8 Point Deer Painting

This week I decided to get a little creative/different and make a painting of an 8-point deer. I wanted this painting to look a little rustic and vintage so I used some old beat up boards and varnish. This painting could look great over top of a fireplace, in your bedroom, or even in a “man cave”.

Items you’re going to need to create this painting:

7 or more beat up boards

Measuring Tape

Pencil

Saw

Hammer

Nails

Sander

Chestnut Stain

Varnish

Tracing Paper

Transfer Paper

White Acrylic Paint 

Paintbrush

Hanging Screws/Nails

**All of these tools can be purchased at any hardware of craft store.

Step 1: First find 7 or more boards and use a measuring tape to measure 5 of the boards at the same length. Measure the other 2 boards at the same length, but at a longer length then the other 5 boards. Once the 5 boards are cut, line them up and face the good side of each board on the ground. Grab the two longer boards and place them onto the 5 lined up boards. Place the 2 boards on each side of the 5 lined up boards and now take nails and nail the 2 boards into the 5 boards. The 2 boards hold the 5 boards together.

Make sure your boards end up looking like this on the back.

Step 2: Once all the boards are nailed together take out your hand sander and sand the surface and edges of the boards. Keep sanding until the surface and edges are smooth.

Step 3: Once the board is completely sanded, take your chestnut or any color stain and use your paintbrush to stain the attached boards. You’ll only need 1 coat of stain.

Step 4: Once the stain is completely dried I looked at a similar photo of a deer that I liked and then decided to draw it on the pattern paper. This took awhile to draw but I got it looking just the way I wanted my deer to look. Make sure that the deer will fill up majority of the space on the boards.

Step 5: Tape the deer drawing that’s drawn on the tracing paper and place it where you would like it to be painted on the boards. Use your transfer paper and place it underneath the deer drawing. Now use your pencil to trace the deer picture onto the boards. The transfer paper allows the image of the deer to transfer onto the boards.

Step 6: Once the deer is traced onto the boards take your white acrylic paint and paintbrush and do 3-4 coats of the deer. Use a smaller brush to paint the antlers. Once the white paint is completely dried, use your paintbrush and do one coat of varnish to make the painting look a little more rustic and shiny. After the varnish has dried, you can screw or nail hanging nails into the back of the boards and hang your deer painting anywhere you’d like.

Hope you enjoyed!