How To: Reverse Glass Painting

If you’re like me, you’ll love to decorate your room with just about anything. A reverse glass painting is a perfect way to add a splash of colour into your life, and a fun way to pass time on top of that!

For this project, you’ll need:

- A picture frame (must have glass in it)

- A sharpie

- Acrylic paints

- Paintbrushes of various sizes

- A paint palette

- Alcohol wipes

- Micro fibre cloth

- A printer

First, you’ll want to print out a design that you want to paint. I’ll be using a scene in which Kiki (from Studio Ghibli’s ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’) is flying over the ocean with her cat Jiji, a Totoro, and several scenes from She-ra Princess of Power.

After you have your piece of paper (be aware you need to flip the image you've printed out!! otherwise your image will be mirrored at the end!!), you’ll want to lay it underneath the piece of glass that you have removed from your picture frame. Make sure to use your microfibre cloth or anything else you may have lying around to remove any fingerprints that you have left on the surface that you will be painting on.

After that, you can begin to outline your design, making sure that your lines are clear and clean. It’s important that you use an oil based pen, or a sharpie, because if you use a water based pen it’s incredibly likely that your outlines will smudge when we get to the painting stage. Use a steady hand and draw your lines in one clean stroke, rather than feathering your lines and having them blend together or appear uneven or wobbly.

Once you’ve finished your outline, we can get to painting on the small details of your painting. As this is a reverse glass painting, we must create our piece in the opposite order to a regular canvas or paper painting in order to get the desired effect. The first thing I like to paint on are the eye whites, any small accessories, and patterns. You must make sure that each layer of paint dries completely before you can add another. It is important to have multiple layers of paint, as otherwise your painting will not look opaque by the end.

Be careful to not push down too much while painting, as this can also smudge your outline.

If you happen to make a mistake or paint over the line, you can gently clean up the paint with your finger nail or the edge of a napkin. You have to be incredibly careful as it's very easy to accidentally chip away or ruin your outline underneath.

Lastly, we’ll paint on the larger blocks of colour, such as skin tone, clothing, and hair. You can do this with a larger brush if your piece is big enough, but I recommend using a smaller one for better precision and as to not paint over your outlines.

Andddd you're done!!

A simple yet aesthetically pleasing way to decorate any empty shelves or wall space! Enjoy~