How to Paint a Road Mural
The open road can beckon from anywhere you wish with a road mural. You can paint the mural on any large surface, as long as you are legally permitted to do so. For example, paint a mural on the outside wall of a shed, painting it vertically so it looks like it is disappearing into the distance. Then, touch off your mural by surrounding the road with dying grass and cacti, then stand back and feel the wind in your hair.
Things You'll Need
- Acrylic or poster paint
- Foam plates or old pie pans
- Flat surface or large sheet of paper
- Masking tape
- Paint brushes
- Waterproofing sealer
Instructions
-
-
1
Pour the colors of paint you want on to the plates or into the pans, one color per surface. Because a mural is big, it requires a lot of paint. Start with one quart of paint for a 4-by-4-foot wall or piece of paper. Increase the amount of paint by 1/2 quart per 2 feet.
-
2
Tear off a large piece of paper and tape it to a surface.
-
-
3
Paint the base coat of the road. Most roads or either black or gray, but you can paint it whatever color you want. Because this is a mural of the road, the road needs to be the focus of the mural. To paint a basic road, paint two straight horizontal lines parallel to each other on the surface. Fill in the lines. To paint a road with some perspective, you need to use angles. For example, if you were making a road that becomes smaller in the distance, start at one bottom corner of the surface. Paint a line at a 60-degree upward angle to the top of the surface. Repeat the action at the other bottom corner, painting another angled line up from the spot at the same angle. Paint the road inside the lines. Pain the bottom of the road a light gray color. As you move up the mural, gradually darken the color. Add a couple drops of black paint to the gray in the tray to darken it after every 6 inches you paint. Blend where the two shades meet on the mural by moving the paint brush in a slight swirling motion over the meeting spot. The darkest shades should be at the very top of the road.
-
4
Paint on the details of the road. This includes cracks, potholes, lines and other markings. If you are making a stone road, use a darker color than you painted the base color to create the lines between the stones.
-
5
Paint the other details of the scene, like cars or the sky. Let the entire piece dry. If you created a road that looked like it was disappearing into the distance, paint the details towards the smaller areas of the road smaller and with less focused details than the items on the "closer" portion of the road. For example, if you were painting cows along the side of the road, the cows towards the larger portion of the road should have distinguishable facial features. The cows towards the back don't need sharp facial features because they would be harder to see from a distance.
-
6
Paint sealer on the mural to help prevent it from being damaged by rain or snow.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit red acrylic image by Andrew Brown from Fotolia.com
