Murals

Murals

Murals is a far-reaching term: Murals are all pieces of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. 

Mostly architectural elements of the given space are incorporated into the picture. 

Murals already exist for a long time e.g. there are many ancient murals which have survived in Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC). 

The best-known kind of mural is probably the fresco. 

Murals today are painted in many ways such as trompe l'oiel (eng.: 'fool' or 'trick the eye').

Nowadays the beauty of a wall mural has become more popular involving many techniques:

• In order to create a wall you first have to clean the wall. 

• Priming the wall as the next step is a is an important because the primer will help the paint to stick to the wall more easily

•  Afterwards you transfer your picture onto the wall. 

You have two methods you can use to enlarge your picture:

The Grid method comprises drawing a grid over your reference photo and then drawing a grid of equal ratio on your work surface (paper, canvas, wooden panel, etc.). 

Then you draw the image on your canvas where you focus on one square at a time, until the entire image has been transferred. 

Then you simply erase or paint over the grid lines and start working on your painting, which will now be in perfect proportion. 

You can also use an art projector which is a handy tool for artists of all skill levels. 

Photo realistic painters normally use a projector to enlarge and transfer the image from a small photo onto a large canvas. For filling in the lines you also use different techniques such as sponging (this creates a sense of texture in a mural so that clouds look pretty realistic), stippling, stencilling and glazing. 

The final step to finish your painted wall mural is to seal it which means applying an isolation coat and a varnish and using a clear, non-yellowing varnish in a matte or satin sheen.

The aim of murals is pretty obvious: They are supposed to draw attention to certain things/political issues. So murals are often used for advertising purposes. 

They also upgrade boring looking cities and create a more sophisticated form of graffiti.