Calvin and Hobbes Mural (photo used with permission of Redditor KosherHam)
Reddit user KosherHam has posted an amazing time-lapse video of himself painting a Calvin and Hobbes mural on his son’s bedroom wall. The final result is shown here, on the right, and the time-lapse video is below.
KosherHam describes the painting process in the original Reddit posting:
There’s over 30 hours of footage, maybe 35-36. And there were a couple of hours missing because I was unaware the memory was full. So that was just painting. I’d say it took a couple of hours to use a projector to draw out Calvin & Hobbes, and portion of trees.
My skills I’d say are okay, however that’s in oil, mostly sculpting. I used latex paint, which was a first for me- so I spent a lot of time on the tree and leaves, trying to figure out good technique. For instance- the technique Bob Ross from Joy of Painting uses does not work with latex on a wall. So I’d say about 5-6 hours was just messing around on the tree. I’ve never done anything like before, however I saw another Redditor about 5 months ago do something similar, and he said he was a rookie. So yeah- I’d say if you have time, anyone can do this.
I used pencil to draw portion of the tree and all of Calvin & Hobbes. If I could have a do over, I’d used a different, softer pencil- the mechanical pencil I used on the wall was very difficult to cover up with the lighter color paints. It does have it’s benefit though, because something else I’d change is to paint the colors on first, then come behind with the black outlines. The reason for this, you can basically color outside the lines to have a nice, smooth, even paint job, and cover it up with the black afterwards to clean everything up, have a nice pop to it.
I had to always remind myself that I am not Bill Waterson, and I cannot recreate his beautiful artwork exactly. He has talent, and he’s using a different medium. I was trying to recreate water coloring using latex paint on a wall. It’s just not the same. I also had to remind myself I’m not Bob Ross, and his techniques of oil painting will also not translate to latex painting on a wall.
It’s important to step away from the painting often, and look at a distance. If you’re like me, you’ll caught up in the details and imperfections when your nose is against the wall, and you’ll spend way too long trying to make it perfect…. get some distance once in a while.
The discussion on Reddit includes links to several other similar murals, if you’re looking for inspiration for a project of your own….
[This article, by Roy Wood, was originally published on Wednesday. Please leave any comments you may have on the original.]
