DIY Monkey Canvas

Hello again!

 

I just realized I haven't posted anything since November 4th. Sorry! I'm not dead, just busy with school and preparing for finals next week!

 

I have tons of posts to get caught up on and I've finally started working on the honey one I've been promising you for forever! I would have done that one first, but I just had to post this one because it seems like everyone I know is having babies and this is the perfect personalized baby shower gift!

 

I made this canvas for some of our friends who had a little girl and they absolutely loved it!

 

What you need:

• Canvas (I used 18x24" from Wal Mart)
• A sponge brush (I got this one from Michaels)
• Acrylic paints (I got mine from Wal Mart and Michaels and used: White, Green, a Baby Blue, Brown a Light Pink, Black, and Red)
• Paint brushes of different sizes (I got mine from Wal Mart)
• A plate for mixing paints
• Some plain white printer paper
• Scotch tape (Or you can improvise with duct tape like me)
• A Pencil

Step 1. Take whichever color you want to use as a background and pain the entire front of the canvas with this. I used my light pink for this step.

Step 2. While waiting for this paint to dry, start sketching out your monkey (Or whatever animal you choose).

 

You can always print something and trace it, I just googled cartoon monkeys and free handed this one.

As you can see, I had to tape two pieces of paper together to finish my monkey, which wasn't a big deal, other than the fact that we had no Scotch tape, so I improvised!

Step 3. Now paint the sides of the canvas with your background color. I find that the easiest way to do this is by lifting it up like I am doing below.

Step 4. Now, paint the general outline of your vine. This doesn't have to be perfect, so don't worry about super clean lines!

Step 5. Take your drawing and scribble all over the back with your pencil, making sure to cover all spots where there are lines drawn.

Step 6. Now, place the back side of your drawing (the one you just scribbled on) onto the canvas however you want to arrange it. With a dull pencil, press down firmly (but not too firmly) and trace over all of the lines.

 

You should have something like this:

(Sorry about the terrible picture, but the lines were so faint it was hard to get a good shot)

Step 7. Now outline all of the darker body parts with your brown, basically, leave out the hands, feet, and facial area.

Step 8. Fill what you just outlined in with a slightly larger brush.

Step 9. Now, mix a couple of drops of white paint in with your brown to create a lighter brown for the hands, feet, stomach, and face.

Step 10. Fill those areas in.

Don't be too worried about the color, though. I honestly hated this color when I was first painting it, but I figured there was no turning back so I left it. I'm actually glad I left it because it looks much better now that it has dried!

Step 11. Mix your pink with a few small drops of red to make the color for the ears.

Step 12. Fill the ears in.

Step 13. Fill your eyes in with white then add the black for the pupil.

Step 14. If you're adding a name, you can either print the letters and transfer them like you did the monkey, or you can freehand them, which is what I chose to do.

Step 15. Fill your letters in and let dry!

 

My little sister was hanging out with me when I was painting and she wanted to paint on my drawing of the monkey, so I decided to take some pictures to share with you all!

 

We were both exhausted because I was doing this at 10 at night and didn't finish until like midnight, but we had a great time!

 

If you have kids, this would be a fun thing for them to do while you work on painting the canvas!

Here is her finished product! (She hung it up on the fridge after this for my mom to see in the morning!)

Let me know what you guys think!

Don't forget to post your recreations to #countryclassdiy

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