It’s finally here. Your first round of mockups. You eagerly open the document and scroll through the images. An obtrusive thought pops in your head, “How do I know I’m going to like the mural before it’s painted?” It’s a fair question. You are looking at a digital drawing, but how does that translate to paint on a final wall? How can you know for 100% certainty the exact level of detailed shading on that one tiny leaf in the corner of the sketch.

The truth is…there is no way to know for certain, but I try my best to make you as confident as possible.

Real life murals are always more beautiful than the mockups. Paint has a depth and texture that simply can’t be replicated on a computer screen. That’s why I don’t digitally render every single shadow and highlight. My expertise is creating beautiful murals, and the mockup’s job is to give us the vision before the painting begins. If you connected with my portfolio and my artistic style, you can expect that same level of craftsmanship in your own mural.

A color swatch was created to try to match the colors the colors in the mockup as much as possible.

A mockup is not meant to be the finished mural. Think of it as a roadmap rather than the destination. Its purpose is to communicate the composition, color palette, placement, and overall direction. When you get your mockup ask yourself: Does it capture the feeling you’re after? Are the colors working? Is there anything that should be added, removed, or rearranged?

It’s also important to know that the first mockup is rarely the final design. After you receive the initial mockups, we’ll discuss what you like and what you’d like to change. We can adjust colors, move elements, simplify areas, or even change directions entirely if we discover a better solution. Every once in a while I may miss the mark on the design. Other times a client may feel differently about their idea when they see it digitally rendered. Neither situation means the project is failing. It simply means we’ve learned something valuable, and we can continue refining the design together.

For each design, I digitally transpose your design onto the wall to give you an idea of scale and placement.

Before & After

Below, you’ll see some examples of my projects from the initial mockup to the finished mural. While the overall vision remained the same, notice how the painting developed richer colors, softer transitions, added detail, and a sense of life that simply wasn’t possible to communicate in the original concept. That’s the difference between a design and a finished mural. One is the plan. The other is the experience.