Giant paper maché bat — part 3
Published October 20, 2015
See part one and part two of my giant paper maché project. When we left off we were here:
Now then, it's time to paint!
I started my paint job on the bat by bringing him outside and protecting my work area with a cheap shower liner from the dollar store.
First, I simply applied a coat of black spray paint all over the whole bat.
Then I used two colors of brown spray paint, one dark and one light. I used the dark brown spray paint to lightly spray most of the bat, focusing on areas where highlights would be, like the chest and face and the middle of the wing membranes, and skipping areas where shadows would be, like under the wings, along the sides of the body, inside the ears, etc. It's okay if you're a little sloppy with this part, as we'll be doing more black later to define those shadowy areas again.
When the dark brown was done, I used the light brown spray paint to do essentially the same thing, just a little less of it. This creates a nice gradiated effect from the black shadows to the dark brown furry surfaces to the light brown highlights. A nice smooth gradient all around.
It's impossible to be perfectly accurate with a spray paint can, so when I was done with the dark brown and light brown I went back in with the black spray paint and re-did all the shadowy areas (as mentioned above).
The spray paint was a bit shinier than I wanted, so I applied a coat of clear matte spray all over to dull the surface a bit. I then left the bat outside for two days for the chemical odor from the spray paint and matte spray to go away.
After that, all that was left to do was the eyes and teeth!
I used a couple small paint brushes and some cheap acrylic paint for the eyes and teeth. I just used solid red for the eyes, and did about three coats. For the teeth, I first did a layer of yellow, let that dry, then drybrushed white on the teeth, and then did a solid white highlight down the middle of the teeth. I also added a wash of dark brown paint mixed with water around the base of the teeth, to blend that area a bit. One more thing, I also added a tiny bit of black acrylic in the nostrils. See more on my painting method here.
I'm thrilled with how this thing came out! And I learned a ton of stuff I'll be able to use in future projects.
I don't usually keep track of how long a project takes me, but I did this time: five days, probably about four to six hours per day.
And here he is hung up for the party! The finished bat is amazingly lightweight; I have no way to weigh it, but I'm guessing it's only about one pound. He was easy to hang from a single toggle bolt in our living room ceiling. And the wings were sturdy enough to not sag; they didn't require any additional support.
Back to part one and part two of this project.