Introduction: Easy Original Artworks
Ok these days I can feel myself growing up, and as such i look at the houses my friends have bought or are renting, with their IKEA furniture and mass produced (but pretty) artwork and thought to myself, "isn't that swell, maybe when I have a house then I should get some".
Being not only a g33k but also poor and stingey as hell, I figured I could make something to hang on my walls that would look good, be original, and cost me a little a possible.
Brief:
Being not only a g33k but also poor and stingey as hell, I figured I could make something to hang on my walls that would look good, be original, and cost me a little a possible.
Brief:
- Requires very little artistic skill
- Looks good enough to be store bought
- Stylish and contemporary
- Cheap as chips
- Easily replicated incase I want to make more to match
Step 1: Preparation
Materials Needed:
- Iron
- Ironing Board (or other heat resistant flat surface)
- Canvasses (I used box canvasses)
- Palette & Brushes
- Paint (I recommend water-based acrylic)
- Inkjet 'T-shirt' transfer paper
- Inkjet Printer
Step 2: Printing and Cutting
- Print image you don't need to worry too much about the quality settings of the printer as we will be painting over it
- Cut out image
Step 3: Position and Iron
- Turn transfer over
- Iron transfer onto canvas - follow instructions for your type of paper
Step 4: Painting
- Paint around lines of the transfer and fill in background
- Let it Dry
- Check for missed bits and paint over them
Step 5: Paint Inside
Carefully paint the inside of the shape a contrasting colour.
Step 6: Repeat
Repeat with more to complete the pretentious multi-canvas effect that is so popular in all trendy loft apartments

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61 Comments
11 years ago on Introduction
I LOVE IT ! ! the colors are great
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
just finished mine...theyre awesome, did brass knuckles, girl in martini glass, a hookah, and my handprint coz i messed up the painting on the last one! very decorative
11 years ago on Introduction
I recently did this, but used silhouettes of men in suits instead. And to get the image to the canvas I just printed off the image, cut it out with an exacto knife, traced it on with a pencil, and painted inside the lines. They came out great!
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
i was wondering where you got the men in suit printout. i really enjoy them
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
I found them all online...mainly by googling men in suits clipart, or business clipart. If you want some of the ones I used, and can't find them anywhere, I can send the jpeg files to you in an email
12 years ago on Step 6
Great instructable!
I read through really quickly so this may have been addressed but a low tech alternative is carbon copy paper to trace an image onto the canvas instead of using an iron-on.
if you're printing an image you can also just scribble with pencil on the opposite side of the page and trace around the image to transfer the carbon to the canvas.
again great instructable and great artwork!
12 years ago on Introduction
Definitely doing this! I have a bunch of canvases I bought and need to do something trendy with. Thank you!
13 years ago on Step 1
This is a wonderful idea...i am definitely going to try it...but what do you mean by using "Fonts"
Reply 13 years ago on Step 1
Fonts are typefaces that a computer uses. Things like Times New Roman and Comic Sans are fairly standard. However some fonts (dingbat fonts) are not constructed of letters and numbers but of symbols or pictures. These images were made using a picture font.
Reply 13 years ago on Step 1
thank you very much!
Reply 13 years ago on Step 1
You can also go to DAFONT.COM and download a variety of Dingbat fonts. They would be easier to copy, as you can print them out and trace them.
13 years ago on Introduction
Wouldn't it be possible to simply iron on the full picture?
15 years ago on Step 6
where did you get those girl silhouettes from?
Reply 13 years ago on Step 6
silhouette fonts are available @ http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=718
Reply 13 years ago on Step 6
google image it thats wt i did
13 years ago on Introduction
for the stencils
http://all-silhouettes.com/retro-girls/
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
btw you need photoshop to open that file, import it into shapes
14 years ago on Step 6
I'd like to know where you got the lady silhouettes from also?Great work by the way. They look fantastic & I can't wait to try doing them myself.
Reply 14 years ago on Step 6
I don't remember where I got them all from, but you can get some of them from here dafont
hope that helps
14 years ago on Introduction
I just found this link with tons of stencils and stuff
Print them out- and use an exacto Knife to cut out the black parts-
Then spray paint=-
http://www.spraypaintstencils.com/index.html