Capturing the creative process behind Art Installations, Murals and Designs, hailing from Washington, D.C.
I'm Aaron Scales, an architectural designer turned street art muralist and art installation maker. I dive into the creative process behind the art to help designers and non-artists alike get a better sense of this kind of work while practicing becoming a better film-maker/storyteller.
CREATIVE CAPITAL aims to use the visual arts to spark creativity in others, because everyone is creative, no matter what field you are in, and the world needs the ideas inside of you.
This is a wonderful piece. Beautiful idea to use the historical newspaper, places. I love the juxtaposition with the animation and the print-old/new. Pleasing, timeless city mural.
What type of paint do you use? I'm 70, been a signwriter for nearly 40 years , but have never done a mural on an outside wall. Signs yes, with one shot lettering enamel, but no mural. Regular latex paints from paint store or something special? Would live to do one before my career ends!!! Have had the opportunity but never take it cause I feel like I don't have enough information. Great job by the way.
I’ve painted murals for 20+ years but have never been asked to paint on a raw red brick wall. Any tips? It’s a mural of an old sign, straight lines, lettering etc? Should I paint the red brick first? With what primer? Trying to quote this project is challenging not knowing how difficult it will be to paint, sketch, on red brick? Will the paint soak it ?
Yes, the first coat of paint will soak in, so a masonry primer (any brand) is what you'll want as your first layer. The sketching part should be easy enough because you can use the lines of the brick as a guide. "One Shot" oil paints are often used by sign painters, to that with a sturdy bristle brush should be fine for a masonry sign.
If you use an exterior grade bucket paint as your base coat, and/or a masonry paint over raw brick, your can layer Montana spray cans over that to last many years. There are a few yellow pigments from Sherwin-Williams that resist fading, too, for more long lasting color. Our oldest murals are 6-7 years old and still look great.
I use often a latex bucket paint as the base coat and add first a latex masonry primer if the wall is raw masonry. Then I use mostly latex bucket paint to paint on top of that, and/or Montana brand acrylic spray cans. Enamel is often used on metals, or where you want it to me hard and shiny, like sign painting, for instance. I believe emulsion is more for screen printing type work.
Did you guys go to college for art? Asking because I am a muralist but wondering if I should go to university. I’m self taught and wondering if school will make a difference
I went to school for architecture. I would not recommend going to college for art. In my experience, I haven't met any college art teachers that are accomplishing a lot in the real world; teaching is how they make money, not art. So you most likely will not learn how to succeed financially with your artwork from them, which is what you should think about UP FRONT before you pay them a lot of money to teach you. If you're already doing some murals, keep doing them, learn from each experience, keep pushing your work to get a little bigger each time, and try to make the person you're doing the work for have a great experience working with you. If they do, they'll tell their other business owner friends about you, and you'll get more work. Think about who might need a mural in their business and go pitch them an idea about why you think them having this kind of art in their business will help their clients have a better experience and want to spend more time there (like a coffeeshop or deli). If you can help a potential client think about the value your art could have on them making more money for their business, that will help them understand the price you're charging for it.
STICKYArt Channel thanks Sticky- I think you’re right. I think we definitely want to create with a sense of excellence, but I may hover on the edge of obsessing a little too often 😂
Hi artist friends! 👋 Get your DAILY art questions answered LIVE on my Instagram livestream 🕑 6:30p EST @thebrocoloco 👈 Also doing live shoutouts there 🙌
This is my channel I joined your live stream video on instagram today. I used to have 96 videos with my original videos that I posted me drawing and painting and I have created original songs.😊😊👍
@@ashleyeugenidoesart I remember seeing you on the Instagram lives we were doing for awhile. Glad to see you're back to making posts and videos on your channel again! Keep it up!
@@AaronScales Yeah it was great watching you on instagram live it was interesting. Thanks yeah I had some time break off from instagram and now slow by slow I'm posting pictures , my art my my videos from my RU-vid channel. 😊😊👍👍💜🎨✏🎶🎶
Lovely video my man. Indeed sometimes it's just better to execute and post instead of too much thinking. Perfectionism is a killer. Great video, awesome channel. I feel like this video deserves so much more, waay more then 390 views. Stay connected Aaron.
Thanks Dries! I still can't get the videos done fast enough, so I started doing a weekday livestream on Instagram instead to get over the perfectionism 😂
Bloody smashing work Aaron, big bit of inspiration for beginner artist's like myself. would love to see a video on you going a bit more depth about using projectors and grid methods. I can never seem to find a projector that projects big enough that doesnt cost an arm and a leg :( Great stuff man keep these videos coming !
Thanks C-THAT! Thanks for the idea. I just filmed a new video that features a projector in use that I’ll start editing soon. I’ll make sure to add more details in that video!
Michael Cost thank you! There’s not really much of a traditional path into street art 😂 but I’ll try to make some videos this year about how to get started
Cool mural, ilike that your kept it muted and retro. our town is about to do mural fest again this summer and I can't wait, love art and this medium. I did a video on last year's when they were painting them .
Filming secret: We bought a ton of broccoli for one of the shots, but we forgot about it at the studio over the weekend and came back to a horrible smell. Never was my favorite veggie. 🥦
