Wall Mural I finished before the 4th!

Well, after two years of talking about it, my buddy finally broke down and bought the paint. Over 50 hours later, his little girl's room was done! My wife is becoming an artist in her own right...she paints the background colors after I draw in the images. Then, I go back in with shading and detail. Went from yellowish walls, to all of this... (the furniture was distressed to give it an underwater look)



The shelf in the corner was integrated into the scene...


From Finding Nemo ("Crush")


Of course, had to have Nemo


My first stab at dolphins...


First stab at a manatee too....


Ariel (Little Mermaid) and Pals, and the pole (can't see it in this photo) is a painted growth chart for the little girl as she grows...


Better view of the closet doors...


I'll post some other pics as I get the time. There are lots of fish all over the place on the walls, lots of coral, and even a couple of sunken ships.
From the bottom bunk, there's a sunken treasure chest and one of the sunken ships painted there, so she has something to look at while going to bed.

I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out, especially as it was a complete learning experience, and inventing as I went along (who'd have thought a white crayon would be a great mural drawing tool?) This is my second room mural, and I hope to do a few more before maybe doing this as a side business...who knows?


[edit on 16-7-2007 by Gazrok]

Most impressive...

An awesome display... I'm compelled to have you do a jungle scene for me... So I can feel at home... provided it's a jungle scene with and extensive wine cellar and a Barcalounger...

As someone who's artistic ability is virtually nil, it just blows me away when I see something like that.

I predict a lucrative side business in your future.

(Just don't let the Disney storm troopers know. They'll be on you like moles on grandma).

I'm actually looking into the copyright permissions... I did this for no compensation, so no copyright violation there...and in a private residence.
From my investigations into it...it's nearly impossible for one to be sued for duplication in a private residence...but a daycare center or business, and your butt is toast...without permission. Muralists often bend the rules on private homes, but I'd feel better if I was able to get permission. My angle is: 1) It's a service they (Disney) do not offer, 2) I can agree to use official colors of Disney paint (sold at Home Depot), so that money is going to Disney, and 3) If the kid has a Disney theme in his room, he's going to need all kinds of Disney paraphanelia to decorate, right? It's really a win-win, so I hope I get a positive reaction when I inquire into it...

EDIT: If not, then those rooms don't go in the online portfolio, ....just the carried one...and then only if they ask.


[edit on 25-7-2007 by Gazrok]

kid's room? I'd love to live in an underwater room like that. of course my Ariel would be topless but I'm sure you can handle that for me.

amazing Gazrok. Simply amazing

Very cool Gaz. Any child would love to imagine an adventure in that room. Nice work!

Oh how perfect! My Sister is having an Artist come in and do somthing like this for my neices, they want a pink castle ect princess room, It looks so amazing Gazrok, What a great work of art for the childs room,

And what a lucky child to have it!

Wow Gazrok.
I'd almost feel the need to hold my breath in that room.
Beautiful Job.

What is the method you use to graduate the colors from a darker blue, to the lighter blues?

What a stunning kid's room! If my daughter sees that, she'll be demanding one. Good thing she's visiting her dad.

Thanks all...



Not the method I was originally thinking... At first, I thought I could use a wooly roller and blend the two, but the paint (acrylic) just dried so darn fast... I ended up doing this...we painted the dark blue to meet the light blue. Then, my wife would have two small rollers, one with light, and one with dark, and she'd apply fresh paint to about a 3' long area. I'd immediately step in and use a dry paint brush (about 3" brush) and blend the two together....even then it dried quick, and wasn't exactly what I envisioned...but it worked over all.

You rock so much! That is really beautiful and excellent work!

Thanks!



Oddly, my first mural (the one above is my 2nd) I did was for another little girl of a friend's, and it was a princess castle room. The thread is around here somewhere... it was the yellow and blue version of the castle (oddly, before we'd actually seen that done anywhere)....and has all of the Disney princesses.

EDIT: Found it, here's the link to the first mural.
www.belowtopsecret.com...

[edit on 17-7-2007 by Gazrok]

Thanks for sharing it, its beautiful. Say it took you fifty hour to draw it out, paint it and everything huh?

Yep, and that's with my wife helping (by painting the background colors) the whole time, and occassional help (also background colors) from the little girl's mom and others (and some of that time was fixing errors by others, but it all still helped).

There was actually some more I wanted to do (some more shading on the sea floor, and some dark silhouettes of other reefs in the background), but we ran out of time, and most of that would have been covered by furniture anyhow...so didn't see the point. We worked on it while the father and the little girl were out of town visiting relatives, so it was like a "While you were out" episode, hehe.... We even got the "big reveal" on video, when they first see the room....

Here's a few more pics...

The flood level pole I mentioned before...(maybe?) to chart the height as she grows....


The shipwrecks...

That is très incroyable.

Incredibly integrated, and the Nemo and Little Mermaid themes go together really well.


It will be ashame when the little girl gets older though, since most would'nt want that
as there room as a teen.


Really cool none the less.

When you're drawing a larger pic like that, do you scale off certain points so you are certain that you get the correct size on everything or do you just totally freehand it?

totally freehand it....

though if I was doing large people or large and more complex objects (dolphins and manatees were pretty easy, mostly a couple of ovals), I might do a little bit of gridwork....wasn't needed for this project though.



The nice thing about that is that her little bro is only 7 months old, so she'll move out of that room in a few years, and it will still work for him for a while after that... Besides, then I'll likely get PAID to do an updated look for her new room, hehe....

The sunken pirate's ship is a really cool touch Gaz. I think a whole room with a Pirates of the Carribean theme would be cool for a little kid. Then when they're about 20 or so you could change it up a little.

Peace

Love it!!!!

I'm jealous of that little girl, what an awesome room. You guys did an amazing job.

love the details, your shading
the dolphins are my favorite.