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It’s so Easy to Paint Your Own Giant Wall Art

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A simple way to paint your own giant wall art

As well as crafting, I love to paint. Not having a formal art background has never stopped me from painting and creating. My craft buddy Wendy and I have a thing about painting our dogs, admittedly she is a bit better at it than I am, but that doesn’t stop me.
 
By showing how Wendy painted a giant posterized portrait of her dog Lottie, I’ll show you how easy it is to create your own giant wall art.
 
It is a bit like the painting by numbers you may have done as a child.
 
A great tutorial to show you how easy it is to paint your own giant wall art. It's like painting by numbers. you could do a portrait of your pet or a loved one.
 
How to paint your own giant wall art
 
 
To create your own artwork is easier than you think, all it takes is a bit of practice and confidence. My house is full stuff I’ve painted, not because I necessarily think it’s brilliant but because I’ve created it and it’s personal to me and my family.
 
After visiting art galleries and exhibitions I often come away feeling inspired. I tap into that inspiration by painting my dog Toby in the style of the artist’s exhibition I have just been to.
 
In fact my husband’s favourite painting (chalks actually), is “the woof” instead of the scream. I painted Toby in the style of Munch after visiting the museum in Oslo, just for a bit of fun.
 
The Woof
 
The many styles of Toby
 
This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to see my disclosure policy.
 
 

What you need to paint your own giant posterized portrait

  • Giant canvas – You can either buy this from an art shop, or do what Wendy and I do which is buy our canvases in the sales or junk shops. We just then paint over the existing artwork with white emulsion paint, to create a cheap white blank canvas.

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  • Some form of projector, art projector or overhead projector. You can buy overhead projectors cheap on ebay or you maybe able to borrow one from a school or work.

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  • Paints, we tend to paint in acrylics or gouache.

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    Easy way paint your own giant posterized portrait

     

    1. First take a picture of your pet, either with a camera or even better on your phone using one of the many photo filtering apps. There are some fantastic free apps that will turn any picture into geometric art. Polygen is one that I use.
       

    2. Once you are happy with your picture print it out onto an A4 transparency. So that you can project the image onto your canvas.

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    3. Once you image is projected on to your white canvas simple trace round the image with a light pencil.

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    4. As I said this is a bit like painting by numbers so using your original posterized picture work out your colour chart for the wall art. Giving each colour a number and then writing the number on the right place on the canvas.

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      How to paint your own giant wall art
       
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    5. Start painting, I just start wherever I fancy and continue until finished. You may want to complete your painting over a couple of sessions.

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    How to paint your own giant wall art

     
    How to paint your own giant wall art
     
    How to paint your own giant wall art
     
    How to paint your own giant wall art _ pillarboxblue.com
     
    Giant Pet Portrait tutorial
     
    Personally I love Wendy’s portrait of Lottie and thinks it looks fabulous in her house. Everyone who visits admires her art work especially when they realize it’s Lottie in the painting. I can’t wait to create my own paint by numbers giant wall art of Toby.
     
    If you like this then you may like the tutorial I did on how to create a Map Art Pet Collage portrait.
     
     
    Are often around us when we craft and we have even made them some fantastic upcycled denim dog toys.
     
    Buster and Toby with their homemade denim dog toys full tutorial given.
     
     


     
     

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    2. Can you tell me specifically what app you used to make this picture? I love it and I tried the one you mentioned in the post but it doesn’t have nearly the detail that yours has. Thanks!

      Reply

    3. Love it so much, I have a boxer and collie, could you tell me how it was photoshopped, ie in what art style cos it’s fantastic xx

      Reply

    4. This is sooo amazing! I would do a giant bunny. I just got a projector although it is not an overhead art one, it is one you hook up to a dvd/computer. I bet I could do it with a picture from my computer easily though. Thanks for the inspiration!

      Reply

    5. Thank you for your tutorial – I have always wanted to do this! I have the giant thrift canvas ready to go, and the perfect pic of my pup, however I’m struggling with getting the image just right. I am using Photoshop CC but when I posterize the pic it doesn’t have jagged/sharp edges like yours, it has several more rounded edges. I can reduce the levels but it doesn’t seem to get the same affect as yours. I’ve tried several different photos. Can you offer any tips to help me adjust my pics to get a simple look like yours, please?

      Reply

      • Hi Katy, glad to see you are giving it ago. My friend Wendy did the initial picture on Photoshop, I know she used filters to posterize the picture, and I think she used the pen tool to sharpen some of the edges. Unfortunately she’s on holiday at the moment and I can’t quizz her more about it but will when she gets back. Sorry I can’t be more helpful for now. What kind of dog is your pup ?

        Reply

    10. Wow! just Wow! Love this giant work of art. You and Wendy both are super talented! I love your different artworks of Toby, how cool is that. Thanks for breaking down how to do this, it looks simple enough and I would so love to give this a try. Somehow I see my skill level of painting ending in a major fail, but this tutorial would sure make for a great try.

      Reply

    12. I love this! Such a great tutorial. I love to paint art for my home and never considered posterizing a photo and painting it. I have to try this now. Thanks!

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    13. As an art history major and a dog lover I just ADORE this! I am a bit late to the TOHOT party this week due to my college semester finals but I’m so glad that I didn’t miss this. Have a wonderful week.

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    14. What a fun idea, it looks brilliant and so straightforward to do. We don’t have a furry pet so I’d have to think about what I’d do, maybe a favourite holiday location?

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    15. That came out awesome! I would love to have a large wall art version of my chihuahua – I’ll have to give your technique with the projector a try.

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    17. This is amazing and you have inspired me.
      I love creating things for my home or making over a found item but I have never felt confident painting art work.
      You have inspired me!

      Thank you for joining us at TOHOT!

      Laura
      White Spray Paint

      Reply

    18. That is pretty awesome! Pets are so important to us and I would love to have a portrait of my dog and cat. The graphic quality of this is really neat.

      Happy Thoughts of Home. 😉

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    19. This is very fun! I’ve been painting animal portraits but never had the nerve to go so BIG! But maybe with the transperancy method, I could. Thanks for the tips!

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    20. I was just wondering how to posterize the picture. Which filter did you use on paper camera? I really love this painting and hope to recreate it of my own chihuahua terrier!

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    21. I really love this and now I found someone new to follow on Pinterest.
      One question though. I went ahead and downloaded paper camera but can’t figure out which style of drawing or picture you used. I can’t seem to get a good rendition of my scruffy dog like yours.

      Reply

      • That picture of Lottie was done on photoshop but I have used Paper camera before to get a simplified picture to paint, that it is why I recommended it as I know not everyone has access to photoshop. There are other photo apps that posterise but I haven’t tried them. Let me know how you get on.

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    27. This is a really great tutorial! I don’t know if I would ever have the nerve to tackle a project like this. My husband is the artist in the family and we have a wall just waiting for a painting. Thank you for linking up with us at Celebrate Your Story and we hope to see you again soon.

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    31. Hi! I love your work, it’s amazing! I was thinking if you can give me the original photo of te Pet or the website or Link that you Get the photo, please!!!! :-)!

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    33. Wow! That turned out amazing. So fun, and you make it look pretty easy to do… one step at a time. I might have to try to do one of my cats someday. I love all your dog paintings done in the different styles too. Thanks so much for sharing at Vintage Charm.!

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    35. wow, so much fun, can’t wait to see your version too! I’m actually starting taking real painting lessons, you know like with oil, but am going the palette knife instead of brush techniqe for starters so as to learn how to paint semi abstract paintings sort of quickly…..cause I’m never going to have time to actually try to paint something that looks real, or people for that matter! Thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

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    42. From another dog lover, what a great show of love you’ve created for your four-legged friend. Love the idea of blowing up a photo via projector for ease of painting. I certainly don’t trust my freehand skills! Visiting from Vintage Charm.

      Reply

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