Murals with vanishing points is an idea for painted wall murals that use perspective. This lesson will show how to paint murals that draw you in; on public walls, postal boxes, and other places, both unexpected and popular. Ideas such as bedrooms, streetscapes, and roadways are shown.
Murals can be painted anywhere. This art lesson on painting a mural using perspective shows how you can draw a person into a scene, or capture that person's attention. Art can be found everywhere. Students in grades 5 to 12 will find it fun to work in groups to design and paint wall murals on creative spaces such as walls, hallways, stores and postal boxes.
Materials:
- exterior paint in basic colors – red, yellow, blue, black and white, or any colors needed (can be spray paint)
- 5 medium (3 inch) paint brushes, 5 small (1 inch) paint brushes
- drop cloth, scaffolding, paintbrush cleaner (if painting a wall)
- large sized white bulletin board paper (to plan design), pencil, ruler (or metre stick), eraser
- 12 x 18 drawing paper, pencil, ruler, eraser (to practice perspective drawing)
Procedure:
Step 1 Preparing the Students
Show the students examples of murals, especially wall murals showing perspective. Use pictures from the internet, local artists or go on a walking field trip around your city. Ask the students what lines draw their eye into the picture. Use a ruler to show them the sight line which leads into the vanishing point.
A website which shows the art of muralist Eric Grohe can be found at:
http://www.ericgrohemurals.com
His work is found on malls, car dealerships, museums, hospitals, nursing colleges, stores, and parking lots across America. The website has quotes of what his art has done for the community to inspire and teach people.
Art found in unexpected places such as alleyways and parking lots can also pop out at you, draw you into a scene, bring beauty to a community, teach about history and culture, and pay tribute to people. Eric Grohe's website gives pictures of the wall before the mural and after the mural has been painted. It blends so well into the building and ground that it is hard to believe it is painted on a flat surface.
Step 2 Perspective Drawing with a Vanishing Point
Using the white paper to plan the design, draw a central vanishing point in the exact center of the paper. Fold the paper in quarters to find the exact center. Draw basic shapes such as a rectangle in the foreground, in the bottom left corner. Then draw guidelines from each of the 3 corners of the rectangle closest to the vanishing point. Draw any horizontal or vertical lines needed to show the sides and top of the rectangle, a short distance away from the rectangle. Show how the lines draw the eye to the vanishing point. Use the horizon to show how objects are smaller as they approach the horizon. Continue by drawing examples in the upper left, upper right, and lower right corners of the paper.
