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

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Paul Columbus
LIVE WITH LOVE

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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