I am in the process of drawing/painting a mural on my sons room wall... I have read many different things online and am confused as to what I should use to draw on the wall with before painting over it. If I use pencil will it show through or do I have to erase it first...Is charcoal pencil better to use? I also heard chalk is best...I am soooooo confused can anyone help? I don't want to see any lines when it is all painted.

 

Pencil shows up surprisingly well through paint

I can see chalk causing paint adhesion issues

The info I can find says to use pencil if you use anything at all but don't be surprised if you need more than one coat of paint to hide the pencil marks

 

I would think a pencil would be the best way to go. If you use the pencil lightly, coverage shouldn't be an issue. Also some paints/colors cover better than others. Other than being a full fledged artist, I don't see any way of getting around using a pencil.

almost forgot welcome to the forums!

 

My daughter used sharpies when she did her son's bedroom. She bought colored sharpies to match the colors she was adding.

 

I don't have the skill to trust myself with a permanent marker but with Wayne's suggestion I might choose colored pencils

Then again, I'd never attempt a mural with my artistic talent....

 

I think if you're planning on painting the wall with latex paints of various colours, then I'd use a fairly hard pencil (like a 4H). That would allow you both to draw out your mural without concern that the pencil would bleed through the paint, and allow you to make changes with an eraser.

When stains "bleed through" paint, it's because the stain is dissolving in the thinner of the paint. So, if you were to use a non-permanent marker on your walls, it would probably bleed through a latex paint (cuz the ink is soluble in water). But, if you used a permanent marker, it wouldn't bleed through latex or oil based paint, and could only be removed with a stronger solvent, like acetone or toluene. In the case of pencil, then any graphite that came loose and "dissolved" in either water or mineral spirits would become encapsulated in the paint, so another coat of the same colour paint should cover any bleed through.

I'd probably use as hard a pencil I could that would still be clearly visible on the primer.

PS: Prime before you draw. You don't want to draw your mural on the bare drywall face paper, and then realize that you need to prime over your drawing before painting.

PS2: Since pencil lines are really nothing more than tiny particles of graphite, you should be able to erase pencil lines from primer with a Magic Eraser as well as an ordinary vinyl rubber eraser.