How might one do this...

[cal_gundert05]

Around town there is somegraffiti that looks as though it were done with a stencil--certain parts are the color of the spraypaint and the rest is the color of the surface that was spraypainted.

Not that I have any interest in doing that, but how would you turn an image into a stencil pattern? I was thinking you'd have to ramp up the contrast to create black and white highlights and lowlights. Then when you print the image you cut out the black parts (which you could turn gray to save ink), and when you stencil it the "black" parts are now the color of your paint. And could you create a mask or something with a solid-colored layer to see what the stencil would look like with certain color paints?

Any ideas? Is there an easier way?

You could also use this technique to make stencil for kids projects, painting your walls, etc.

 

[newrmdmike]

this is easy starting out, but there are some complicated ones out there.

i start off with an image in ps, and use various stamp or cutout filters on it, and connect all the black or white together and cut out part of it. also, i've done it on a machine like a cnc that cuts with an exacto blade on paint mask, which you can just peel away what you want to paint.

to do a multi color stencil, you just use the cutout filter, or brush it the way you want each color. then apply the bottom color, paint it, put on the next one, paint, and so on.

its pretty time intensive

 

[newrmdmike]

oh yeah, after you have them, you can cut them out with an exacto knife after you laminate the paper and print it on your inkjet or whatever.