Hey readers, in this egg I am going to show you how to make a good one layer stencil in photoshop. You do not need much skill in photoshop to do this. It is quite simple. Here we go...


Materials:
-Computer
-Photoshop
-Paper
-Knife/Blade/Sharp Object



Here We Go:

Step One A) Get the picture you want to make into a stencil. I am using Paul Rodriguez doing an inward heelflip.



Step One B [Optional]) Select the main object in the picture (The part you want as a stencil), Invert Selection Ctrl+Shift+I and then press Delete. Unselect everything (No black dashes moving around).



Step Two) Desaturate the image Ctrl+Shift+U or Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. It should now be in grayscale.



Step Three) Go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. Experiment with the sliders until you get an image that looks like it would work as a stencil. Tip: Only the darkest shades black will be printed.



Step Four) Go to Select>Color Range... and from the drop down menu, choose either Highlights or Shadows, whichever one shows less black spaces among the white (Islands). If the good one shows a black picture on a white background check off the "Invert" check box.



Step Five) After you click OK, there should be a selection with the little black dashes moving around. Create a new layer, and WITHOUT getting rid of the selection, use the Paint Bucket tool to fill the selection with black. Hide the original layer under the new layer by clicking on the little eye to the left of it. You may need to edit it a bit to get rid of those nasty "Islands".


Step Six) Print out, paste on side of cereal box (Sides of cereal boxes are my preference for stencil material). Cut out black section with your sharp object, spray.

GETAN! (Done)


I would print this off and take pictures of how it turns out but my printer is out of ink. So try it.