(I also answered these in a youtube video, watch it here!)

What supplies do I need to paint a mural?
Acrylic paint, variety of small + large paint brushes, base coat (read more below), tape measure, pencil + eraser, level, ladder, camera for capturing time-lapses, and LOTS of patience.

How do I transfer my design/sketch to the wall for a large-scale mural?
Some people use a projector, some use tracing paper. My method of choice is a grid. The way a grid works is by transferring your sketch to the wall one box at a time. (It is tedious, but avoids the common problem of distortion that can happen with projecting the image.) Add your grid onto the wall by measuring 1 foot by 1 foot squares. Then, you need to overlay a grid on top of your sketch (I use ProCreate for this). You need to know exactly how big you want your mural to be (ie. 5ft x 6ft ~ 30 square ft.) so you know how many boxes to include in your grid.

How to avoid smudging your work while you’re painting?
Long story short, work from left to right.

How do you fix mistakes?
Make sure you get a small can of the wall’s base coat before you start painting. My first mural entailed painting black over a white wall— but you can’t just use any old white paint to fix mistakes. You need to get the exact paint color (hopefully the owner has some laying around on a closet somewhere from when the wall was painted originally, or else you’ll be making a stop at Lowe’s to match it). You don’t need a lot, one of the Valspar sample sizes will do.

What to charge clients for a mural?
Always charge per square foot. If you are just starting out, $25-35 per square foot is a good starting point. The $ amount depends on the amount of detail in the design.

How do you design for large scale? Is it different than designing for small scale?
The perk of wall murals is that everything you design will be blown up bigger, making it easier to read. This means you can add more detail than you normally might when designing for something that will be scaled down (such as a logo, greeting cards, business cards, etc.)

How do you make sure the paint won’t peel off?
If you’re using interior paint on top of interior paint, there should be no worries about it peeling. It’s just like painting a wall normally. (Bonus tip: I use satin finish because it’s not too shiny!)

How to fill in empty space in a design?
Having negative space is never a bad thing, but if you can tell your design needs a little help, try these two things. #1— flourishing. I use flourished line extensions on my letters to give my lettering pieces more personality, make them look more custom, and to fill in the empty spaces. #2— floral illustrations. I love adding these in last in order to balance my design of fill on awkward empty space. They also give a nice frame to the design.

Alrighty!!— that is all of my tips for now. To follow along with my process and see what murals I’m working on now, check out my instagram! @letterwithlaurenliz or my YouTube channel, Lauren Liz to learn more and see videos of my process!

Xoxo, Lauren.