How to make a stencil

Make a statement, paint the world, paint your bedroom.

Stenciling is one of the simplest forms of printmaking available. It is dirt cheap, cost-effective, and capable of producing a simple 1 layers black and white image, or a highly detailed layered image. You can make a simple statement, or a complex piece of art. Letter or image, stenciling is the way to go.

What can you create?
Supply List
Tools
Paint
Useful Supplies
Step-by-step instructions for a single layer stencil
1. Find your image
2. Draw your plans
3. Cut
4. Paint
Step-by-step instructions for a multi-layer stencil
1. Find your image
2. Draw your plans
3. Cut
4. Paint

What can you create?

Stenciling can produce photo-realistic pieces like the flower on the right, a piece that required five stencils, one for each layer. Or the police officer below, which used four stencils.

2. Stenciling is more often used for simpler one layer images, these single layers give a huge contrast, which give your image power.

Shepard Fairey's "Obey Giant"

3. Or stencils can be used for typography. Simple letters often associated with construction sites or the army.

Credit Quasimondo

Supply List

What you will cut out of

Poster board
Cardboard
Cereal box
Acetate
117lb drawing paper
Or sheet that is easy to cut, but thick enough to withhold it's own weight once cut.

Tools

What you will cut with

Exacto knives are the preferred tool
Box cutters also work

Paint

What you will paint with

Spray paint is the best medium
Acrylic or latex paint with a sponge will work as well

Useful Supplies

What helps you cut or paint

Tape will hold your image to what ever you are cutting, as well as repair broken bridges
Spray Adhesive hold your stencil tight against the surface you are painting to avoid paint getting under the stencil

Step-by-step instructions for a single layer stencil

1. Find your image

Find your image! Pick what you want to make into a stencil, it is easier to choose an image with high contrast,

Source

and an image that is black and white. If it is a color image, it is easy to make it black and white using almost any image processing software, but make sure it is still holds a nice contrast. Pictures taken using traditional black and white film are often perfect for this. For this piece I'll use this girl, because it fits the criteria, and because she is just so happy

2. Draw your plans

Making the image into a stencil is where the skill is involved. Print your image out the size you want it, and

tape it to the sheet you will be cutting. When drawing keep in mind set a value of gray to be your "cut off" point. Anything brighter than this is white, anything darker is black. You can break these rules to include important features, but generally sticking with it will produce a better image. A stencil is as much a sculpture as it is a stencil. It needs to support itself. On the image on the right, the teeth could not be in the stencil, because it is an area in the actual stencil that would not be cut out, but is not attached to the rest, so it would simply fall off. To avoid this we create "bridges", these bridges connect "islands" like the teeth, to the "mainland" of the sheet.

3. Cut

This step is easy, but time consuming. Get your exacto and spare blades, your favorite tunes ready, and a comfortable place to work. Good light and a cutting mat are needed. Work your way from the inside to the outside of the image, everyone cuts in their own way, its self explanatory and the more you do it, the more you will adjust to it in your own way.

4. Paint

When spray painting through a stencil, pick a corner and work your way up and down from it. Use short bursts and move quickly, holding the can about 6 inches from the surface. Make sure your stencil doesn't fly up, using spray adhesive, or pebbles, works well for this. If you are using a sponge and latex paint, or a roller, you don't have to worry about this much, the force applied should keep the stencil down.

4'x8' Latex paint on plywood

Step-by-step instructions for a multi-layer stencil

1. Find your image

Find your image! Pick what you want to make into a stencil, it is easier to choose an image with high contrast,

Unknown Source

2. Draw your plans

The same principles we used in the single layer stencil applies here. Except with more layers. Draw knowing that you will paint from darkest to brightest. So the

darkest lighter is just a silhouette of the whole image, the next layer a bit more detailed and so on. Assign a value range to each layer in your mind, just like we did with the single layer. Draw one "master plan" and use acetate or scan it in to reproduce that so you can cut each layer out individually.

3. Cut

4. Paint

Painting is a bit more difficult when using several layers. The extra difficulty is found in aligning the different layers. To solve this, try and find visual landmarks in your image, in the police officer I'm using the baton and badge, as well as the whole outline. If a layer goes all the way up to the edge, then use the edge to know where to set it. Keep an eye on your "master plan".When spray painting through a stencil, pick a corner and work your way up and down from it. Use short bursts and move quickly, holding the can about 6 inches from the surface. Make sure your stencil doesn't fly up, using spray adhesive, or pebbles, works well for this. If you are using a sponge and latex paint, or a roller, you don't have to worry about this much, the force applied should keep the stencil down.