Wall Art Painting Tips

Have you ever admired a creatively painted wall  but assumed it would be too difficult to tackle yourself? Large wall art may be easier than you’d think.

This past week, I’ve been working on the feature wall for my son’s bedroom makeover so thought I would pop in and share my progress and the tips and tools that I have used over the years.

The first step in creating any wall art is deciding on a design.    I was inspired by a graphic I saw online so I recreated something similar by purchasing graphics of a halftone pattern and pop art cartoon bubbles from Creativemarket.com

Once I have the layout ready, I start by prepping the walls and giving the walls a fresh base coat.

The next step is to transfer the design to the wall.    I rarely transfer a design by hand drawing because of the wide range of handy time saving tools available.

Wall Art Transfer Tools and Tips

On the pop art wall I used a combination of  projector and stencil.

Projectors

Projectors are great when you can project the full design on the wall.   They are pretty straight forward and easy to operate.

While I  recommend the projector method, keep in mind, they are not perfect in every situation.

Projectors become tricky if you have a full wall design and you can’t get the projector back far enough to project the entire design.  In those cases, you will have to move the projector around and every time you move the projector the scale of the design can change.

It’s a bit of a headache to match up where you left off and projectors can distort the image slightly.   I had to do the move and match game on the pop art wall and while it’s a little extra work, it’s still doable.  But make sure you have some Tylenol in the house first.

By the way, do you like my fancy projector stand?  I needed the projector to be up extra high and setting the projector on a ladder wasn’t cutting it.  The stacking plastic drawers were perfect because I could make them as high or as short as I needed.   I have to admit I was pretty pleased with myself when I came up with that solution.

My family was less impressed but obviously, they don’t know genius problem solving when they see it!

Templates and Stencils

When it comes to repeating patterns, creating a template or a stencil ahead of time is a huge time saver.  I love my silhouette machine for designing and creating templates.  This is the method I used to get the shark teeth wall pattern laid out on my older son’s room.

(Teen Room Makeover) 

Years ago before cutting machines like the Silhouette were around, I cut my own stencils with a stencil cutting heat pen or exacto knife and a sheet of plastic.  I’m grateful for modern technology!

Transfer Marks

I used paint and a paintbrush to outline the pop art design on the wall.  In the past I’ve used  light pencil marks that can be  easily covered by paint.  I have also used  a “Ultra Washable Crayola marker” because it wipes away clean with water.  I have only found one kind of washable marker that washed away clean so make sure you do a test first!

Supplies

Once your design is on the wall all that is left to do is color in the lines.   For detailed designs with lots of colors I have used artist acrylic paint but for larger designs with fewer colors, I opt for a quality wall paint.

I find small plastic deli containers handy to keep the paint in while I work.     Another favorite paint aid is the paint can lids with the spout.   I love those things!!  They make it so easy to pour paint from the can without the mess.

Frog tape is another favorite.  It really works when it comes to keeping paint from bleeding under the tape.  I also keep foil handy to wrap my brushes when I have to temporary walk away.  Sometimes if I need them to last a day or two I will throw the foil covered brush in a zip lock bag.

Drop cloths are great but I love the carpet protector plastic.  The plastic sticks to the carpet and doesn’t shift or bunch up like a drop cloth can.  I love it because I can lay it out on the carpet and it stays there till I’m done with the job.   As for spill protection, it has saved me on many occasions.  Just a few days ago I was working on the wall and forgot I had a opened can on the floor.  Of course I ended up knocking over the full can of paint.  Fortunately I have learned to klutz proof the floor before I begin these projects  and  the carpet was spared.

I am hoping to get my wall done in the next few days as well as the furniture for the room.  I am designing a really  cool bed and I can’t wait to show you!

Don’t forget to pop over to Calling it Home and check out my fellow ORC participants week 3 progress.

Head over to the reveal and see the finished walls…

 

Happy Creating,

Pop Art Bedroom Week 1 / Week2 / Week3 / Week4 / Week 5 / WEEK 6 Reveal!!!!

 

Check out a few of my other One Room Challenges, Shark Teen Bedroom & DIY Dining Room Makeover