Artists have worked for centuries to place their art before an admiring public. This is done by getting their works in a museum where anyone can come to see them, or--since the invention of the printing press--by making copies for books and posters that can be placed anywhere. Another way to let the public see your work is to place it on an enormous mural where anyone walking down the street can see it. An important aspect of the process is getting these images from the printed or drawn format onto a wall. Fortunately, there is technology today that helps artists use a time-honored method for transferring large images to murals using a home computer.
Instructions
1. Select or create the image you want to transfer to a wall. You then need to get that image into your computer either by taking a photograph of it with a high quality digital camera and then transferring it, or by scanning it in from drawings or prints. If you scan it in, use a high resolution on your scanner (600 pixels).
2. Open the image in a program like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. Select "Image" and click "Image Size." Change the size settings so that they match the size of the mural you want to create. Then Click "OK."
3. Drag out a series of guide lines by clicking on the edges of the canvas. You want place the guide lines so as to create a grid across the canvas. You want each grid space to be small enough that you and anyone assisting you can handle them when they are printed. Once the grid is in place, select the "Rectangular Selection" tool and use it to select the top left grid space. Select "Edit" and then "Copy."
4. Select "File" and click "New." In the dialog that opens you will see that the dimensions are already set to the size of grid space you copied. Click "OK." Select "Edit" and click "Paste." Save this document as a high resolution JPEG file, naming it "Mural Image 1." Repeat this process for each of the grid spaces, giving each their own number so you can keep things organized.
5. Save all your "Mural Image" files to a CD. Then take them to a printer who can do large scale printing on big sheets of tracing paper of the kind used to print architectural drawings (like Staples or Kinkos). Have them print multiple copies of each, since you will probably tear some as you work.
6. Draw your grid pattern onto your wall surface. Now place "Mural Image 1" in its place, tape it up with painters tape in the top left corner and trace it onto the surface below using a Sharpie marking pen. Then do the same for the next grid space. Continue this process until you have traced in all the grid spaces. Now remove the paper and tape, paint in the colors, and let the mural dry.
