Fresh Creative Co was commissioned to paint a mural on the shutters of the Mind building in Swansea. Our brief for this project was to paint the words ‘Swansea Mind’ in a graffiti style on top of a countryside style background.
Swansea Mind is a mental health organisation based in the city of Swansea. They are part of the network of Local Mind Associations in England and Wales and work for the better mental health of people in Swansea by providing a range of services.
PROCESS
For this mural we decided that we would use the word ‘Mind’ as the main feature for the piece, with the word Swansea appearing smaller in the top corner. As the bulk of the shutter for this project was going to be taken up with the the Mind graffiti piece, we started our design phase on paper by sketching out a few different versions of the letters, before refining it down to a final sketch. This outline was then inked and imported into photoshop to colour digitally and be used in the full mockup of the design. The same process was applied to the word ‘Swansea’ and the two were then combined digitally with the background which we also made in photoshop. Finally this was laid over a photo of the shutter to create a final design.
Once the design had been finalised and approved, the next job was to go to the workshop and sort out the colours and supplies we needed to paint the mural before heading over to the shop to actually begin painting. The first thing to do on site was prepare the area, laying down a dust sheet to work off to protect the pavement, and taping off the letterbox and anywhere else we wanted to keep clean with masking tape.
When it came to the painting process we began by marking up the letters that would form the main feature of the image. Once this was in place we then approached the background, marking it up with spray paint as we had with the letters. Next we filled in the background, working in the gradients in the hills and the sky as well as painting a large autumnal tree in the centre of the shutter behind where the Mind piece would sit. We finished off by filling in the graffiti piece with a classic fade as well as some smaller details, before adding the outline, 3d and highlights to complete the piece.
FINISHED PIECES
Shutters always present a challenge because, in their very nature, they are never a flat surface to work on. For this reason certain styles work better than others when it comes to painting shutters. We really enjoyed painting this mural and were really happy with how it came out.
