Mascots are persons, objects or animals used for symbolizing a group which has public identity such as professional sports team, society, brand name, school and military unit. They are confused usually with the nicknames of their team though they can sometimes be interchangeable. These adopt the forms of persons, live animals, costumed characters, logos, and inanimate objects.

Schools display the images all across the campus for increasing morale of students or reminding visitors of their current location. Their costumes are worn usually during social and sports events and others paint school mascot murals on walls where everyone can see them. Here are a few things to do when you plan or were assigned on creating one.

Ensure the wall that murals will be painted on is clean and have no moisture damage or any structural problems. If you notice several cracks then spackle them though it may have hidden issues that would eventually cause it to have cracks again. Closely check for presence of wax, dirt, mold, grease or oil and have them thoroughly cleaned.

Prime the wall as it would help to let the paint easily stick more and could be directly applied over existing drawings. If you want the mural to last though then some measure for preparation should be done first before painting starts. Acrylic coats have better and longer adherence when existing ones would be stripped with a sanding block dipped in mild solution for lessening dust.

Let the wall properly dry and apply acrylic primer on its entire surface after and you might start painting directly now. You could add texture also such as applying plaster to create intriguing surfaces though its effects on final results would not be certain. If painting on the unstretched canvass is what you prefer then glue it first before it has been painted.

When painting, sketch your design first based on your prepared image and enlarge it with techniques like grid method or art projector using a pencil. After having an outline then begin underpainting that consists of huge blocks of color which more details will be painted over later. Then use mural techniques, similar to painting ones, to put the details.

Sponging is good to create texture like leaves on trees or clouds on sky and sponging color over another could be done for more depth. The technique is useful to fill in colors quickly on bigger areas. First, wet your sponge then squeeze out the excess water and lightly dip it on paint then blot it softly on some paper for overloading to be avoided.

Stippling is done through applying thin coats of either a lighter shade or darker one over a dried underpainting. Use stippling brush while that new coat is still wet and dab it around until the new layer is stippled. The result would not look brushed if done correctly and some underpainting will be seen.

After finishing the mural, protecting it is next for ensuring the longevity of its beauty using seals. Apply isolation coats then varnish with satin or matte sheen because glossy are very reflective. Check the bottle for instructions regarding the ratio for mixing it with water.