Making a Mickey Mouse / Painting & Process

I painted this Mickey Mouse painting over several sittings in the last 3 weeks. I was inspired to paint this painting, after i did a Keith Harding tribute piece for Best Buddies. You can see that post here https://steemit.com/art/@paulcolumbus/art-and-life-building-a-buddy-painting-and-process

I eventually want to use this painting to help make another charitable donation in the name of my father. I live in Orlando, Florida and i also happen to work at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I have an enormous amount of respect for Walt Disney and consider him a major influence and inspiration for some of my own work.

This painting is large it is 4ft x 4ft and 2 inches wide. I love working grand scale. Although it can be somewhat difficult to recreate an image much larger than your used to, it makes for a fun process. Here is a picture with my wife, so you can see the size

Here are the beginning stages of the painting, where i used a pencil to sketch mickey. I would have to step back and re-evaluate certain proportions of mickey. Sometimes having to erase certain areas and edit them several times.

After the initial pencil sketch is done i then use paint markers and sharpies to make a solid outline of the sketch to work of off. I used the outlined mickey to guide me in the painting.

Then i begin to add color to the painting accordingly, keeping mickey to his original colors, but using different shades to create texture that makes him "pop" off of the canvas. I use mostly the brush for coloring in mickey, however after the initial acrylic layers dry i add more with a palette knife technique.

After most of the color is added, I like to go back over the outline with a medium sized brush and a heavy body acrylic. The heavier body allows for the added texture look. I also added the abstract brush strokes of the baby blue to make mickey bounce off the canvass.

Here are some more pictures of the final product. I still may continue to work on mickey and create more abstraction with color and the palate knife technique as well

Paul Columbus
LIVE WITH LOVE

Here are some more pictures of the final product. I still may continue to work on mickey and create more abstraction with color and the palate knife technique as well