Hey, i'm a pretty new painter. i'm painting a small mural for a few friends.

Basicly I have a abstract city background. For the foreground I have a flag browing in from the right side of the painting.

How do I get the flag to have a basic transparent look? where you can still sort of see the city behind it?

Is it as easy as painting the city background and then painting the flag overtop of it?

Dear kperison,

I have a few suggestions for you.

First, paint the background, which should not be too detailed since it is set at such a distance away from the viewer. Remember, you want to create an illusion of depth and distance. Use the "vanishing point" method.

To create transparency, you could add a medium to your acrylic paints. Also, you could add just plain old water. The point is to dilute the thickness of the paint. In order to acheive the transparent look, you need not add more than one or two coats of diluted paint. If you have any more questions, I'd be glad to answer them. Thanks.

D. Windseth

Fantastic! I was hoping it wasn't going to be a complicated task. So i'm safe to paint my 2D city background? It's very basic, but effective. One that is painted, i'll apply the flag.

Thanks for your help!

Hi kperison,

Painting the background shouldn't be a complicated task if you have made a sketch or drawing first. Once that is complete, you can go ahead and sketch on the wall itself with a pencil. (Do not use marker to sketch on the wall, someday the marker will bleed through the paint. Believe me, I've learned from experience.)

Once you've made your sketch on the wall, you can go ahead and apply paint (remember to do the background first). The first coat usually won't be enough. You should use several layers of paint until the background is opaque. Once your opaque background is painted in and dry, it is time to add the foreground, or in your case, the flag. This flag, which you want transparent, needs to be painted with thinned paint, but not too thin.

Experiment with this. If you can't see the the background through the paint, take a rag or sponge and wipe the paint off before it dries. If it is not transparent, then the paint wasn't thin enough. This might take some practice.

I wish you much luck with your project.

Muralist~ D. Windseth