DECORATING FOR CHILDREN
Artist creates Spiderman room for son
October 10, 2009
Donna Laporte
REAL ESTATE REPORTER
How do you get a 3 1/2-year-old to sleep in his own room at night?
Make his room come alive with his favourite comic book character.
For Aren Anderian, the choice was easy. He's been a fan of Spider-Man since he saw the movie at age 2.
Not only does he have Spider-Man sheets and pillowcases, summer and winter pyjamas festooned with the red and blue-costumed crime fighter, but also a sleeping bag and stuffed toy.
"He likes to pretend, like a lot of kids," says his mild-mannered dad, Raffi Anderian, whose alter-ego is the Star's illustrious illustrator.
Anderian gathered several images of Spider-Man and asked his son, "Which image of Spider-Man do you want me to paint?"
Anderian and his wife, Sevan, hoped they would cure Aren of his habit of climbing into bed with them during the night.
So, once Anderian settled on a clean, simple image, he began sketching it freehand on the wall. To set the scene, he also chose a variety of highrise silhouettes, both industrial and residential, and outlined them in various sizes, using masking tape, which he also used to block out windows.
On another wall, he created a giant spider web. And, adjacent to the bedroom door, he drew a closeup of Spider-Man's mask.
"Once I did this, I started painting it," Anderian says.
He catalogued the process with both video and still camera and later wondered whether there might be some wider lessons for do-it-yourselfers. Though he's a fan of shows such as Holmes on Homes on HGTV Canada, he has never seen any design shows that walk viewers through such a process.
"Why not share this?" he asked himself. "I'm sure other people will get a kick out of it."
"You don't have to be Michaelangelo to do this," he adds, modestly.
"You can find a lot of resources online, like packaging," or use backpacks, totes and stickers.
You can get inspiration to draw from images on the Web or packaging. As for choosing colours, he kept it simple:
He used "what I know artistically and applied it in a wall situation because I'm not an interior decorator."
So, for example, he used dark blue for the bottom portion of the wall, up to where wainscotting would go, then greenish blue for the night sky.
On another wall, he used vivid green, because it's a complementary colour to Spider-Man's blue and red costume.
Anderian, 46, who has been the Star's illustrator since 1989, mixes his own colours, because he finds when using paint chips, the final wall colour is always brighter. He uses acrylic paints, because oil-based have a stronger odour. Semi-gloss are easier to clean.
To get the right shade of blue, for example, he mixed pure blue with white. For vivid green, he mixed yellow with blue. Then, he used that green and mixed it with white to get a lighter tone.
He painted a wide strip of brown adjacent to the mask, leading to the light switch, to camouflage tiny fingerprints.
For the buildings, he mixed a can of pure white with grey/beige until he came up with a colour he liked.
"I've learned to do that with my home colours, too."
It took him two weekends to complete the scene. Now, his 8-year-old daughter, Aleen, is eagerly awaiting her room makeover, planned for this winter.
This time, he plans to create a high-contrast image on canvas of her singing, inspired by her favourite character, Hannah Montana.
That way, he says, "she can keep it and take it with her."
And what does Aren, now 4, think about his special place?
"He loves it. He's crazy about it. It's his room."
Did it solve the problem of Aren sharing a bed with them at night? Well, sort of. As he told his father: "Me and mommy can sleep here!"
To view Raffi's slideshow, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v= GLBLvDqGCV4
Toronto Star