Motorcycle Mural for the Studio

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  • On 8th September 2013

6b_mural

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at a mural we painted in our studio featuring an illustrative depiction of a 1913 Indian board track racer (inspired by this Deus Ex Machina poster). We created a warehouse-looking facade using 1/4″ plywood slats nailed to a furring-strip frame, a coat of white Kilz primer, a hasty coat of tan. Acrylic craft paint was used for the bike.

1_before

To avoid painting the existing tongue-n-groove paneling, we skinned the wall with large sections of thin-ply slats. Only a handful of screws are needed to hang the lightweight panels.

2_before

After a ham-fisted coat of Kilz primer over the plywood, we applied a flat, tan interior house paint. The intention is to have a muted “dirty” background color, as opposed to a bright white base.

4_project

We used an old-school overhead projector to cast our illustration onto the wall, then traced it with a pencil.

5a_detail

Filling in the li’l details with red acrylic craft paint. As you can see, we used a gloss acrylic which created an unwanted shiny-ness. So we went back over the gloss red with flat red. Lesson learned.

5b_detail

5d_detail

Whimsical, lumpy line art of an olden V-twin.

6a_mural

Mission accomplished: A big board-track racer, narcissistically emblazoned with our Wilkinson Bros branding.

6d_mural

Welcome to our office; pull up a chair…or motorcycle.