Draw on a Photograph: Adding Murals to Buildings You See (Digital Art School)

Painting a mural on a building is quite a feat! I am friends with a few illustrators who take on these projects and I’m always in awe! Not only does it take buckets (and buckets) of paint, equipment like a ladder or lift and time, it also takes a lot of training. It’s one thing to paint or illustrate an 8″x10″ image, and quite another to tackle the side of a twelve story apartment building in, say, New York City! The perspective one needs to view their art from a distance while painting it up close is a skill of its own.

Perhaps it is a dream of yours to paint a mural yourself; paint a wall in your bedroom with a decorative design, paint your garage, or even propose a mural to your city. One of the easiest ways to practice your concepts is through digitally drawing on a photograph! You can propose endless creations and ideas. Fiddle with different color schemes and so much more before investing the money and time to create your mural in real life.

Maybe painting a real-life mural is not your dream, but you do love to doodle and with the number of pictures you have on your phone, why not use them as the canvas? At this time, I fall into the latter category. Perhaps one day I have a mural in my future, but for now, I love to doodle and draw on photographs. I find it quite relaxing.

A Creative Wanderlust Prompt I proposed last week while discovering Cincinnati was to draw some murals in the trendy Over-The-Rhine neighborhood. I took this opportunity to have fun one afternoon and create some playful designs. I didn’t focus on story, just color and fun. I’ve created a how to video to inspire you to create your own.

I plan to create many more “Digital Art School” YouTube videos in the future, as this is a medium I love, and want to share the details with you. If you have any questions be sure to holler. I’d love to help you on your digital art journey.

Tools Used: iPad, stylus, ProCreate (app).