large scale lettering with makewells

Hello! It's Megan from Makewells and today I'm sharing with you a few tips and tricks in creating a larger scale painting incorporating your lettering. 

My favorite surfaces for painting are Blick Birch Wood Panels. I just love working on these: they are sturdy, smooth, and can take a variety of mediums. The panels are just as affordable as pre-stretched canvases, so I encourage you to try them out!

To begin this piece, my first step was to prime the wood panel. I used a basic acrylic based interior paint for this and gave the wood a good two coats. (don't mind my abused brush...)

While my board was drying, I then did some thumbnail sketches of the lettering I planned to paint.  For these sketches, I really focused on how the lettering would fill the space; composition was just as important as the lettering itself.

Once I had a sketch I was happy with, I created a very basic grid to use as a guide when sketching on my larger panel. This is my go-to way of enlarging smaller sketches. This grid was very basic, but it did the trick. 

The dimensions of my panel were 24" x 30". I made my thumbnail sketch 4" x 5" inches, keeping the proportions exactly the same as the large panel. I then cut the thumbnail in half, forming a grid, and did the same on the panel, drawing very lightly. This simple math makes a very basic (yet extremely helpful) guide as you transfer your small drawing to the larger surface. 

Then, I sketched in my drawing, and painted the letters solid white. 

I wanted the palette for this piece to be very bright, so I started blocking in areas of the negative space with bold, contrasting colors. I started out messy and worked fast as I block in background

Next I went back into the lettering and added a drop shadow to really make them stand out. 

After cleaning up the white lettering with another coat, I added some expressive patterns in the background and scribbles in graphite pencil. 

And voila! Here's the finished piece! 

Perfect for our this cheery area of our home. 

So there you have it! Using a grid is a very simple trick to help you take any of your projects from a small sketch to a larger surface.

Keep using #redefinecreativelettering as you create - I LOVE seeing your work on instagram!

Xo,

Megan

@Makewells (instagram)

www.makewells.com