Mowgli Murals - Murals that Inspire!
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Painting Tips from your Muralist!

Tropical Forest Mural

 

General

  1. Try easier areas first, get more confident and then move on to something more challenging.
  2. Be consistent with your neighbors in brush strokes, background colors & style.
  3. Paint around the text with your thinnest brush.
  4. Step away from your painting sometimes, to see how it looks from 5 -10 feet.
  5. Don’t leave any wall area unpainted.

Colors

  1. Do lighter colors first. This way if the paint goes beyond the outlines, you can paint over with the darker colors.
  2. Always try to use a combination of two or more colors.  This gives a richer, more realistic effect. Suggestion: For leaves use blue + green, for grass use green + yellow, for trees use brown + blue + red.
  1. Mixing colors: Use black with great caution. A little bit can ruin your mixture!
    For BACKGROUND – Mix colors in the cups (or use pre-mixed colors)
    For SHADING effects – wait a few minutes for the background to dry partially, and then streak the individual, shading colors on the background.
    Example: When painting a tree trunk, first do the background in brown, then dab a little yellow around, then red and maybe streak in a little blue.
  1. Avoid using pure black or pure white.  Mix them with other colors.  For example mix blue + black or white + yellow.

Background

  1. Fill in the background first (trees, greenery, water, sky etc.) and then the foreground (e.g. animals, flowers, vines, grass, rocks, figures etc.).
  2. Avoid distinct lines in the background in the “jungle” and “ocean” mural. Blend all the outlines while the paint is wet. This will enhance the mysterious effect and give an overall depth to the mural.
  3. Use sponges & RAGS liberally to blend colors and create texture.

Animals

  1. Aim to make the animals stand out from the background. Accordingly, gradually make the background lighter (or darker) near the animal to get a sharp contrast. Example: In the ocean mural, the whales and dolphins are blue-grey and need to stand out from the surrounding water. Make the water color lighter than the dolphins & whales’ blue color. Suggestion: use a mix of yellow + white + blue + green.
  1. When painting animals, identify the lighter colored areas on the animal.  Paint those first with the matching color. Then paint the darker colored areas.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for your careful efforts! ENJOY THE PROCESS and do not hesitate to ask the muralist!!