If you are a fan of graffiti or any type of street art, chances are you have come across an artist named Banksy who does impeccable stencil art installations and is now a world-renowned artist, even though he keeps his identity a secret. You may not be an aspiring Banksy, but would like to make some stencil art yourself.

If you follow these directions you will be able to easily make stencil art of your own all by doing a quick picture edit, printing it out, cutting it out, and then painting!

What you will need:

• A printer with black ink
• Xacto Knife
• Paints
• Card Stock Weight Paper
• Canvas
• Regular Paint Brush
• Sponge Paint Brush
• Bright Colored Marker

Directions:

• The first thing you want to do is find a picture that you would like to make into a stencil. Pictures that have lots of different shades and tiny details may not work as well for stencil art. Silhouettes are usually good candidates for stencils.
• Import the chosen picture into your favorite editing software and open up the picture editing options.

• Recolor the picture to grayscale.

• Turn the contrast all the way up to 100%.

• Adjust the brightness level keeping in mind that you will be cutting out the black sections of the picture.
• Once you have adjusted the picture, resize it and print it out on Card Stock Weight Paper.

• After you have printed the picture, take a bright marker and trace the parts that you will be cutting out. Take note that some of the white spots are encompassed by black, which would cut out that detail. (For example, Marilyn’s pupil) To avoid this, create a small pathway from the white space to another white space to make sure that detail is not lost.

• Using the Xacto knife, cut out all of the black areas.
• Paint the background of your canvas whatever color you would like and allow to sit for about 3 minutes.
• Once the canvas is nearly, but not completely dry, press your stencil on top of it allowing the paper to stick to the nearly dry paint.

• Take your sponge brush and dab the areas that you have cut out of the stencil. Don’t apply too much paint so it won’t bleed over.
• Carefully peel your stencil away from the canvas as soon as you have applied the black paint to the stencil and allow your creation to dry.

Now the most important part, figure out where to hang your awesome new stencil art.

WARNING! Be prepared for conversations like the following:

“Oh cool stencil art?!? Who made that?”

“Me.”

“Nuh uh! Come on, tell me the truth. Who made that???”

“I did.”

“NO WAY!”

etc. etc. etc.

We here at 8th Continent Soymilk think creating is an essential part of a healthy life! For more DIY crafts, recipes and coupons follow us on Twitter or hit us up on our Facebook Page!