WOW! I've painted a mural...

My last project as part of my degree (HND Illustration at City of Glasgow College, class of '23) entailed proposing a design to a prospect client for an office mural.

The client, Gladstone MRM, are a software company developing leisure management systems, and they wanted to brighten up their Glasgow office with a design featuring outdoor sports on a Scottish background.

As soon as I heard the brief I immediately started working on a design - as someone who loves both sports and the outdoors, I was eager to come up with a successful proposal! So here was my take: five athletes practicing some of the most popular sports in the country, on a background based on the Quiraing ridge, a very scenic view on the Isle of Skye.

Pictured above are my design, developed on Procreate, and a custom mock-up made with Photoshop to help the client visualise the finished result. They really liked my proposal, and were happy to go ahead with me painting it!

This obviously made me very happy, although I had to research a lot of information cause I'd never painted a mural before. What concerned me the most was transferring the design, as the wall was rather wide (9m) and the design detailed and precise in terms of composition and outlines.

I eventually resorted to using a projector to trace the design onto the wall, dividing it in sections. It's not an exact science, so I had to make some adjustments and think on the spot, but the transfer went smoothly and after half a day of work I was able to start painting.

I didn't encounter many issues painting the mural, as the wall had been freshly painted white and the colours I used (a mix between B&Q's own paint and Johnstone's) were very easy to work with, fast-drying and vibrant even on a single coat.

What I found most challenging, and caused me to go over one day's work as opposed to my schedule, were the details - the design being quite geometric and minimalist meant the line work had to be very neat and precise, which proved time-consuming on a 27sqmt surface.

After five days, working 8-9 hours a day, I finally finished my mural!

As an illustrator, I'm used to work digital or in a small scale, so seeing my work blown up on a big wall made me feel very satisfied, as well as proud of myself for delivering such a job by myself.

Although I have to thank a few special friends who have supported me with all their encouragement and taxiing me and the heavy equipment around! Thanks also to the various artists and podcasts blaring through my speakers - I seriously couldn't have survived such long work days without acoustic entertainment!