Level of Difficulty:
SUPER EASY
This project was SO MUCH FUN, and so easy to do. It took only one afternoon and it cost about U$ 7,00.
Here's what you'll need:
- An ugly old Fan that you don't care much about. (This is important, because you won't be thinking you're messing up a perfectly good fan. It was ugly anyway... So you can just have some fun!) U$ 0,00
- Acrylic Paints. Colors: BLACK, BEIGE, BROWN, OCHRE & ORANGE. (I also Used WHITE and RED, but they are NOT essential) You can get the paints at Michaels and they'll cost anything from U$ 0.79 to 1,19 each depending on how fancy you want to be.
- Paint Brushes. (Go dig for some you already have)
- A pencil
- A screwdriver (To remove the Fan Blades)
STEP 1: Go online for inspiration. I just googled some Jungle pattern images and printed them for my reference regarding color and proportions. This was really helpful. Here's my image results. (Print it for you if you wish)
STEP 2: Remove the fan Blades and clean them well. Let them Dry.
STEP 3: Now it's ZEBRA Time... With a light pencil mark random Zebra stripes on the blade. The stripes should be thick & very irregular and end with a thin point if the end is showing in your blade. Use your left hand if you have to. There should be a balance in between the stripe (black) and the White space in between them. This is where the pictures comes in handy... Just remember, you can always erase and do it again if you don't like.
Paint the Stripes BLACK when you're happy with the design.
STEP 4: Coat 2 Fan Blades with the BEIGE color. One is for the Giraffe and the other for the Cheetah.
Set aside to dry. (Acrylics are great because they dry real fast)
STEP 5: Coat the remaining blade ORANGE. (For the Tiger.) Let it dry. TIP: I picked a very "Redish" orange for the Tiger. It looks more "Tiger-ísh". I also added a dash of that dark brown to the orange to make it more Tiger-dirty. =D
STEP 6: Giraffe Time! On one of the Beige Blades, Mark with the light pencil geometric shapes with straight edges. It's very important that these shapes are evenly spaced. The key to make it look like a Giraffe is not much on the shapes, but on the line in-between that is formed by those shapes. You can add an occasional curve here and there...
Paint the Shapes with the Dark BROWN.
STEP 7: Cheetah Time! On the other Beige Blade
add Oval OCHRE blobs of paint evenly spaced. Let them dry. The Ovals don't have to be perfect. It's actually better if they're not.
STEP 8: Tiger Time! While you wait for the cheetah to dry,
Draw tiger stripes in pencil on the Orange Blade. The Tiger stripes are to be thiner and closer together than the Zebra ones. And slightly more linear. See example.
Paint the Stripes Black.
Step 9: Back to the Cheetah... Add random black dots around each Ochre Blob. Be free on this one. Test your dots on a separate area before to make sure you like the way they look. Trust your instinct and don't worry much. It all looks good as a group.
STEP 10: Now you could be done if you wish. But my fan had a REALLY REALLY UGLY glass dome covering the light bulb with hideous blue flowers. That did not go with the Jungle Theme. So all I did was paint over it. I really didn't have any plan. I just covered the flowers with RED paint and added the same jungle themes we added to the blades. Here's some progress pictures. Be free on this part.
It did look a little funky when it was dark and the light was turned on. But the Fan's owner favorite color is RED and that gave the room a RED glow. It was approved.
And that's It! You got yourself a JUNGLE FAN!