Special Effect Mural Finishes

Special effect mural finishes: airbrush, crackle, foil, blacklight, spray sky

Rule: These notes add specialist tips to the answer. They do not replace it. Always give your full general answer (materials, prep, safety, technique, alternatives) and work in the tips below wherever they apply.

Airbrush: general layering (underwater scene)

• Layer transparent colors light to dark, almost always starting with yellow. Layer order changes the final color, so swap red and turquoise layers to get different tones.
• Choose transparent colors so the order can be interchanged. An opaque yellow sprayed back over saturated red or turquoise looks pasty.
• Palette used: Golden Fluid Acrylics Hansa Yellow Medium, Pyrrole Red, Turquoise, plus Titanium White only to block out fish. Also Golden Airbrush Medium, Iwata Eclipse airbrushes, masking film, blue tape and Scotch repositional clear tape.
• Pull the airbrush back from the surface to keep a wide, soft pattern. A narrow pattern reads as stripes instead of bands of light.
• Look slightly ahead of where you are spraying. If you go off track, lift off by pulling backward and restart.
• Finish with a final light overall color layer that follows the established band pattern. This unites the fish with the water.

Airbrush: water background and coral bed

• Spray Hansa Yellow Medium in diagonal bands from top to bottom, with the bands widening toward the bottom. Re-spray finely to build intensity.
• Spray Turquoise lightly over the yellow and build it near the bottom with repeated fine passes.
• For coral, work a small area at a time. Spritz water, then spray Turquoise lightly into the droplets with a broad pattern.
• If the surface gets too wet or drippy, blot with cheesecloth or a dampened sponge, but leave small droplets.
• With air only, push the droplets upward or sideways. They carry the color along. Keep checking for drips and blow or blot them before they mark permanently.
• Apply Pyrrole Red the same way over less area. It gives orange over yellow and purplish over turquoise. Too much red muddies the green, so use little.

Airbrush: stenciled subjects (turtle, seaweed, fish)

• Spray the subject yellow first, with a highlight at the upper shell and darker shading at the junction of the shell plates.
• Mask the far flippers and abdomen to preserve the yellow, then spray Turquoise to make green. Remove the masks and shade turquoise darker on the upper side of the far flippers and abdomen.
• Lightly spray red over the green. It tones down the green and makes the yellow abdomen stand out. Lightly spray Turquoise over the stencil bridges so they are not stark.
• Seaweed (Willow stencil): reposition the stencil repeatedly and use the order yellow, turquoise, red. Spray very lightly and fade the weeds into the coral bed. Overspray through the turtle is fine.
• Fish registration: mark alignment registrations on blue tape stuck to the surface. Two registrations across the top are enough.
• Blocking in fish with Titanium White: do not block out totally. Let a little water color show through so everything relates, but keep the fish distinctly lighter.
• Fish details: spray yellow details first, then red over yellow for orange, then Turquoise shading darker on the underside, then a light red shade. Spray white first for the Hippo Tang's light details.
• Distant fish and weeds: spray a light silhouette in Turquoise, then red. They should get lighter and cooler the farther away they are.
• Distant weeds are shaded darker so they look substantial. Use masking film to mask leafy areas that cross a fish, which keeps the weeds behind the fish.

Crackle skin (AquaSize / CrackleMate)

• Transfer the design: sketch on tracing paper, chalk or charcoal the back, then redraw with a no. 2 pencil, pressing firmly. Save tracings, because they are needed later for airbrush templates.
• Crack-color basecoat: equal parts Warm Taupe and Black Onyx. Use Warm Taupe alone for subtler wrinkles. Paint up to each pencil line and leave a hairline gap as a guide. Let dry.
• Size mix: AquaSize : water : isopropyl alcohol = 4:1:1. Apply one normal coat and do not overbrush. It goes on milky blue and cures to a clear, tacky film. Keep it off the eyes.
• Let the size dry to a firm tack, 30 minutes to 4 hours. For larger cracks with wider spacing, apply a second size layer once the first has been tacky for at least 30 minutes.
• Crackle paint: thin Mauve Pink with 20% tap water, then add 30% CrackleMate. Brush a thin-to-medium layer with a no. 12 chisel blender, or a no. 3/0 spotter for small areas such as lips, nose and outer ears.
• Brush direction sets crack direction, so follow the contours and paint each feature separately. Thicker paint gives wider cracks. Use thin paint on fingers, lips, outer ears and chin, and thicker paint on forearms, forehead and inner ears. Do not overbrush.
• Crackle dries to the touch in about 2 hours, depending on thickness and environment.
• If you cannot brush on the crackle mix within the 4-hour window, reapply another layer of sizing first.
• On very rough or porous surfaces, prime the area with Faux Effects AquaSeal before sizing.

Airbrush shading and highlights over crackle

• Use an Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS with the fine needle. Shade in order: Golden Airbrush Burnt Sienna Hue (base and light shadows), then Transparent Raw Umber Hue (deeper), then Transparent Shading Gray (darkest only).
• Keep spraying light and layer up. You can always go darker but can hardly go lighter.
• Use curved plastic templates for lip lines, chin, forearms, eyelids and ear ridge. Cut cardboard templates from the tracing for fingers and nose.
• Use the negative shapes as templates too: the nostril cutout for the ear canal, the finger cutout for fingernails.
• Overspray on the background and hair is fine if those areas are painted over later.
• Highlight mix: Golden Airbrush Titanium White plus a few drops of Yellow Ochre, sprayed with the fine needle. Apply it on lip lines, the outer ear, fingernails and the tops of creases.
• A heavy highlight line looks fake, and too much blending looks cloudy and loses transparency. Start light and use transparent airbrush paint where possible.

Glaze hair (negative striation)

• Hair base color: AquaColor Burnt Sienna : Orange = 1:3, with a ¾-inch (19mm) wash, two layers. Cut in carefully along the skin edges.
• Hair shadow glaze: AquaColor VanDyke Brown : AquaCreme = 4:1. The creme extends working time.
• Apply a medium-thick glaze with a no. 6 ultra round, one section at a time (start with the arms), so it does not dry before you pull the pattern.
• Pull a Ralph Lauren Linen Weaver brush or Leon Neon through the glaze: down and out on the arms. On the forehead, pull up and right from the right side, wipe the brush, then up and left from the left side to make a natural part.
• Add a few random glaze strokes over the stria while wet, with no dry time needed. Draw hair lines with a potter's needle tool while the glaze is wet, varying direction and length.
• Wipe the brush between strokes to avoid blobs. Wipe glaze off the skin immediately with a slightly damp cloth.
• Shade hair with Transparent Raw Umber Hue, using a template to protect the crackled skin.
• Add loose hairs with an Autumn Brown no. 18/0 liner, then draw over them with Tombow Dual Brush-Pens (#79 or #N79, and #969) on the fine tip. The needle tool can also scratch fine lines through the glaze.

Eyes and background with airbrush finishing

• Paint the background with AquaColor Black in two layers, cutting in with the side of the ¾-inch wash along the hair flow direction.
• Iris is Autumn Brown and pupil is AquaColor Black, both with a no. 18/0 liner. With the head angled down, paint only the half iris and pupil under the upper lid. The whites are Golden Acrylic Titanium White.
• Airbrush Transparent Shading Gray around the eyeball edges, darker toward the nose.
• Use a circular template the same size as the eye to spray a fine Carbon Black line on the inside bottom edge. Also spray a fine line along the lower lash area.
• Shadow behind the figure: Golden Airbrush Carbon Black through a template. Spray a fine Titanium White layer above it out to the board edges.
• Eye highlight: cover the pupil with a pencil eraser and spray Titanium White from the pupil to the iris edge. Add a small airbrushed dot on the pupil and iris, then a dab of Golden Acrylic Titanium White with the liner in the dot centers.
• Other texture tricks from the same mural: real bottle labels polyurethaned on then airbrush shaded, and a bar counter sponged with four glaze colors and flecked with a splatter brush.

Metallic foil on painted hardboard

• Prep: cut ¼-inch (6mm) hardboard and wipe it with a tack cloth. Apply 3 coats of Liquitex Acrylic Gesso with a 3-inch (76mm) nylon brush, 40 minutes between coats. Nylon gives the smoothest surface, which gives better foil coverage.
• Sketch with charcoal pencil. Paint an underpainting (loose, diluted with water), let it dry about 4 hours, then add the overpainting with its details. The overpainting is what shows in the final piece.
• Apply Rolco Slow Set Gilding Size (oil-based recommended) with a 3-inch nylon brush to the unpainted areas only. Wait 1–2 hours until tacky before laying foil.
• Pre-cut or tear the foil (Silver Hologram Foil) into random shapes and sizes for a dynamic look.
• Lay the foil shiny side up and press and rub firmly into the size to remove air bubbles. Hold a small corner free, then pull the backing off with a swift, angled pull from that corner.
• Drying time is critical. A little more or less changes coverage and also changes smooth versus wrinkled texture.
• The first layer transfers about 70–90%. Dry at least 24 hours, then repeat for about 95% coverage with only tiny holes and hairline cracks. A third or fourth layer is possible.
• Touch-up: foil commonly overlaps or bleeds onto painted areas, so repaint those. Add highlights and darken edges to contrast the image with the foil.
• Keep the image and foil balanced so neither dominates the composition.
• Foil is not common in art or craft stores. Try interior-designer suppliers or online.

Spray sky: paint prep and gun technique

• Paint: Porter Paint latex flat (Deep Blueberry darkest, Flame Blue midtone, Dahlia Blue lightest, plus White).
• Dilute all latex with water by 20–30%, until it runs freely off a stir stick. Strain through a paint strainer, cheesecloth or nylon stockings.
• Fade direction: darkest at the zenith, lightest at the horizon. On a ceiling, make the center darkest and fade to all edges, or make the far side darkest and fade across the room.
• A light neutral wall needs no basecoat. Basecoating in the lightest blue uses less paint to cover the white.
• HVLP blocking in: spray 6–10 inches (15–25cm) from the surface in slow, even passes parallel to the surface. Use a 1.4 or 2.4 tip with turbine air at about 6–7, and fine-tune with the air-hose nozzle.
• Build coverage in several passes rather than risk sags, drips or runs.
• At transition edges, hold the gun at an oblique angle with the trigger only about halfway down, and pull back farther for a lighter fade.

Spray sky: color order and gun progression

• Order: (1) Deep Blueberry, about 30% of the composition in the demo. (2) Flame Blue sprayed into the first color with a soft transition, then solid in the main field. (3) Dahlia Blue over the lower third, plus a random mist into the top half of the Flame Blue.
• If the midtone-to-light transition is softer than the dark-to-mid one, mix Deep Blueberry and Flame Blue 1:1 as a bridging color.
• Conventional cup gun with compressor at 35 psi and material feed on low: hold it 12–18 inches (30–46cm) back to soften transitions, or 3–6 inches (8–15cm) to cut in cloud pattern outlines. It atomizes finer than an HVLP.
• Movement: spray the three blues and the Blueberry/Flame mix individually, adding and subtracting with the cup gun to form the cloud background.
• Clouds: mix Dahlia Blue : pure White (flat latex) at 1:4. Use an auto touch-up gun at 35 psi (adjust air on the gun) with little material feed and moderate air.
• Hold the touch-up gun 1–3 inches (3–8cm) away for the whitest cloud parts. Pull back and feed more material for softer, broader coverage.
• Typical gun progression: HVLP for the big faded masses (least overspray), then cup gun, then auto touch-up gun, then a Paasche artist gun for the finest work.
• Faster, cheaper sky: fade the sky and leave negative space as the clouds in one movement.

Invisible blacklight paint: setup and behavior

• Paint in a darkened room lit by UV blacklight so you can see what you are applying. The demo blocked windows with cardboard plus a drop cloth and used three blacklight bulbs in three emergency light lamps. More bulbs make the paints show stronger.
• The paints show only under true UV blacklight.
• Water-based (Prismatic Painting): 12 colors, more transparent so they can be layered. They look chalky on mid to dark values and visible in normal light (the visible moon). Hide them within lighter cloud areas.
• Oil-based: 4 colors, nearly opaque, much more reactive under blacklight. Use them for the pinpoint stars.
• Prismatic 3-D glasses make each color float at a different depth. Blue is farthest, yellow and green mid-range, red closest. Use colors on roughly the same plane for a solid planet. A smaller object at a different spatial orientation exaggerates the 3-D effect.
• Pinpoint stars and small stars around the planets and into space give the strongest 3-D movement.

Blacklight planets: techniques

• Airbrushed planet (5-inch / 13cm circle stencil): spray Invisible Red along one stencil edge into an opaque crescent and fade it toward the center without reaching the opposite side. Spray Invisible Yellow on the opposite edge the same way. Add a second yellow arch 1 inch (25mm) inside, then mist the center in a full circular movement.
• Eclipsed planet: paint 100% of a 5-inch circle with Invisible Violet using a ¾-inch stencil brush, varying pressure for a mottled look. Let dry.
• Eclipsed planet glow: hold the cut-out circle over the planet (tape on the back, or mist the back of the plastic with water so it clings to a smooth surface). With a ¼-inch stencil brush apply Invisible Blue, then Clear Yellow and Clear Orange. Press hardest at the edge and fade to almost no pressure, staying within ½–¾ inch (13–19mm) of the edge. Remove the circle for a total eclipse.
• Ringed planet (12-inch / 30cm circle, 1-inch brush): swirl-stencil a moderate amount of Invisible Violet with varied pressure, more on one edge. Then Invisible Blue, concentrated in the negative areas for a mottled crater look.
• Ringed planet highlight and rings: highlight one edge, where there is more violet, with a ¾-inch brush and very little Invisible Blue White at light pressure. Cut an ellipse ring stencil from clear acetate and spray or stencil Invisible Orange.
• Star-system planet (9-inch / 23cm, 1-inch brush): even, light-pressure Invisible Orange. Highlight three-fourths with Invisible Yellow for soft mottling. Accent the opposite side with a little Invisible Red using a ½-inch brush.
• Moon: use a 3-inch (8cm) circle and Invisible Blue (blue looks farthest in 3-D). Hug the stencil edge and build a crescent, leaving the area by the larger planet blank so the moon sits behind it.
• Stars: tap yellow, green and red with the back of a brush for larger stars. Flick the bristles of a loaded small brush to spatter pinpoint stars.
• Auras: with an artist airbrush, start with the tip very close to a star and mist, moving back gradually.
• Spiral galaxy: spray in a spiral movement. Kink the air hose to spatter dots, then unkink for smooth spray.
• Use the back of a brush to add red dots last. They appear closest in 3-D.