in the past for all sorts of small and large rooms and finds acrylics the best medium to use for both the flexabilty of coverage with washes, and mixing and highlighting for detail.
Also may I suggest a fantastic book all about murals and Trompe L'Oeil; "The Painted House" by Graham Rust which is a major asset for both me and my Dad in looking for inspiration for designs, techniques and application for murals and art work in general. I very much recommend investing in that book it help you out no doubt for the trickey process of both planning and painting on walls.
Well thats my advice for you mate, and good luck hope it turns out well whatever medium you decide to use.