How to Landscape Wall Murals

Sketch your landscape wall mural design with colored pencils or markers on a letter-size piece of paper. Refer to landscape imagery for ideas about what to include and how to depict it. Decide whether it is daytime, nighttime or sunset in your mural, as this will determine the color of the sky and the tone of the scene.

Plaec a clear transparency sheet on top of your drawing and trace the background elements of your landscape using the dry erase markers. Start with the items farthest away, such as a far-off mountain range and a sky full of clouds, as you will paint them first.

Place another transparency sheet on top of the first and trace the foreground elements of your design with a different colored dry-erase marker. This allows you to determine the placement of foreground elements such as palm trees, fields of flowers, rocks, seashells, people and animals without distracting from the background lines when you transfer the imagery to the wall.

Remove the transparency containing the foreground elements. Place the overhead projector in position in front of the wall. Place the transparency with the background elements on the projector and turn it on. Adjust the projector so that the background of your landscape wall mural is projected onto the wall in the size you desire.

Trace the background imagery onto the wall using a pencil.

Paint the background directly onto the wall with rollers and paintbrushes. Start with the basic colors; you can add detail later, when all of the elements of your design are painted onto the wall. Allow the first coat to dry completely, which should take between 3 and 24 hours.

Remove the first transparency and place the second one on the overhead projector. Adjust the projector so that the foreground elements are projected into the right position and are the right size against the background.

Paint the foreground elements in their basic colors, to which you can later add detail. Allow the paint to dry completely.

Add detail to your landscape, working from top to bottom to avoid smearing paint. Shading, patterns and textures are all important elements of a naturalistic landscape. Add additional images such as fallen leaves by drawing or painting them freehand directly on the wall, or by making a new transparency and projecting the image onto the background, then painting it. Keep adding detail until your landscape is complete.