# Stencil graffiti - ideas: reality



## veggieguy12

I have made several stencils when I lived at a stable residence, and I've just now made and used some stencils though I'm travelling (because I think I can transport them and put them up in cities which are graced by my visitation). But overall they're pretty simple, with text or simple, free-hand-drawn geometric-shape images; what I really want to do, what I have a few ideas for, are (more or less) photo-realistic images depicting people (Banksy-style).

I'd love to have a collaborator who has Photoshop skills and can realize my ideas - and they are quite excellent ideas - so they stop floating around in my head and are put down on concrete (literally).
If you are able to turn photos into stencils, and if you can merge photos so that they become one new thing from two separate sources, then please get in touch so I can tell you my ideas.

Looking forward to hearing from anyone...


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## Grace

veggieguy12 said:


> But overall they're pretty simple, with text or simple, free-hand-drawn geometric-shape images; what I really want to do, what I have a few ideas for, are (more or less) photo-realistic images depicting people (Banksy-style)...
> If you are able to turn photos into stencils, and if you can merge photos so that they become one new thing from two separate sources, then please get in touch so I can tell you my ideas.
> 
> Looking forward to hearing from anyone...



You know, you can probably do this yourself without a collaborator if you have even a slightly steady hand. Anybody can trace. What you should do is print out whatever pictures you have and use a knife or an exacto blade to go over the picture where you want the stencil, while your posterboard or cardboard rests underneath. Then you'll have the incisings on your stencil board and all you have to do at that point is figure out where you want your negatives to be. Photos to stencils is strange because stencils are the negatives of a picture, and a picture is the positive.


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## veggieguy12

> Photos to stencils is strange because stencils are the negatives of a picture, and a picture is the positive.



This touches on the issue I'd have; I 'need' Photoshop to make and separate shades, so that a really complex (color) picture comes out roughly equivalent done only with grey and black or in B&W. Beyond that, even if I used just a B&W image to begin with, I can't just go cutting willy-nilly, miss! I need bridges in the material, right? Can't be cutting out little pieces inside of bigger pieces, and then cut out the bigger pieces and see the whole thing fall out. "Oops!"
And all that tracing is not so necessary by my new method, which is to laminate a paper and then just cut that. And finally, I want to modify a couple pictures that are each only halfway what I want, so I need to find someone who's Photoshop-savvy enough to pull from different sources and combine them to one.

EDIT: new photo. I made this Freddy Krueger stencil, found this pic as a B&W on a freelancer's site, and when I wrote the photographer he sent me this larger color version.


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## sykgutt

i do stencil graffiti

http://minedquaranteen.deviantart.com/

check out some of my stuff there


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## Benny

I saw this guy take a paper grocery bag with handles and replace the bottom with a stencil. He carried a can of spray paint around and when he bent over, you couldn't tell he was spraying the sidewalk.


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## tothewind

By "profession" i am a free-lance graphic/web design artist. If you need something done in photoshop (greyscale?), i'd be more than willing to contribute to you adding to the lush and wonderful street-art found globally. email or PM me and maybe we can figure somethin out.


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## skiptown

word. I have photoshop and if you need stuff converted into contrasted b and w or greyscale, I can do that for you and email you back. I do a lot of stenciling. Some more photorealistic than others but I use photoshop a lot for ths kind of stuff. Here are some examples of what I'm doing:












[/IMG]


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## zarathustra

Widerstand said:


> It would be great if you posted how to do that in photoshop.



hear hear


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## skiptown

1) open the image you want to make into a stencil in photoshop.

2) If the image is too detailed you can go to the image dropdown---> adjustments---> brightness/contrast and then fuck with the contrast 

3) Go to the image dropdown again---->mode---->greyscale. A popup will ask you if its ok to discard color information of something like that. Click ok.

4) Go to the filter dropdown---->artistic----->cutout. You should now have a perfect four layer photorealistic stencil pattern. Print four of make some copies and then spray adhesive them down to the stencil material of your choice. I love really heavy duty watercolor paper. Cut out all the parts that are one of the gray shades on each piece and you got yer stencils. If you make sure to adhere the stencils to the watercolor paper in exactly the same spot its way easier to line that shit up when you get yer spray cans out.


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## skiptown

rememberusername said:


> girl sucking dudes dick...
> what made you want to make that into a stencil?



I have responded a bit here, but I also have a lot of private reasons for incorporating sex into my art that I will be happy to discuss those with you in person some time or in a private forum if you are interested. Does the stencil bum you out? I can't tell what your sentiment is. I feel like I get the occasional comment from people about how (example) my "art is a part of the patriarchal machine" or something like that which I find laughable but I can't tell if that is where you are coming from. If it is, I feel like a lot of the "feminists" I know kind of ruin it for the rest of us who champion for the things that matter like abortion rights for minors and things that are actually important as opposed to freaking out every time someone uses the term "chick" to describe a lady or shit like that. In the ways that are important I am very much a feminist (even if I don't go around screaming how I'm a feminist all the time) and I still suck dick. And I like sucking dick. Just as much as I like fucking a dude in the ass with a strap on or getting head myself. If I had posted a stencil of that (which I do have if you want to see it) would you have questioned my motivations? There is a good portion of my art that is pretty literal. Its about what I do and what I see around me and as a whole the shit I make is pretty joyful and celebratory. But you can get out of it whatever you want. How did it make you feel?


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## zarathustra

how long would that take you to do?

meaning, could you do it as a quick tag under pressure or is it too procedure-intensive?

I'm working on a sketch that I'm going to turn into a stencil, which I'm gonna try to use as a tag. this technique would work really well, if it doesn't take too long.


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## skiptown

it depends how stealthy you are. I personally don't usually use three to five layer stencils in places where I feel sketched out or pressured to get it done really fast because you need to let every layer dry for a few seconds and you also need to make sure you line up the different layers perfectly or it looks dumb. I have really bad eyesight so its hard for me to line them up well in the dark.


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## moe

this may sound like a "wtf?fuck you" topic
but i've been trying to make a crass shirt, diy, for like a month, but never got around to it.
i just thought it was better than paying 20-35 fucking bucks. 
if i can't make it, then i won't have any of that at all then.
but sucky news, i don't even know the basics of stencil thingys, and i thought if i were to post this topic anywhere, i figured it'd be here. 
anyone, knows of any way?
just tracing, cutting, spraying?
i don't know if im askin for help or not, but i thought i just say that.


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## bikegeek666

skiptown said:


> word. I have photoshop and if you need stuff converted into contrasted b and w or greyscale, I can do that for you and email you back. I do a lot of stenciling. Some more photorealistic than others but I use photoshop a lot for ths kind of stuff. Here are some examples of what I'm doing:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [/IMG]




okay, i actually think those are pretty rad.


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## katiehabits

i love the Freddie Krueger stencil!


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## Chris_Hiv

[/IMG][/QUOTE]


Those are really impressive, Do you Xacto them? How long'd the bottom take?


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## compass

I knew some kids who stole a projector from a school to help them make stencils. They would just project an image onto a wall, adjust it to the size they wanted, trace it and cut it. 

Probably a pretty damned hard thing to steal though.


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## general.manifest

HO HO. Get yourself to a hospital. Make some friends in the Archives or the X-ray departments, and get some old x-rays. They're usually 24x18 inches. They're thing enough to cut easily with an exacto knife, or a sharp mutli tool knife (sharp!), and strudy enough to take some serious abuse and not get all the flop when you press em against a wall. I got like 100 once in the trash at a hospital, and then I talked so someone who works in imaging. A lot of places have switched to digital x-rays, but they have to keep files for x-amount of years....so they're throwing em out everyone now and again.


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## Birdy

Oh man I made a neat stencil while I was on the beach. It's on sketchbook paper though and still turned out good when I tagged the street! I'll have to get a pic of it next time I'm there.
It's the anarchy flower, but the leaves have the equality symbol in them.


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## farmer john

good stenciling resource is stencilrevolution.com it hink it was helpt me alot when i was starting out


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## Harvey Steelbanger

skiptown i think i love you


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## acrata4ever

moe said:


> this may sound like a "wtf?fuck you" topic
> but i've been trying to make a crass shirt, diy, for like a month, but never got around to it.
> i just thought it was better than paying 20-35 fucking bucks.
> if i can't make it, then i won't have any of that at all then.
> but sucky news, i don't even know the basics of stencil thingys, and i thought if i were to post this topic anywhere, i figured it'd be here.
> anyone, knows of any way?
> just tracing, cutting, spraying?
> i don't know if im askin for help or not, but i thought i just say that.



*i trace right off a flat screen with a fine tip marker. i use no printer. i use manilla folders i find in dumpsters (never throw this shit out) thats for graffitti and wood. for t shirts i use plastic from jerry cans like the #2 plastic that french fry oil comes in and car wash. or i use shirt box plastic or the clear plastic thats on big catering cakes. again just masking tape to a flat screen and trace. cut it out with an exacto i use plywood but a phone book works too. dont press too hard you may have to cut twice around sharp turns. at the craft store they sell stencil stick or you can apply tacky glue with a foam roller. let it dry. i then place a peice of ceiling light plastic between the shirt so it doesnt bleed through cardboard will also work. i use elastomeric fabric paint its like a dollar at the craft store. also despite these are small inexpensive items shop lifting is a crime so dont forget to pay for it. oh and i forgot you have to wash a new t shirt it has a type of plastic coating on it so wash the shirt before you print it. place the stencil with the stickum on the shirt flatly. then take a peice of heavy paper and cover it. and squeegee it down with a credit card or similar device so the glue is sticking well and it wont bleed. take a plastic lid or sumn and put a decent sized blob of paint on it. then take a foam brush and pat the stencil filling in. it will require at least two coats 3 is better. this only works on a dark paint on a light shirt. if you want white paint on a black shirt again use the white fabric paint but thicken it with white artists acyrlic paint. you may need more than 3 coats for this. the advantage of doing this is a shirt will last you 5 years. the shirt will go threadbare before the design does. and unlike a silkscreen it wont crack and peel if you put it in a dryer. reply with any questions i will talk you though this.*


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## DaisyDoom

To stencil shirts nicely use freezer paper for the stencil and iron the waxy side to the clothing. Its good for tiny pieces because if it rips you can jut iron it in place. I'm sure you could get pretty damn creative with the freezer paper too.
For cheap but decent fabric paint you can use regular acrylic mixed with fabric medium but I don't know how well it works compared to other fabric paint.


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## acrata4ever

oh i forgot i get all the glue off my stencil with hot tap water then i reuse it again and again. che was a cash cow till 9 11


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## dprogram

Stencilrevolution.com helped me a lot on my technique and given me great ideas. The best stencils I have done were aided by the use of photoshop and if you don't have photoshop you can go to download.com for free software that is very similar. Practice and you'll get it down to a science.


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## Rob Nothing

Been thinking about making a stencil out of this but not a photoshop wizard and not sure how I would incorporate the rendering of the arms (and hands) into the stencil. Any artists here wanna play around w the image and come up with something you like, give me a downscale sample of it , or a slice, and I will pay you for a 1:1 if I like it too.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/13/6c/17/136c175655c5d50ebdb53f4e4211151f.jpg


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## etpyh

How many colours? Just black and white or more?
I made you two quick versions, bridges are not considered. Here are also two stencils I did around five years ago.


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## Rob Nothing

Killer, thanks. I aim to trace it into cardboard or ideally some kind of 5htp plastic and use it for tagging. . Errr on my bedroom wall. 

Give me yer PayPal and I'll send ten.


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