I Painted a Calvin and Hobbes Wall Mural!

Beginning of 2019, a couple reached out to me on Facebook to see about painting a wall mural for them. They're expecting their first child in April, and wanted to have a "Calvin and Hobbes Theme."

As a child, I LOVED reading comic strips. If I saw my dad reading the newspaper, I'd always ask for the comics section and read the daily jokes. Calvin and Hobbes were always a part of the comic strip, and they were one of my absolute FAVORITES to read.

So I was crazy excited when they told me their theme. And I couldn't wait to get started!

They had already painted the rest of the room a beautiful yellow, and wanted that same color for the tree. So I loaded up some reference photos/examples of Calvin and Hobbes murals that other people have done, and drew up my own sketch outline, which I then projected onto the wall to make sure the important details (aka Calvin and Hobbes) were as perfect as they could be, and then kinda "winged-it" with the leaves/shrubberies and stuff!

For my last mural (which was also a nursery) I did a timelapse video, which was fun, but figured I could get the same effect with just remembering to take progress pics throughout the process (which I'm usually horrendous at!). So I hope you enjoy this little before-and-after gallery of the mural!

A blank canvas!

I painted in the main outlines to make sure the composition looked okay before going crazy with the colors

Each color took roughly 2 coats (the oranges took 3)

I realized at this step I didn't like how little contrast my original orange color was... and switched to a stronger/deeper orange for the final product!

It took a few attempts to get Calvin's skin and hair color right

Woo! The main piece is finished (Save for a few touchups and added details)

Ta-da! The final product!

One thing I wasn't expecting during this whole process was how unbelievably supportive my friends and family were as I worked on it. I faced some moments of self-doubt and worried about the end result during some stages, but then I would share my progress pics on Facebook, and both my parents and my in-laws would give me heaping support, saying how amazing it looked, and I got

words of encouragement from people I hadn't talked to in a while, which really helped keep my energy up for seeing this project though!

It took me about 4 days' of work for this project, but that was spread out over the course of 8 days.

And there you have it! My first mural painting for 2019! May it be the first of many! If you had a favorite comic you loved reading as a kid (or if you were also a Calvin and Hobbes fan) please leave a comment and share a bit about yourself with me!