Fresh Creative Co were commissioned by The Brain Box Shop in Swansea to paint a mural on the shutters of their shop to help them remain visible to passing traffic when they’re closed.
PROCESS
Some projects come to us with only a loose premise or idea in place, whereas others come already fully formed. In this case, The Brain Box Shop was very clear about what they wanted and provided us with an image that they wanted to be replicated. They asked us to paint them a picture of popular cartoon characters Rick and Morty coming through an inter-dimensional portal with one simple change; Instead of his usual portal gun, we were asked if Rick could instead be holding a smoking bong. We’re big Rick and Morty fans here at Fresh Murals Co, so this instantly sounded like a really fun project to work on and we were more than happy to take on the challenge.
We did some sketches to make the required changes to the image that we’d been provided and then plugged the image into photoshop to finalise the design. Following this we imported the document into our plotting software and used our plotter to draw out a real size image onto rolls of paper. We then pounced that imaged using a pounce wheel. Pouncing is a process often used in sign painting and sewing which involves making a pattern on a thin paper (often tracing paper is used) which is then manually perforated using a small spiked wheel which is run over the lines of the design. Once the pattern is perforated the back can then be sanded down, opening up the holes a little more. Once made this pattern can then be transferred to another surface by using a pounce pad, a soft pad filled with a fine graphite powder which when banged on the design, allows the powder to pass through the holes in the paper and leave a fine, dotted outline on the surface beneath. This is a really great way to ensure that the design that goes up onto the wall is as accurate as it can be and, whilst it can add a lot of time to the preparation phase of a project, it can also save a lot of time once on site.
Once we arrived at the shop we used the process just described to transfer an outline of the image onto the shutter. We then used spray paint to lock in the details of the design before moving on to paint the black background on the shutter and the interdimensional portal through which the characters would emerge. Lastly, we finished off Rick and Morty themselves, making sure that everything was clean and accurate to the best of our abilities.
FINISHED PIECES
We really enjoyed painting this project for The Brain Box Shop who are due to open their doors for the first time this week. The Brain Box Shop is Swansea’s one stop shop for all CBD and Hemp products including CBD Buds, flowers, oils, pastes, edibles, hemp clothing and more. All the guys we met there were really friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable about their products so if that’s your cup of hemp tea (also available) then do pay them a visit.
