Coffee Shop Airbrush Mural (time Lapse Video)

Painting can be a lot of fun, even more so when you make some money doing it!  


This is a mural I was contracted to design and paint for a non-franchise coffee shop.  Cool place.  So I did a quick sketch on the spot (well actually on paper) and was hired.  Here I'll show some of the steps for doing a mural such as this and there is a time lapse video included.

Check Out the Video Below!

I always sketch out my designs on paper to get the proportions right.  First I'll measure the area to be painted and then draw a to scale rectangle on paper representing the area.  Here I had to include the half wall  In there.  Once approved by my patron,  I typically project it onto the wall with a cheap overhead projector I got at Michael's.  If you cannot do this you can always use the old-school grid technique.

I had the idea to hang some canvasses on the wall that would be the focal points of the mural.  I also thought that if they ever change locations they can always take the canvases with them as they could serve as stand alone works.  It also gives some depth to the mural.

I used a combination of paint gun, airbrush and paint brushes to finish the work.  Probably about 90% was done with an airbrush.  Don't put on to much paint at once because it will run.   Having said that I did lay it on rather thick using it more like spray paint is used for graffiti.  

Once i had all the main colors laid out I basically used black paint to outline everything and to shade in some extra areas.  Last thing to be painted was the steam coming off the coffee.   Once I was done painting I gave it the night to dry and put a coat of water based polyurethane over it to protect it .