Mural painter here. I wanted to know about diff. between painting small canvas vs. huge wall, not content.?

Answer 1

We have an outdoor mural project happening in our town... the murals are painted on pre-installed marine-grade mdf board. You could also paint directly onto a wall, but preparation is more important than the painting itself... whether it's indoors or outdoors.

1. The surface must be cleaned then sealed (Gesso is NOT a sealant - it will peel off!) I've used a good quality latex primer/sealer on wood, but use a sealant that suits the surface.

2. Prepare a small painting then graph it out onto the large surface or use a projector to trace the outlines.

3. Use good quality acrylic paint (You're going to sign it, right? You want it to last.) Don't use house paint... the pigments won't last - rather use a top-brand artist quality paint and extend it with medium or glaze (glaze will slow down the drying time a bit).

4. Block in your painting before the details... but the fewer layers you use, the more durable the mural will be.

5.Varnish it afterward with a UV-resistant varnish.

wha-bam - you're famous now!

Answer 2

Canvas: oil / acrylic paints, use smaller scale, gets framed, portable.
Huge wall: Use acrylic or latex interior paint, must consider room lighting, room arrangement, and if it dwarfs the room.
Is this helpful enough for your questions?

Answer 3

That person was right. But another difference is, when you paint a wall, your images are bigger, more stretched, so you use more paint. But with a canvass, it can't be bigger than the canvass. However, with a canvas you can use acrylic paint, oil paint or water color.

Answer 4

Its called a fifty foot paint job,it looks good from fifty feet. grid it project it , get it up and fill in the structure and color and shade and your a hero with money to spend.

Answer 5

It depends on how detailed you want to get.
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