My Process

1) Materials: Cutting Board, Soft Gloss hp Photo Paper, X-acto Knife, Canvas, Brushes, Palette Paper, Acrylic Paint

2) Choose Your Image: I chose an image of my good friend and her cat. Next print out the picture on the hp photo paper.

3) Use your x-acto knife to cut the stencil. I usually cut out detail first, since it's more delicate, then I cut out the bigger parts.

4) Once you've finished your stencil draw it on the canvas with a pencil. Then paint the basic shapes in the image, as well as any shading you'd like to do.

5) Once the paint is dry apply your stencil over the image and paint it. I usually use black, unless the colors I chose were darker I'd use white. Next paint your background. I like to paint the basic shapes over the lines. Once I apply the stencil and have that painted I can go back and refine the shapes if I'd like when I paint the background.

6) The Final Product