How to Paint a Tree Wall Mural for a Kid's Room
- 1). Prime your wall to give yourself a pristine surface for your mural. Decide what type of tree mural you want. It is usually a good idea to plan ahead for three years. If your child is an infant, the mural should be geared toward a 3-year-old child. This will give the mural more range and sustainability, and it means you won't have to repaint for three years.
- 2). Sketch your wall on blank printer paper. Draw in a hilly area. Sketch the type of tree you imagine. Often the tree will start on the biggest hilly part and drape toward the smaller hilly part. If you intend to fill your tree with monkeys, snakes and leopards, then allow places on the branches for the animals. If you want to have birds, butterflies and fairies, then leave room for those too--and for a fairy door in the tree at the base. If you want just a tree, then you can make its branches close together.
- 3). Draw the hilly shape onto the wall. This gives you land to grow your tree from and sky above the line. Tape off your line with a bendable painter's tape (often called Flex Tape) and, using a paint roller, roll a light blue above the line and a light tan below the line. You may need to paint along the edge when you remove the tape. Allow the paint two to three hours to dry.
- 4). Squirt artist acrylic paints out onto a plate. Choose white and blues. Add water and blend some of the paint. Use a natural sponge to create clouds in your sky. Use a spritzer bottle with water to thin the paint more as you work. Once you like your sky, wash off your plate and use tans, greens and browns. Use your sponge as well as paint brushes. Add a path. Add light and dark areas. Use a thin brush to create grasses and wild flowers if you want them. Allow the paint 3 to 4 hours to dry completely.
- 5). Draw your tree onto the wall covering portions of the sky and land. The roots of the tree should appear to emerge from the land by spreading out along the base of the tree. Just draw in the major tree branches. Once those are on the wall, step back to the opposite wall and look at your tree. Make any adjustments to the tree shape at this point.
- 6). Mix a dark brown on your plate and use a fat, long, rounded brush. Draw the outline of the tree and branches, trying to create a clean edge along the outside of the tree. Once the outline is finished, use the same color to draw in additional branches, smaller branches and twigs. Add tans and light brown to your plate and mix with the dark brown and paint in your tree. As you near the center of the trunk, allow the paint to get lighter. Paint your tree completely. Allow the paint to dry three to four hours.
- 7). Cut several leaf shapes out of a kitchen sponge. Make them different sizes and slightly different shapes. Squirt several green paint shades and white paint onto your plate and use the sponges to press leaf shapes over the tree and limbs. Vary your colors, shapes and textures so that some look close and some look far away. When you are done, sketch in any details you want to add, like animals, fairies or houses in the distance. Paint these in using smaller brushes until you have exactly the mural you want.
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