79 – Mural Painting Tips with Alli K

Laura

0:06
Hi, this is Laura Lee Griffin.

Nikki

0:08
And this is Nikki May, with the Startist Society, inspiring you to stop getting in your own way and start building an art biz and life that you love.

Laura

0:17
We are artists who believe strongly in the power of community, accountability, following your intuition, taking small actionable steps and breaking down the barriers of fear and procrastination that keep you stuck.

Nikki

0:30
Follow along with us on our creative business journey as we encourage you on yours.

Last week, we introduced you to Alli K of Alli K Design, and she shared a bunch of information about her amazing mix of painting murals, designing all kinds of products, publishing books, teaching, mentoring, and more. So if you haven’t had a chance to listen to that episode yet, be sure to go back and check it out.

Laura

0:59
Today she’s back to share more of her juicy knowledge with us and give us her five best tips for getting started with murals. Ali, thanks so much for coming back to share more with our listeners.

Alli

1:11
Thanks for having me. Seriously, you can have me anytime.

Nikki

1:14
We’re gonna hold you to that.

Alli

1:17
I got those signup links. So…

Nikki

1:19
Awesome.

Laura

1:21
So what’s your first tip for us, Alli?

Alli

1:24
First tip, most important tip, if you are wanting to paint a mural, do not forget to pack baby wipes. It is literally the magic of painting murals. Like I use it every time I paint a mural. Like if I don’t have baby wipes, it’s doomed.

Nikki

1:44
That’s actually really, really good advice for just about any kind of art you’re doing.

Alli

1:49
Yes, it’s amazing, like so like, you can use it for so many different things. If you’re in between paint brushes, you can wrap your paintbrush in a baby wipe to keep it from drying out. If you have a drip you can like clean up the drip, it comes off super easy. They’re literally the magic erasers for mural painting. Get on your hands, and you don’t have a sink nearby, baby wipe. Get on your clothes, baby wipe.

Nikki

2:18
Do you have a brand that you like?

Alli

2:20
Literally everything. So I’m just very particular. And there is a brand that has a black and white pattern on these baby wipes. And I found them and bought so many, I think like 50 packs of them. Because I’m like I’m like oh my gosh, these are perfect. I think they’re like Honest brand or whatever. So yeah. But any view like brand will do. I probably should get the cheapest, because it’s like I’m not. Yeah, it doesn’t need to be like organic or whatever. But.

Nikki

2:57
They have to be on brand, Alli.

Alli

2:58
They have to be on brand. I get so many compliments every time someone walks by, they’re like, Oh my gosh, even your wipes are on brand, I’m like, yes, yes, they are.

Nikki

3:06
It’s the little things.

Alli

3:08
It’s the little thing things

Nikki

3:10
Okay, so what’s your next tip? What’s your second tip for us.

Alli

3:13
So the second tip is working smarter. That is like just managing with either like getting an iPad. It is so helpful. All of these people that are not designing on the iPad, like I, my heart goes out to them because it’s so much more time. But getting an iPad, using a projector, making sure that you are having multiple different brushes with different widths. Like it’s super important to like if you’re like chalking it out, like I will do either paint or a paint pen. So finding a paint brush that is the same width as the paint pen is super helpful. Like you don’t want to have like a thinner paint brush than you’d have to do like two strokes. Like no just work smarter.

Nikki

4:01
That’s very smart. I hadn’t thought about that. Okay, file that away for when I’m working on the bus.

Alli

4:11
Yeah, and just like making sure like if you’re working with an assistant, like they have the same paint brush width, it’s super important to keep that in mind. I don’t think people like really realize that paint brush widths are crucial.

Nikki

4:24
Perfect.

Laura

4:25
So Alli, what’s your third tip for us?

Alli

4:27
Third tip. If you are following an artist or a muralist and you’re like, oh my gosh, what is she using? A good tip, and this is like for any like influencer or any social media account. Like before you ask them, do your research, like look through comments. Maybe they’ve already answered it in the comment or there is a 90% chance that there is a link in their bio and you can click on that link and it will have all the answers to all your questions, supplies. So for example, like I have supplies where my murals are located, my biggest thing is like what supplies are you using and I need to have like a shirt or like it tattooed on my body of like link in bio. I don’t mind people asking, like I said, like, I love helping, and I love to answer, like, all these questions, but that one, it’s just when you get it like 100 times, when you’re painting a mural, I’m like, okay, link in bio, link in bio. But there’s also like, that thing of like, finding it out yourself. Just gives you that extra grit and that extra, just hustle to where like, you’re gonna be a better artist for it. Even if it’s like, my favorite thing, like, I tell my friends, I have like a secret talent, like I can find literally anything. So like, when I am looking at another artist or another muralist or trying to figure out what the paint that they’re using our supplies, like, I look, and I look at the label, I’m okay, that label’s orange, and then I like, okay, then I type in orange…

Nikki

6:11
Sorry, you can’t use that one, it’s off brand

Alli

6:14
I still use it, I just don’t show it that much. But, um, so yeah, I’ll like look at the label, and we’ll get that labels orange like type in, okay, paint pen, orange label, or I just like, type in paint pen. And then I look at the images. I’m like, Okay, which one has an orange label, oh that has an orange label? And I might look, I’m like, Okay, does that look like that? Yes, it looks like that. Okay, I found it. It takes like maybe an extra five minutes, but just being able to like, research it, search for it, I find that I learn more about the paint while doing that or supplies while I’m researching. So just a good tip.

Nikki

6:51
I have an extra tip for myself to throw in here. If you want to know what people are using, definitely check their website, check their social media, because they’ve likely compiled a list of affiliate links. So if you’re gonna use somebody else’s knowledge on what they’re using, and you can throw a couple bucks their way by using their affiliate links.

Alli

7:16
Yeah, that’s helpful, super helpful. I wish it was a couple of bucks is more like 50 cents, but

Nikki

7:21
Well, yeah. I mean, you know, depends how much you’re ordering.

Laura

7:28
I want to say that I research things. And I’m always interested in what the products are that other people are using. But also, I think sometimes that holds me back. Because if I spend all of my time researching someone else’s process, or someone else’s materials, instead of just using stuff that I already own, and being inventive with it half the time, I can come up with something far more interesting.

Alli

7:51
Yes.

Nikki

7:52
And let’s be honest, Laura, you already own all of it.

Laura

7:56
I do well, well, I will see like a specific color. And I’ll be fascinated by that color of watercolor. So for example, when I can totally create that for myself with the stuff that I already have.

Alli

8:09
Yeah, definitely. And really like everyone’s environment, and like, I might be using certain materials for certain wall but like, your wall is probably could be completely different. So it really just depends, like, I bring to every mural, I guess, like this can be like three and a half. But I bring to every mural, like so many different paint supplies, like multiple different paint pens, multiple different brands of paint pens, multiple different like water based paint paints pens, acrylic based, oil base, same with like, my actual paint, I bring multiple different bases. And same with brushes, I have probably like 50 different brushes, all different sizes, because I just never know what the wall is gonna tell me. Like that wall, I’m going to start and be like, oh, yeah, that wall definitely can use this. I’ll keep, I’ll start. I’ll go. I’m like, Nope, can’t use this. Something’s happening, environment’s not working. The paint that they used. I, most of the time don’t know what paint is as the base. So I just kind of have to like learn that while I get there. So yeah, I’m always just over prepared.

Laura

9:23
Overpreparing is a good thing. It’s a smart thing.

Nikki

9:27
As long as you don’t spend so much time preparing that you never get anything done.

Alli

9:31
Thank you.

Nikki

9:34
I’m looking right at you, Laura.

Laura

9:36
All right. All right. So Alli, what’s your fourth tip?

Alli

9:40
So if you want to paint a mural, like, just do it. like paint one for yourself. You are probably looking at a wall that could be blank. Like that could be like your perfect canvas for a mural. It doesn’t even have to be a wall like it can be a eight by four piece of wood panel from Home Depot, like, there’s really great like, my favorites are, I think they’re four by four squares at Home Depot. Like Home Depot actually has like pre-cut wood that you can get, is like my favorite section at Home Depot or Lowe’s. So just like do it like, you don’t have to be hired. You don’t have to be just you don’t have to have all this years of experience with painting like just like my that’s how my first mural was. It was for me, it was for us in my studio at the time. I had no knowledge, I literally was using like Sharpie, like not even oil base Sharpie, just like a regular Sharpie. And I painted I guess, I guess you couldn’t even really say painted but just drew this mural up on this wall, posted it on Instagram. And then I got an comment saying like, Oh my gosh, you do murals. I need a mural. I’m like, Yeah, I do murals. Totally.

Nikki

10:59
I’ve done so many.

Laura

11:01
…in my head.

Alli

11:05
Yes, I’ve said it in the our big podcast episode, but I hate the phrase like, fake it till you make it, like we aren’t fake artists. Like that’s not a thing. So I much rather say like, “say yes and figure it out later.” So that’s exactly what I did. Like I said, Yes, yes, I paint murals, even though like the first mural that I did, like, wasn’t even like a full out mural.

Nikki

11:30
But if you paint one mural, you’re a muralist.

Alli

11:33
I love that. Yes. For sure. So I said yes. And I was like, Yep, I got this, figured out supplies, figured out projections, getting it onto the wall, designing. Yeah, it was great.

Nikki

11:48
Awesome. All right, Ali, what is your final fifth tip for us final

Alli

11:53
Final and fifth tip. And it’s probably just as important as the first tip, but it is to charge by the square foot, not by the time. So murals definitely need to be charged by the space, kind of look at your canvas, how much of that wall is going to be covered. And that’s how much, it can be anywhere from I mean, it really just depends on locations, like I have… people in California, they can charge like 50 a square foot, I don’t think I can, I haven’t been able to charge 50 a square foot here in Dallas. But 35, 40 a square foot in Dallas is pretty standard. But it can be anywhere from 20 to 50, wherever you are location wise, just kind of look and also like ask other muralists. Like if someone asked me like I’m more than happy to tell you like what I charge because I don’t want you to undercharge. But I also don’t want you to overcharge, like just kind of staying in this…

Nikki

12:52
A reasonable range.

Alli

12:53
Well, you wouldn’t want to price fix. But essentially, just a range is good. But yeah, and you don’t want to charge by time, like the goal is to get faster. So if you’re being faster at what you’re doing, then you would be charging less, like this makes no sense. So

Nikki

13:10
Yeah, you don’t want to get punished for being more efficient. That’s some great advice.

Laura

13:16
Alli, thanks so much for coming back and sharing your tips with us.

Alli

13:19
Of course, anytime.

Nikki

13:22
Really. It’s been it’s been so helpful.

Alli

13:24
Good.

Laura

13:25
I think I’m ready to actually attack my bedroom wall now.

Alli

13:28
Yes, just do it! And if you mess up, just paint over it! Like it’s super easy.

Nikki

13:34
Paint over it, that’s great. Yeah. All right. So to get a downloadable PDF with Alli’s tips and tricks for getting started with murals, visit startistsociety.com/muraltips.

Laura

13:47
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next week.