Painted Background!

[Alyxx]

As was requested on my other thread about buying a 58 gallon tank, I am starting a DIY thread on my project of painting the background on my new tank. The whole background will be done in mottled shades of green, with some "hidden images" in the first layer of paint. I am a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft, so I am using that as my hidden theme. I plan on painting the words "ph'nglui mglw'nafh wgah'nagl fhtagn" (in his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming) across the mid top of the tank in lovecraftian runes, along with some vague twisted vines and foliage, and perhaps a fairly abstract set of ruins and Cthulhu hisself in the first layer of paint, accented with some metallic and pearlized shades, then I will sponge over that with various shades of green. Note that the first layer is the most visible, you paint foreground first when you paint glass, as it is seen from the other side. I think this will provide an interesting effect, almost like a magic eye picture, because everything will be green, only differing shades and hues. I also just realized that sadly, the effect will be lost on my colorblind boyfriend. Oops.

I'm off to walmart in a little while for some basic supplies I forgot earlier, like masking tape and a glass pencil (those little wax pencils) and perhaps a few more acrylic paints to add to my pallet. Oh, and brushes. Got the sponges, forgot the brushes.

Enjoy!

 

[butterfly_koi]

As promised, following!

 

[Alyxx]

First step down. I measured and taped off where I want the words to be, and made sure it was level. Then I taped the stencils I made into position. For the stencils I got the runic font, typed the phrase, copied it into paint, reversed it, and printed it out. It's reversed so it will read correctly from the front of the glass. Man, my arms hurt now, just from carefully holding the paper in the tank. That thing is tall!

The stencils
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The taped off area


The lettering in place
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Now to start mixing paint for the letters.

Edit:
I painted the first coat for the letters






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[Alyxx]

Wow, I have made progress today. I had my roommate sketch me a Cthulhu to dream in my 58 gallon R'lyeh. I've painted his outline and I'm letting it dry before I touch it up and start painting him in. I am so happy acrylics dry fast.






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What do you think?

Edit: I'm done for tonight, but here's the day's progress.
From the back side:





And from the front:

 

[butterfly_koi]

Looks good!

 

[Alyxx]

Thanks! I'm just sad that I have to be at work in an hour and I won't be home until 4 or 5 to start painting again. And yes, I was up until 3am painting even though I have work at 11am. I just love seeing it come together.

 

[Grizz]

Subscribed Looks so freaking cool

 

[Alyxx]

Subscribed Looks so freaking cool

Thanks! I think it looks pretty cool myself. I'm about to get to working on it again. Updates soon to come!

 

[butterfly_koi]

I was going to paint my 10G again yesterday,
View attachment 103405
but when I went to go get a picture printed off at Walmart they wouldn't sell it to me because they didn't know if it was copy righted or not. Really?!? I was a little aggravated *sigh* so I'll just watch you paint yours instead!

 

[Alyxx]

Oh, that sucks. They are pretty strict about that, but then again they have to be. Copyright infringement is a big deal. We're you going to try to paint it or we're you going to use the picture itself as a background? If you were painting it, just print it out at home. Most printers can work around printing large images by printing on multiple pages.

Well, I got Cthulhu painted in.
From the back:


View attachment 103408

And the front:




I have to run to the store and pick my roomate up from work, so that will give plenty time for it to dry before I give him a second coat.next on the agenda is to get some vines/seaweed sketched up, and maybe some ruins. Then I can start the tedious part, which is sponging the background on. You would think the careful tracing and shading would be harder, but the background needs lots of drying time so I can't get much done at a time.

 

[abstract373]

nice work your doing..what kind of paints are you using. i use airbrush acrylics they dry fast also i can recommend contact paper like the kind you would use on a shelf and kitchen needs to make stick on stencils i use it on plexi glass and glass

 

[Alyxx]

nice work your doing..what kind of paints are you using. i use airbrush acrylics they dry fast also i can recommend contact paper like the kind you would use on a shelf and kitchen needs to make stick on stencils i use it on plexi glass and glass

I'm using regular acrylics. Drying time isn't bad.I got lucky with my timing too, i went to get the paints and Hobby Lobby had them 30% off! I thought about using contact paper, but I would rather freehand over the image instead of using a stencil. I just like the look of the brushstrokes and the hand painted look of it. I also would probably end up messing up tons of sheets because I am terrible at cutting things out with an exacto knife. wish I had an airbrush, though. Those things are really cool. I think my roommate and I may eventually go in on a nice one together because he plays Warhammer, and thus paints little miniatures for the game.

 

[butterfly_koi]

Oh, that sucks. They are pretty strict about that, but then again they have to be. Copyright infringement is a big deal. We're you going to try to paint it or we're you going to use the picture itself as a background? If you were painting it, just print it out at home. Most printers can work around printing large images by printing on multiple pages.

I was going to paint it, I told the lady at the store that I would even include the artists signature and would not claim it as my own but she didn't by that, oh well I'll just print it off at home and do it that way, I was not at any point going to take credit for the picture maybe I'll just have to come up with something else. Yours is looking awesome by the way! I'm kinda anxious to see how it turns out!

 

[abstract373]

then you might want to check out bearair.com they have very good pricing on all the goodies ive used them alot and no complaints

 

[pugmom]

very cool! I can't wait to see it all come together!

 

[Alyxx]

Well, the vines are done. All that is left is the background. Should only take me another day or so, although I'm not going to be able to do much with it tomorrow.

The back view:


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The front:


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I'm pretty proud of how it looks. Picked up some black lava rock and black slate to go in the tank today, that should add to the overall look.
I'm really happy you all are enjoying this thread, too!

 

[Keao_m]

Did you mean to post pics because none are there.

 

[Talvari]

Aww! I can't view the last set of pics! I love this idea... I wish I had the time and creativity!

 

[RussellC]

Aww! I can't view the last set of pics! I love this idea... I wish I had the time and creativity!

I wish I had the artistic talent!

 

[Alyxx]

I'll try to fix it when I get home from work later. I may have exceeded how many pictures I can post... One more try



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