  
tracing murals
with projection

Projection mapping turns a finished mural design into a full scale stencil, traced in one night and painted over days.

A mural lives or dies on its drawing. NOVA Light Labs projection maps the final artwork onto the surface at full scale, and the artist traces the projected lines directly onto the wall. The projector holds the drawing steady. The paint catches up later, on the artist's own schedule.

Projection tracing replaces grids, doodle grids, and chalk snap lines with the artwork itself, placed exactly where it belongs. Nothing is guessed. Every feature lands where the design put it.

Sundial mural design projected on a brick wall in Bellingham at night, artists tracing lines from a scissor lift

workflow

Trace fast under projection, then paint at any pace.

The tracing happens after sunset or under controlled lighting. NOVA aligns and warps the artwork to the surface, corrects for the projector's position, and locks the image in place. This is a projection based mural transfer: the design moves from file to wall in one step. The artist works from a lift or the ground, outlining the projection in an evening or 2. Then the projector goes home.

What stays is the drawing. The artist paints it in over the following days or weeks, in daylight, with no equipment on site. Artists who have traced this way with the studio say the same 3 things: the process moves faster, the drawing is exact, and no one guesses where a feature goes.

Muralist on a scaffold paints a woman's portrait over a projected design at night, spray cans lined along the rail

Any Surface

The projected stencil works on walls, ceilings, floors, and any surface where the design has to land precisely.

Tracing murals with projection is not limited to walls. Ceilings, floors, curved surfaces, and full rooms take a projected stencil the same way. If light can reach it, it can be traced.

Precision is where the method earns its keep. Gretchen Leggitt of Bellingham, Washington traced multiple murals this way with the studio, including a working sundial mural where the hour lines had to hold true astronomical alignment. A grid cannot carry that tolerance across a building. A projector can.

The approach fits commissioned work at real scale: multi story walls, public art with alignment requirements, and projects where the budget justifies getting the drawing right the first time.