If you're interested in Art, have you ever thought about taking the step of expanding your work from A4, A3, or even A2 to the size of a full wall? Well, this post tells you why you should consider it.
There is so much involved with being a Mural Artist, and we were lucky enough to speak to Sarah Hodgkin's who set up her mural art company Charlotte Designs in 2005.
Sarah told us exactly what you can expect from being a mural artist, which included how her typical working day is structured, the resources she would recommend for getting started, what she enjoys most about her career and courses she would suggest.
What the Career Involves
As a mural artist, Sarah's working days are jam-packed but at the same time are quite varied. "On Mondays and Fridays I am here in the studio doing design work, marketing, finance and admin." She added: "Then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are my painting days, where I am out on sight, and delivering my services."
Sarah's varied days means that she prefers to plan weekly rather than daily. "It tends to be a weekly rather than a daily structure, just because of the nature of what I do," she said.
Sarah putting a mural together at technology company Epson for their Labelexpo event. Photo Credit: Sarah Hodgkins
The importance of the medium
What Sarah likes most about the profession, is how much of a change she can make. "The thing that motivates me the most is making a difference, and changing people's lives." She added: "I have talked to adults in their 40s and 50s who had murals in their bedroom when they were children and they still remember them and it still makes them smile."
In particular, Sarah likes to paint her murals in care homes. "Murals are a great way of adding colour and context in a safe and practical way." She added: "My work in care homes is valued very highly because it helps people to remember, it gives people a conversation starter with their visitors, that does not require them to remember anything, they can just talk about what they see in front of them." Sarah also recalled the times there have been protests to protect her murals, which has left her feeling even more proud of the work that she does.
The lockdown helped those with murals in their homes to appreciate them more, as Sarah explains. "When lockdown first happened I was getting messages from my clients saying 'we just love seeing our mural every day, it's making us happy,' and it is helping us cope. That's fantastic." What's more, is that for a long time, Sarah has found the effect murals can have intriguing."I've never really got to the bottom of why it has a profound affect, but there are loads of stories of people having riots because murals are going to be taken down, or painted over." She added: "So, they really do ignite very strong emotions and feelings in people."
Sarah painting a 'storybook' fairytale mural at a school. Photo Credit: Sarah Hodgkins
Resources for Getting Started
Sarah pointed to her own website as a useful resource to getting started, which includes many examples of her previous work that you can take some inspiration from. The website showcases her work in care homes, businesses, schools and more!
She also suggested other popular mural artists out there. "There is an American guy called Mural Joe who does a lot of YouTube videos." She added: "I still look at his videos sometimes because he has a slightly different way of doing things from how I do things."
For more inspiration, here are a few online articles showcasing beautiful murals:
Another successful job! Sarah painting a beautiful boat in the sea. Photo Credit: Sarah Hodgkins
Top Tips & Qualifications
As Sarah highlights, there aren't any courses she is aware of which specifically focus on mural art. However, if you are interested in art - you can simply work on making your art bigger!
"Start with A2 paper, go to A1, go to A0 and then just start and get bigger and bigger because, to be honest, you have got to start and see things in a different way," Sarah explained.
Although she does believe that universities will start to offer the course in the future."I think mural art is seeing a major resurgence, and I think there are going to be universities who are going to start offering that as a dedicated course."
For the meantime, however, Sarah suggests taking an interior design course, as her interior design background has benefitted her career as an artist. "I have seen some beautifully painted murals that are just in the wrong place, using the wrong colours." She added: "You just think, if they had understood how interior design works, that could have been beautiful."
Finally, Sarah believes an accreditation would be helpful to aspiring mural artists. "I would love there to be some kind of accreditation." She added: "That is something I am looking at, to give people confidence that when they are engaging in mural art, they are getting somebody who knows what they are talking about."
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