How to Prepare for a Mural Job

If you are an artist looking for a way to make a good wage from your art, you may want to start a mural business. A large part of starting a mural business is preparing for a mural job after you have found a client. Here are tips on how to prepare for a mural job.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Portfolio

Preparing for a Mural Job

1. Show your client your mural portfolio. You need to have a mural portfolio to show prospective clients so they can get ideas for their own mural and to help build their confidence in you. You should have done several murals that are different from each other so clients can see your range. To build your portfolio, you may have to paint murals all over your home, and in the homes of family members and friends. The act of doing this will also help you gain valuable experience.

2. Get a mural contract. Before you paint a mural for anyone, you need to have a contract that lays out the terms of your agreement. It needs have the quoted price, you need to attach a sketch of the mural, the size your mural will be and the amount of detail that will be in the mural. The contract also needs to mention change fees and maintenance fees as well.

3. Set and memorize your price list. To set a price list, you need create a sample mural to figure out how long it takes you to complete a mural. Then decide how much you want to be paid per hour. You can translate the by hour price to a square foot mural by dividing the square foot of the sample mural by the amount of hours it took you to paint the mural. For example, if it took you 10 hours to complete a 10 X 10 foot mural and wanted to make $50 per hour, then you should charge $5 per square foot, which would be $500, total, for the mural. Determine different prices for low, medium, and high detail mural. Don't hesitate when you quote the prices to your customer.

4. Set expectations for your customer. It is important to know which type of mural you are best at and what you enjoy the most. This will help you to better target customers and allow you to communicate to your customer what they can expect from you. You don't want to paint a realistic mural for someone expecting an impressionist mural or vice-versa.

5. Purchase supplies. You never want to show up at a mural job unprepared, so make sure you purchase supplies and a good container for carrying those supplies. You will need high quality acrylic paints, drop cloths, brushes, cleaning supplies, a step stool and/ladder, tape, stencils and five gallon buckets to carry it in.

Tips & Warnings

• Spend some time looking at websites of other mural artists to help you determine prices and inspire you to try different style.
• A mural business is not right for every artist. You must be patient, and have good physical stamina as painting a mural can be exhausting.