Making Your first multi-colour Stencil

Making a stencil is easy and fun once you know how. This basic guide will show you a quick way to design, cut out, and spray your first multi-tone stencil.

You will need:

More than one can of spray paint (I strongly suggest the spray paint) , or regular paints and a small sponge.

• A sharp knife

• Thick paper

• A computer

• A decent printer

• If you want to produce your image by hand, with a pen or a pencil, you will need a scanner, to produce an identical copy of your image. This can also be done with a camera, but this requires some photoshop editing.

Step one

Design your image. I made mine using a combination of paint, and photoshop.

Keep your image as simple as possible. The more colours you use, the harder it will be to cut out, and the worse it will look at a beginners level.

My image to the left is made up of three colours. The white underneath of the shark. The blue fins, gills, and part of the eye, and the black outline.

Step Two

Print your image out on thick card once for every colour in your design.

Next, start cutting out your image. Only cut out one colour on each print out of your design.

To make it easier, if you are using white, you can cut out the entire shape of your design creating a base layer once you start to spray your design. However, this will not always work, especially if you start using white to highlight areas of your more advanced designs.

Step Three

Once your design is cut out, and ready to be sprayed, for simple designs, spray your stencils in order from lightest to darkest. This will work in most cases, unless you have involved highlights on your design.

Always leave the outline until last.

Here is my finished stencil sprayed onto a wall in my garage.

Additional information

The spray paint I used for this stencil was from the MTN Nitro 2G colours range. Its great spray paint for stenciling and it comes in a 500ml can. However, its can pressure is difficult to judge, making it hard to use for freehand style graffiti, in my opinion.

A scalpel can be bought fairly cheaply from almost any hobby store. Mine was £3, and it came with plenty of spare blades. Personally, I avoid Stanley knifes, as they are much harder to control than scalpels.

Always be safe when using spray paint. Do not breath in the fumes, and wear old clothes. Thin latex gloves are great for keeping paint off of your fingers.

After you have used your spray can, you should always hold the can straight upside down, and hold down the cap until no more paint comes out. this clears out the cap, and prevents and blockages.