A quick Tutorial about the stencil of the last painting I did.
Step 1: First identify a picture which is suitable to be stenciled. I usually go by the amount of black or white there is on the pic and by how many different colours there are. The below pic is of the latest one I did. It is an actual photo of a stone Buddha. The colours are light reflections and shadows at the time it was taken.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10293.jpg[/IMG]
Step 2: For the purpose of this tutorial, this painting will be done on an 11 X 14 poster board. The first thing I do is draw a 2.5cm border all around the poster board allowing enough space for the painting to be framed without actually covering any of it.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10294.jpg[/IMG]
Step 3: Next I place the picture on the poster board, always lining one side. Very rarely you will be able to cover the whole area so sometimes you will have to draw the missing parts yourself.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10295.jpg[/IMG]
Step 4: The colour identified to be stenciled shall be the black in this case since it’s the least colour covering the surface area of the painting. I always go for the least colour visible especially since there is lots of white in this case. Next you start by tracing the outline of the black area with a pen(notice the continuation of the lines to the edge of the border) making sure to make enough pressure in order to mark the poster board, as this needs to be visible in order for you to draw over it.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10296.jpg[/IMG]
Step 5: After you are done, go over the marked areas with the pen and make sure that you have missed nothing. You should have something like this.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10298.jpg[/IMG]
Step 6: Start cutting the stencil out with a fine sharp blade and try to be as accurate as possible.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10299.jpg[/IMG]
Step 7: When you are done with the cutting you should have something like this. As you can see the picture is already identifiable and now all we need to do is put the colours down. [IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10300.jpg[/IMG]
Step 8: The next step before you start painting is to mask the 2.5cm border with normal low tack masking tape in order to leave a white border around the pic.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10318.jpg[/IMG]
Step 9: Next we are ready to spray down the base of the painting with blue purple white and black, always following the picture and making sure that we are as close to the original as possible. When done it is important to leave this to dry for a couple of hours before you put the stencil down. Otherwise it will stick and ruin the base. As you can see, although this is a very simple stencil, it does take some time to complete the whole process.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10321.jpg[/IMG]
Step 10: Next we are ready to lay down the stencil we made earlier on top of the base that we have just painted. It is important to secure it properly so no paint bleeds underneath the stencil. As you can see in the pic I use simple pebbles. I don’t like to put heavy things that cause unnecessary pressure on the base paint as at this point it is still a bit fresh.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10323.jpg[/IMG]
Step 11: Next we are going to fill in the stencil with the black paint purple and blue. First fill in the whole area with black and then pass over with little squirts of blue and purple following the original picture and you should have something like this.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10325.jpg[/IMG]
Step 12: Remove the stencil straight away, but do not remove the masking tape until the painting is completely finished and you should have something looking like this. Now we’re always getting closer to the end result but not quite yet.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SDC10327.jpg[/IMG]
Step 13: This is the last step and the hardest one too. Now, as you can see when you do stencils you are going to get a lot of straight sharp edges where different colours meet and we need to eliminate those. Other wise the painting will look dull. I use a technique which I nicknamed the dry technique, but I use several materials to deliver this method, depending on the painting. As I said we have to smudge the edges into each other and this is how I do it. My preferred method is with a piece of fine cloth, important that is has no texture at all. I dab it in paint, then wipe it almost clean on a piece of cardboard and when it is barley leaving anything I start going over the edges first with one colour and then with the other making sure that they blend into each other. If the paint gets too dry on me I use a little paint thinner on the cloth and this ensures the flow of my index finger. Sometimes when there is lots of white like in this case you going to need the help of a paintbrush but most of the time not. I also use a toothbrush some times if I want a rough texture.
As you can see the process is long and laborious and you need to have patience. It depends only on your self ho the end result looks. The more time you spend on it, the more detail you can achieve and the painting will look something like this. I hope this was of some kind of help to you and I hope you will soon try it out. Please let me know if you need to know anything else.
[IMG]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn148/BryanC08/SprayPaintings/SDC10336.jpg[/IMG]
