Jungle Book Mural
(showing painting process)

Location - Southgate, London

For this mural I have decided to show more of the actual painting process, to give more of an understanding of the work involved in creating a mural.
The first pictures show the completed mural, then you will see how it actually came to be, from the early concept sketches, through the initial background colour washes, the working up of the background, the middle ground details, and finally the characters and foreground.

I hope you find it an interesting insight into the creation process.

Jungle Book  mural, Main Picture - 1

Jungle Book  mural, Main Picture - 2

Jungle Book  mural, Concept Sketch - 1

Jungle Book  mural, Concept Sketch - 2

Jungle Book  mural, picture 1 - bare walls, with area masked off

LEFTHAND WALL

Jungle Book  mural, picture 3 - first task is to sketch the design on to the wall

Jungle Book  mural, picture 5 - left hand edge filled in, plus suggestion of
the temple wall

Jungle Book  mural, picture 6 - shows the work on and around the waterfall

Jungle Book  mural, picture 8 - detailed work on the throne

Jungle Book  mural, picture 10 - now I rework the wall colour and texture

Jungle Book  mural, picture 12 - ..and sketched in

Jungle Book  mural, picture 14 - tree is worked up, and two coats of paint
are needed on the characters

Jungle Book  mural, picture 16 - King Louis is finished

Jungle Book  mural, picture 18 - Kaa's coils

Jungle Book  mural, picture 20 - lastly, the fruit bowl is worked up

Jungle Book  mural, picture 22 - colourwash background over blacked in monkeys

Jungle Book  mural, picture 24 - creating continuity between the two walls

 
Jungle Book  mural, picture 26 - jungle backround worked up

Jungle Book  mural, picture 28

Jungle Book  mural, picture 30 - tree painted in

Jungle Book  mural, picture 32 - two coats of flat colour are applied to characters

Jungle Book  mural, picture 34 - dark leaves are strategically scattered around the top

Jungle Book  mural, picture 36 - foreground vine with jungle flowers are added,
which helps to balance the composition

Jungle Book  mural, picture 38 - monkeying around

Jungle Book  mural, picture 40 - Mowgli learning the bear necessities

Jungle Book  mural, picture 2 - bare walls, floor protected with plastic
sheeting and decorators' sheets

Jungle Book  mural, picture 3 - a simple backround wash of colour is applied

Jungle Book  mural, picture 4 - the background is worked up some more

Jungle Book  mural, picture 7 - tools of the trade..

Jungle Book  mural, picture 9 - in goes the crimson plant

Jungle Book  mural, picture 11 - The pose for Baloo is approved by client...

Jungle Book  mural, picture 13 - in go the final drawings of the other characters

Outlined and complete, Baloo dancing in the mural - With a hup-dup-doobie!

Jungle Book  mural, picture 17 - Baloo and Kaa complete

Jungle Book  mural, picture 19 - and the baby elephant is also finished

Jungle Book  mural, picture 21 - the King of the swingers

Incidently, you may have noticed that Shere Khan does not appear in the finished mural, I decided to leave him out as I thought he might be a bit scary for a newborn, for whom this mural was painted.

RIGHTHAND WALL

Jungle Book  mural, picture 23 - colourwash on whole wall,

Jungle Book  mural, picture 25 - Bagheera outline blacked in,
then pink, blue and green colourwash added

Jungle Book  mural, picture 27 - blue river water painted in

Jungle Book  mural, picture 29 - riverbank plants and reflections added

Jungle Book  mural, picture 31

Jungle Book  mural, picture 33 - broadleafed plant painted, then outline of characters

Jungle Book  mural, picture 35 - shows Bagheera complete

Jungle Book  mural, picture 37 - whole wall complete

Jungle Book  mural, picture 39 - monkey business

Jungle Book  mural, picture 41 - all finished

baloo and mowgli floating down the stream in Diney's Jungle Book