Mario Brothers Wall Mural

I am currently working on a Mario Bros Themed wall mural in our bedroom.
After prepping and  painting the walls with the base light blue color (regular wall paint semi gloss. In the future I would use a colored primer, or matte finish paint instead of semi gloss) I used an EZ Tracer (art projector, about 30 dollars at Michaels Arts and Crafts Store) to project the pictures onto the wall, so that I could trace them.
I then used simple acrylic arts and crafts paints to paint the characters. Some colors took more than one coat to cover the wall paint. I think my main mistake was using a semi gloss wall paint. Live and learn I guess. I also used a liquid Paint Retarder during the highlighting process to blend the colors well.

After I finish I will be using a clear varnish or sealer to seal the design and make it washable as well as protecting it, so that it will last for years.

 Using the tracer to trace Link from Zelda on the wall. I dont have any pictures of me tracing Mario Bros characters

 Starting to paint the Mario Bros wall, started with a Piranha Plant and Pipe

 Piranha plant finally completed. Time to start on Raccoon Mario

 Waluigi time.

  Adding Yoshi and a Bob Bomb

 Bowser

 Boo

 Finishing touches on Bowser and Waluigi

 Starting on Luigi (ignore the wall to the side. It will get painted soon. Not a lot of room to move stuff around in our room, so having to do one wall at a time. Kind of like those little toys where you only have one empty square, so you have to move them around one at a time to complete the image)

Similar to this

                                      

 I decided I didnt like the spots on the ground, so changed it to squiggly stripes instead. Still more work to be done.

 Added some coin blocks, coins, clouds, and a Bullet Bill. You can also see the start of some small shrubs.  Added a Goomba at the bottom.

My boyfriend, who is awesome because he paints the base colors sometimes so I can work on the details. He says its harder than it looks, so he leaves all the detail, shading and outlining to me.

Clouds need a couple more coats. The white I have is really thick but doesnt coat really well. Which is odd, you would think the thicker paint would coat well, however, it tends to dry and get gunky, and if you try to paint it all at once, it actually removes the paint. I have to let it dry completely before applying another coat. Thinning the paint, only makes the process twice as long as the white is transparent almost. I am thinking about trying another brand, or maybe finding a product that will make it easier to apply without messing with the translucency of it, not sure if that is even possible though.

 Luigi is looking a little more complete

Its not a ghost, I was smoking a cigarette while taking photos, sorry.

I still have a lot of work that needs to be done. Highlighting on characters, coins, clouds, and shrubs. As well as finishing touches on the ground. Touch up some spots on the blue paint where some colors got smeared by my hands and arms lol. Of course once its all done, everything will need to have the outlines touched up. NOTE TO SELF. DO NOT OUTLINE ANYTHING UNTIL ITS FINISHED COMPLETELY. Although, I am getting pretty good at doing outlines because I have had to redo several a few times. I will post the finished wall, well, when its completed.

You can always add Craft Fairy's Cubby  on Facebook for work in progress updates, as well as my other art projects.

UPDATE: More work done on the coins, shrubs and trees

 Close up of coins. I have done more work on them since this picture though. I really am liking how they turned out, even if the middle one is slightly off center.

 Added some more detail to the coin block. It looks kinda warped here, I think its mostly the angle, will have to do some touch ups around the edges.

 Close up of Luigi and the start on the trees.


Since these pictures were taken I have done more work on the shrubs and trees, touched up the coins, shaded Yoshi a little, and worked on the clouds a bit. Shaded the Bob Bomb and Bowser. Decided I didnt like the way Bowsers belly looked so touching that up as well.

Its still a work in progress. Will post more updates soon.