A mural combining custom lettering and illustration, lovingly transferred from digital to tactile rendering. The brief — to transform a bedroom wall into a dreamy backdrop for a reading nook, incorporating elements of the natural world to set the mood.
Concepts
There were several different concepts and ideations that we played with before settling on the final design. The client knew they wanted to feel transported and inspired, and for the design to be informed by their love of nature. We first played with a landscape in a haze of pinks and purples, before moving on to a more conceptual repeating pattern with a less “cotton candy” palette.
The client had decided to include lettering and had settled from the beginning on a simple script style. Once the sketching shifted from landscape to florals, they decided to change the quote to one fitting the mood of the piece. After much deliberating, we settled on a predominantly green palette with abstracted florals surrounding the lettering.
The Transfer
The challenge lay in transferring the design onto a large surface in a small room — there was not enough space to project an image to fill the entire wall, so instead I projected the refined sketch of the central motif to the center of the wall and chalked it in, and freehanded the rest around the initial design.
The Painting Process
While the digital world is where much of my design work lives, there are few pleasures in life equal to the therapeutic rhythm of executing crisp brushstrokes.
Lessons Learned
While I am no stranger to traditional pieces, this was the first project I have completed on this scale. Some takeaways:
Nothing is final in traditional painting. Any mistake can be painted over (multiple times, if necessary)
All those tiny imperfections that are driving you crazy up close are more or less invisible when you step back and look at the whole piece, and those can all be touched up later
Work methodically — one color at a time if possible, one end of the wall at time, watching it slowly blossom (pun intended) into a finished piece
You will never forget that first brushstroke on that textured surface that erased all your doubts of whether you could pull this off