Printed Mural vs Painted Mural: Which Is Right for Your London Wall?

If you want a mural in a London home, office, café or school, you have two real routes. You can commission an artist to paint it by hand, or have the artwork printed directly onto the wall. Both leave you with an image that is part of the wall, not a sticker on top of it. Where they differ is in what the finished piece is, how long it takes and how the price is worked out.

We print murals, so we are not neutral. That is why this guide starts with the jobs where a painted mural is the better answer.

How each one is made

A painted mural is made by hand. The artist develops a design with you, transfers the outline to the wall, often by gridding or projecting it, and then builds the image up in paint over several sessions, layer by layer, with drying time in between.

A printed mural starts as a digital file: a photograph, an illustration, your brand artwork, or a design we develop with you. A direct-to-wall printer is set up against the wall and lays UV-curable ink onto the surface, which is cured by UV light the moment it lands. There is no film and no adhesive. If you are new to the idea, our guide to what wall printing is covers the basics.

When a painted mural is the better choice

• You want the artist's hand. Brushwork, visible layering and the small irregularities of something made by a person are the point of a painted mural. A print reproduces an image faithfully; it does not add a painter's interpretation. If you are commissioning a particular artist's style, commission the artist.
• The wall is very tall. Our printer reaches up to 4.1m. A multi-storey gable end or a full building facade is muralist territory, with scaffolding or a cherry picker.
• The design should evolve on the wall. Some of the best murals change as they are painted, responding to the light and the space. A print is decided before it starts.
• It is a community or public art project. When local people helping to paint it is part of the brief, painting is the whole idea.

When a printed mural wins

• Photographic detail. A landscape photograph, a product shot or a historic image of your street prints with its detail intact. Painting that level of realism by hand is possible, but it is highly skilled work and the hours show up in the quote.
• Exact brand artwork. Logos, typography and brand colours come from your own files, so the wall matches your other materials. For workplaces, our office wall branding page goes into this.
• Time on site. A painted mural is commonly measured in days or weeks of on-site painting, plus design time before that. Most walls we print are finished the same day. Because the ink cures as it prints, there is nothing wet to fence off and very little odour, so an office, shop or restaurant can stay open around us.
• You see the result before it is made. The design is a file, so you can sign off a mockup of your wall with the artwork in place before anything goes on. You can try it yourself with our wall designer.
• Textured walls. Ink goes into exposed brick and concrete as it prints, so a detailed design holds up on a surface that is awkward to paint fine lines on. See brick wall printing.
• A price you can work out in advance. More on that below.

How the cost compares in London

A painted mural is priced on the artist's time: design, drawing out, painting, materials and access. Detail is what drives it. A bold graphic shape paints quickly; a photorealistic scene can take many times longer on the same wall. Rates vary widely between artists, and an established London muralist will price accordingly, so the only reliable figure is a quote from the artist you want.

A printed mural is priced on area and surface. Ours starts from £150 per square metre, with textured surfaces and highly detailed artwork costing more. As a guide, a 4m × 2.5m feature wall on plaster comes to around £1,467–£1,723, and a 5m × 2.5m brick wall to around £2,330–£2,735. The full mural pricing guide has more worked examples.

The pattern that tends to follow: for a simple, bold design, a painted mural can be very competitive. The more detail, realism or exact brand reproduction you need, the more the comparison leans towards print.

How long each one lasts

Both are permanent finishes, and both last best on a sound, properly prepared wall. Damp, flaking paint and blown plaster will spoil either one, so our wall preparation guide is worth a read whichever you choose. Indoors, a painted mural is often finished with a clear protective coat; UV-cured ink is hard and scuff-resistant once cured. When it is time for a change, either is primed and painted over like any other wall.

One honest limit of printing

The printer cannot reach the very top and bottom of a wall. There is an unprinted band of roughly 36–45cm at the base and around 25cm at the top. A painter can take the image right to the skirting and the ceiling. In most rooms furniture or skirting occupies that band anyway, and we design around it from the start, but if edge-to-edge coverage matters to you, say so when you ask for a quote.

The short version

Choose a painted mural if you want a particular artist's hand, the wall is taller than a single storey, or the making of it is part of the point. Choose a printed mural if you want photographic detail or exact brand artwork, need the wall finished in a day with the room usable straight away, or want to see and approve the result before it is made.

We are based in London and travel further afield. Send a photo of your wall through the contact page and we will tell you honestly whether printing suits it, even if the answer is a muralist.