Magical World Mural - Clouds, Forests, and the Sun!

Here's a couple photos of my progress so far. I've got the major work for the clouds, hills and sun done. I'm currently working on the forest.

I thought things were moving along nicely, considering time restraints, but I realized when I start getting into the smaller details, it will actually take more time. This is where loosening up my style to be more simple and bold on mural details (since they are meant to be looked at from across the room) might come in handy.

Ilustration Friday - Rescue

Hi Everyone! It's my first IF illustration, even though I've been thinking about it for a long time. I had a lot of fun painting this little bird who needs rescuing from a tree top, hee hee.  Let me know what you think, comments are welcome!

P.S. Does anyone else have a Canon MX310 scanner/printer? I'm still having trouble getting my scans to look good. I have to do some color adjustments and I just don't think it does the original artwork justice.

Whimsical Tree Archway

Like most requests I get, I was asked to make a bland wall into something fun and magical. This playful mural is painted on an archway entrance to a playroom.

These whimsical trees have thick, bushy leaves on top that overlap and expands on to the ceiling and the side walls. It's hard to contain a tree top like that, it kind of took over!

I wanted to make the two pillars look like thick, twisted tree trunks with deep pockets for critters to hide. I actually painted them twice. I DID have a plan, but it didn't translate to the wall. Sometimes that happens. So, I started over and I got the tree trunks I was looking for.

Here are some of the fun critters these kids will get to discover as they play in their friendly forest.

You can click on any of these photos to see a bigger version. If you want to see a close up of a couple other critters from this mural, check out the Sneak Peek blog post.

Sneek Peek!

Here's a little sneak peek at a mural I'm working on. I should be done in the next day or two, but I thought you might a enjoy these little critters!

North of the Line Cafe for S.T.E.P.

This inspirational mural is for the S.T.E.P Agency in Sacramento. This is the biggest mural I've painted so far. It's in their large multi-purpose room where most of their clients hang out, eat, having meetings, etc. They wanted to make the room more inviting while creating a visual that encompassed their philosophies and principles.

The start of the mural. The only part painted on the bottom half are the tree roots.

They were great clients because not only were they very prepared, they knew exactly what they wanted in the images and quotes.

At the same time, they allowed me some creative freedom in how the images would be symbolized and tied together. 

I did a very detailed sketch of this mural, even doing some close-ups to use in my opaque projector. 

There are many different kinds of projectors, but this one got good reviews for my price range. After using it, the only downsides I've found are that the projection area is a bit small and it isn't as bright as I would like.

I used the projector for most of the mural since it was so big. I needed to make sure I got the spacing correct. Plus, it was very helpful when drawing the text. I used paint pens for filling in the text. It made it much easier to create the fine lines and curves of the words.

There was a lot of climbing up and down ladders since the mural was on the top half of the wall.

Even though I didn't know sign language, it was great to have the clients of S.T.E.P. come in and say "hi" and check out my work.

You can see the whole mural in a Flash scrolling picture (second thumbnail in on the top row) if you go to my portfolio website, Griffmobile Designs.

Birds on a Branch, Pt. 2

I was able to finish up the mural last night. It was relatively easy since it was one color and a simple design. I think to finish off the room, another small mural on the wall behind the toilet. Maybe two birds flying?

These are some of my supplies. I use a large fishing box to carry around my main supplies like pencils, erasers, paint can openers, acrylic paints, and paint brushes. I started out with a smaller box, but each new one keeps getting bigger! It's very convenient and much cheaper than an artist box.

I use a mix of latex and acrylic paints. I mostly use the latex for large sections of color, but it tends to be translucent so I usually mix it with some white acrylic. When I go get a batch mixed up at Home Depot, I always check out there "reject paint" area. There tends to be some pretty interesting colors that people didn't like, or returned.

For this mural, I had a small can of brown latex paint that was almost the color I wanted. I mixed in a little of my warmer browns and oranges.

You can see it still wasn't opaque enough, so I had to paint two coats. Luckily in this case, latex and acrylic dry quickly. Once I got through with the first coat, I was able to go back to the beginning and start the second coat right away.

The finished mural! I think it turned out pretty well. I have a couple sketches of fluttering birds, I'm thinking about putting those on the opposite wall. A nice outcome for a fast mural, don't ya think?

Birds on a Branch, Pt. 1

My neighbor is having a baby soon and she was looking for a way to decorate. She found some really nice decal murals, you know, peal and stick. They are actually really cute, whimsical and loose.

Since most of my walls are still blank, (I know, I know, I'm a muralist, but it was a brand-new house and I wanted to enjoy that!) I started looking to see if I could find one I like. Then I thought, heck, I should just paint it myself! So, I started my faux-decal "birds on a branch" mural in our guest bathroom.

No matter how simple the design is, it's always a good idea to sketch it out first. The idea in your head my look differently on paper.

Sometimes I use a projector, but most of the time I draw it by hand directly on to the wall. I find this works a little better because it allows flexibility in the spacing of the elements. A projector works well for me with very large, or detailed, or precise murals.

This mural is going to be a silhouette, just one color, so it should be a fairly fast paint. I probably just jinxed myself.