Materials Used in Mural Painting
The age-old tradition of mural painting has evolved in many ways to incorporate new tools, tricks and techniques. Mural artists make it their business to experiment with all of the materials available to them. Whether a mural is being painted indoors or outdoors, by a professional or a first-time mural artist, a few key materials are necessary.
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Drawing Supplies
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Use acrylic markers to smooth outlines and add fine details. You can use erasable drawing utensils, such as pencils, chalk and charcoal, to create preliminary drawings on paper. They also come in handy when marking out the parts of the mural on the wall. Use permanent drawing implements like acrylic markers and ink, later on to smooth out edges and add fine detail.
Projection Equipment
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A projector can enlarge an image directly onto the mural wall, so all you have to do is trace the lines exactly as they appear. You will first have to draw or print the image onto a transparency sheet, which is a clear plastic sheet of paper. The paper then gets placed onto the glass plate of the projector, which shines a bright light through the image and uses a mirror to reflect it onto the wall ahead. Another option is an opaque projector, which doesn't require a transparency.
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Paints
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Spray paint gives murals a graffiti or street art feel. You can use acrylic paints or spray paint for murals.
Painting Tools
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The appropriate painting utensils depend on where the mural will be and how detailed it is. Acrylic paint will require a selection of brushes, paint rollers and trays to mix the paint and jars of water to wash the paint off of brushes. With spray paints, the aerosol cans are their own tools, although you can fit them with different nozzles to control the flow of paint. Wide nozzles are good for easy coverage and fine nozzles are good for fine lines and detail.
Other Tools
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Other mural painting tools include dry rags, paint thinner, rulers or measuring tape, masking tape, reference images and cut-out stencils.
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