About San Anto Cultural Arts Mural Program

This is a guide on the step-by-step process that San Anto Cultural Arts has developed over several years alongside with numerous artists and community participants. It was developed as a tool for community empowerment, in which a community becomes involved in the creation of a mural that is reflective and inspiring. There will be variances with each project, but it is encouraged to adhere to this specific order. It should also be understood that if the Lead Artist/Designer is working with a mural crew, the crew should be involved in every aspect of mural production.

1. MURAL CREW FORMATION

There are several ways to recruit crew members: post flyers throughout neighborhood; presentations at schools, community centers, word-of-mouth

A mural crew generally consists of one Lead Muralist /Designer and four to six Hard Core Crew Members. More experienced mural project participants and artists are encouraged to be crew members.

2. WALL SELECTION

  • survey local neighborhood or campus for a wall with plenty of visibility.
  • consider the position of the sun, especially if the mural will be painted during the summer.
  • check wall surface for cracks, chipped paint, water damage, loose bricks, loose mortar and water tracks.
  • consider tactile surface, ex: smooth vs. rough
  • research age and structural condition of building
  • be aware or pedestrian and street traffic
  • examine graffiti activity in the area
  • check for possible difficulties in setting up scaffolding
  • involve the owner in the design development document wall dimensions: figure wall square footage

3. MURAL SITE COMMUNITY SURVEY

This is an essential step in the mural process because it’s important that San Anto Cultural Arts and the murals that we sponsor are in accordance with community beliefs and ideologies. We hope that each of our murals remains in place for a very long time and that the community that sees the murals every day feels comfortable with and appreciate the images portrayed in each mural.

  • The survey can be written as a general questionnaire
  • The survey should ask specifically what images inspire or reflect their community
  • Once the questionnaire is finished, survey the community door-to-door where the mural is to be created
  • Document all information that residents express
  • Invite them to get involved in the mural painting
  • Document t survey process: photos, video

4. THEME DEVELOPMENT

  • Review community questionnaires
  • Brainstorm on themes that relate to the community: neighborhood history, social issues, historic events, musical and artistic history of community, etc.
  • Brainstorm to develop images that illustrate the chosen theme.

5. INITIAL SKETCHES

  • With documented wall dimensions scale down measurements for sketches, make sure to be as accurate as possible ( ex: for every 1 ft. scale down to 1/2 in.)
  • Take note of building attributes such as windows and gutter downspouts.
  • Compose thematic images
  • Produce several basic sketches

6. FINALIZE AND COMPOSE SKETCHES

  • Review all sketches
  • Pick one sketch or compose images from different sketches into one final design
  • Complete one final sketch that includes details and color correctly grid scaled sketch and label squares
  • Make copies of sketch gridded sections

7. SKETCH PRESENTATION TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  • This is not that intimidating as it seems, it is just an informative connection with the SACA’s board of directors
  • Mount color copy of sketch on to mattboard
  • Include one page written description of mural design

8. SKETCH PRESENTATION TO COMMUNITY

  • Prepare a one-sided flyer that has a small graphic of the mural design along with a bi-lingual written description of the mural design.
  • Use the mounted color copy of sketch on mattboard during survey
  • When surveying community make sure to contact residents who participated in the previous questionnaire
  • Invite community to the mural painting

9. OBTAIN MATERIALS

  • Review and obtain items from the materials list
  • Review color selections and determine amount to be used with the Mural Project Coordinator. The Mural Project Coordinator must be involved in this process
  • Depending on the main colors of the mural (cool vs. warm) ask paint dealer to color mix primer ( for warm use a light magenta and for cool use a light blue). This color addition to the primer will help the wall not be as bright when working. It also acts as a color ground to work off in color blending.
  • Keep records of all color codes and paint swatch examples
  • Get key copies for the mural shed

10. PREPARING MURAL SITE

  • Depending on what condition of the mural site is, make sure all materials and equipment and on hand before prepping the wall
  • Scrape wall with spatulas and wire brushes until ALL loose paint chips are removedPressure wash the entire wall surface, make sure to apply concentrated pressure on necessary areas until ALL loose paint chips are removed
  • With the hand pump pressure washer add anti-fungal solution (JoMax) and treat mural wall, make sure to follow directions noted on solution package. Run pressure washer once more, make sure to be thorough as possible
  • Allow wall to dry over night following day, primer the wall with water-based stain-blocking primer
  • Make sure that the primer coat is even and has covered all exposed wall surfaces

11. MURAL PAINTING

  • This step actually as some sub-steps so hang-on.

    • Sketch transferal:
    • There are several ways to transfer your mural sketch to the wall. Two are very popular: 1) using an opaque projector; a scaled down gridded sketch. We will cover the scaled down gridded sketch method.
    • Use the grided sketch and its scaled measurements as your reference guide
    • Measure the wall’s 1/2 mark and 1/4 marks ( and into 1/8ths if necessary, horizontally and vertically
    • Using your chalk line snap these lines in
    • Once all your lines are done label your squares
    • Start drawing in your sketch with pencils (pencils are the authors choice but you can use other drawing media if desired)
    • The drawing on the wall from now on will be called the cartoon
    • ALWAYS WORK FROM TOP TO BOTTOM AND FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
    • Make sure to visually predict if your sketch will transfer well
    • If there are any discrepancies in proportions and scale, it is mostly due to your first measurements in scaling your sketch. If it happens try to work around it as much as possible. If it still seems like it won’t work redo the entire sketch and get the right measurements. ITS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY
    • If you did it right then pat yourself on the back
    • Make sure you do the entire cartoon first before painting in sections Using one color, paint the penciled cartoon lines

    • Painting:
    • During this portion of work it is advisable to delegate responsibilities to the mural crew
    • This is the best time to invite local community participants to get involved in the mural painting process
    • It is a good idea to color swatch each area of the cartoon, sort of like a paint-by-numbers coloring book
    • Once all the empty areas of the cartoon are swatched, you can instruct the community participants to fill in the areas according to the swatches
    • Make sure to monitor the participants, it never fails where someone gets confused, this is where your crew comes in handy
    • Remind community participants to keep clean and respect materials at all times
    • Document all community participants

    • Detail:
    • Touch-up all areas that need it
    • This section of the work will be executed by the lead artist and the mural crew
    • Start again from top to bottom and from left to right
    • Detail all areas of the design
    • During the detail painting make sure to step back several feet every now and then to review the mural progress
    • Once all details are done, review the entire mural several times to make sure that all areas of the design are complete

    • Seal:
    • Using a sealant coat to preserve the mural
    • There are several types of sealant, even some that help out with graffiti, check with your paint dealer for more product information.

12. MURAL DEDICATION

  • Refer to the mural dedication ‘hit list’
  • When referring to the list remember to always include community participants in the mural dedication planning.

13. POST-MURAL EVALUATION MEETING

  • This meeting functions as a way to evaluate the entire project with the mural crew.
  • Encourage the mural crew to bring up any issues that affected the mural project.
  • Allow for crew members to create solutions for any issues that had negative impacts in conjunction with mural production.
  • Acknowledge all of the positives within group
  • Video document this meeting

14. POST-COMMUNITY SURVEY

  • This survey should be specially prepared by the mural crew to get a response from the local community on the changes to their environment due to the creation of the new mural.
  • Refer to the first survey for cooperating residents
  • Document everything

15. MURAL MAINTENANCE

  • Mural maintenance happens throughout the life of the mural. The one thing that should be taken care of is the graffiti problems and dirt.
  • Depending on the sealant that was used you can treat graffiti as directed by the sealant label.
  • If you just want to cover the graffiti with paint, then you need to make sure that you keep track of color codes and even have extra paints on hand.
  • As for dirt here are some ideas: wash down with a sponge mop, use basic wash soap; spray down lightly with pressure washer, don’t apply to much pressure or you wont have a mural anymore; hose down with a waterhose
  • Be conscious of color fading, its a good idea to refer to a color photo when the mural was freshly finished. If it is faded, re-color areas that have faded. Again, if you use industrial quality paint you most likely will not run into these problems early on.

Que viva muralismo en San Anto!

To get involved with Community Mural Program, please contact
Ruth Buentello
Community Mural/Public Art Program Coordinator
ruth@sananto.org