Transcripts
1. Unlocking Stencil Potential- Introduction: Here's a question. Do you ever get frustrated using stencils? Do you think that it's gonna
be a great idea cause it's the perfect design only to find that it looks like it's
been manufactured. It looks like a cookie cutter. It looks like your stencil, somebody else's stencil, with no character,
no personality. And, you know, that's not
very inspiring, is it? Well, I'm here to tell
you we are going to breathe new life
into your stencils. I have come up with a couple of new techniques that will
make you want to use them. They will help you create dramatic and interesting
backgrounds for your art pieces, and they are super
easy to master. So in this class, I will show you how to take stencils
to a whole new level, using watercolors and
water based markers to create one of a kind backgrounds that are so full a depth, texture, personality, and no two results
will ever be the same. Throughout the class,
we will surround the stencils with pigment,
creating vibrant layers. We're going to build these
stunning backgrounds that will set the stage
for your future art. Imagine every new project
starting with a background that is as unique as the art that you'll
create on top of it. These backgrounds,
just look good. They'll inspire your
next masterpiece. And once you learn
these techniques, they'll become your
secret weapon to unlock creative potential
project after project. Hello. I'm Jules, and
this is my art vendor. I am an artist and art educator, and I am so excited that you're here to join
me for this class. You are now ready to ditch those boring stencils and make
some art that stands out. And this is your class. You will be amazed at
what you can create.
2. Gathering Supplies: So we're quickly
going to go over what supplies we are going
to use for this class, and this will be good
throughout the entire class. The first thing, get
your stencils out, get these plastic guys out, that are cookie cutter that you thought you were
never going to use again, but we're going to
use them today. Also, you need some
leaves from the yard, some that are sturdy, some
that have texture on them, whatever you think, we're
just going to experiment. And then you also need a rag. Spray bottle with water, and I'm going to spray
down my palette. Go ahead and get that wet. I'll also spray down this. This is where I mix my colors. And then I'll have a
couple paint brushes and some water and some
watercolor paper. Actually, are going to
want several sheets of watercolor paper
during this whole class. And then finally,
the last ingredient we need is our water
based markers. So these are going to be your markers that do
not smell like alcohol. If you put water on them on a piece of
paper, they will bleed. These are water based. You can see this
one says Aqua dual. This one says water based.
So you get the idea. Grab your supplies, and let's
get to it. I'm so excited.
3. Method #1 Watercolor on Paper First: So now that we've
got our water colors all wet and charged up, and I'm going to actually make two or three of
these with you guys, and then I'll let them dry. I'll come back and
reveal each one to you, and we'll check it out together. Okay. First thing
to do is to get your watercolor paper
and get it wet. I could also alternatively spray it to go ahead and get
some water on there. And then we're going to
start dropping some color. We're gonna look at our stencil and see
what we want to make. So I'm gonna do these waves, do lots of blues and greens, maybe some grays, purples. Let's just see what happens.
I'll start with purple. Be some gray. So I'm just
going to begin to drop color down loosely on this very wet piece
of watercolor paper. Let's see. I'm going to get
some, like, halo parquois. That's a pretty color and
maybe some blue. Let's see. I want something a
little bit brighter, maybe some limy green
down here at the bottom. And then I think I might
pop somewhere dark up here. It's like a fusia color. And then something darker. Things are starting
to shift around, so I need to move
kind of quickly now. I'm gonna get some
more blue up top, just for some variation. Okay, that's looking good. So now I'm going to lay my stencil down,
have it all stick. I'm gonna grab another sheet of watercolor paper
and spray it down. I'm going to make sure
it's wet all over, and that little bit of color doesn't matter. As
you soon will see. Alright. We're gonna
make a sandwich, and then we're going to wait
it down with some books, and we will let it dry, and we're gonna do another one. Alright, while
that one's drying, I'm going to tear
off two more sheets of watercolor paper. I'm going to choose my stencil. I think I'm going to do this B, so because it's smaller, I'm going to cut
the paper in half. Now, for this ones,
I think I'm going to explore some blacks and blues because I envision myself adding white and yellows later and
maybe some gold to the wings. Going to go for my Daniel
Smith neutral tent, and I'm also going to
go for some indigo, and we'll see how
these colors kind of split and granulate out. That looks pretty loaded.
Let's see what happens. I'm going to wet this paper, and I'm going to
make a sandwich. We're going to wait this down
with some books as well. Alright, let's get one
more sheet of paper. I'm thinking this guy this time. So I've got, I'm going to
orient it this way, too. So I've got a sunflower
down at the bottom, some leaves, leaves, background. Okay, so I'm going to kind
of build this one out, actually looking at the stencil. Get my page wet. And you can experiment and see how much water or
not you want to use. But I think this is a
neat way to start so at least you can begin to understand how the paint
is going to behave. So I'm going to start
with my oranges here down at the bottom
for that sunflower. I'm going to put some greens and blues for the leaves,
for the background. Maybe something brighter here
or more forward, darker. I like that. So that's it.
That's all I'm going to do. And I'm gonna drop this down, and we're going to see
what happens with this. I'm gonna grab one
more sheet of paper. I'm going to wet my paper down, and I'm gonna make a sandwich. Okay, we're gonna wet
this down with books, and we're gonna let
everything dry. This time, we're going to
do the same technique. Only we're going to
use some leaves. Let's see what happens. We get our page wet. I think I might do the same
landscaping thing again with some blues in
the background, with some brighter greens. And then as we get closer, I can do something more
warm, a brownish red. I think I'm happy with that. Let's put down some leaves. Get this other paper wet. We're going to press this, make a sandwich, and let it dry. We're going to weight it down and we'll see what
it looks like. Okay, so we're going to start taking these apart and
seeing what we got. This is the B. Let's see. Okay. It's ok. This one's cool. This
one's got more of the definition of
it, I don't know. I don't know that I care
for that one very much. Let's see what else we got. Okay, so here's the next one. Let's see which one this is. Okay, this is the
one with the waves. I think this one's going
to look pretty good. Here I go I'm pulling
it off. Oh, yeah. That's the one that
we colored on. And then this is the opposing
one that we sat on top. So you can see
what a difference. I mean, wow, what a
cookie cutter stencil, and what a unique result. I'm thinking I'm loving that. Yes, these are the flowers.
All right. Here we go. Oh, that looks kind of cool. See, I think this
is a great base and maybe with the stencils were really made what they
were really made for, because I think
this is beautiful, and now I can come in
with my own colors, and at least this gives
me a basis to start with to make an
amazing piece of art. I love that. Let's see
what else we got. Okay. And finally, these
are the leaves, and so kind of the same
idea as a stencil. I haven't done this one before, so I don't know what
it's going to look like. Alright, Experiment. Oh, la la. I like what's under there. Okay. Okay. Well, at least we
know what it's going to do. This one, not so much, but I
think these are my favorite. I think the waves also
worked out pretty well. Yeah. The bee and the
leaves, not so much. But we're going to try all these another time with a
different technique, and I will see you
in the next chapter.
4. Method #2 Marker on Stencil First: And now for something
completely different. We're going to go back to the
same stencils we just used, and we're going to get out
our water based markers, water based markers. No the alcohol ink ones,
the water based ones, the ones where you get water
on them, and they bleed. That's exactly what we want. So I'm going to start coloring
on these little wave guys. And I'm just going
to vary the color in different ways and
kind of mix it up. And then I want you to meet me back here after I get
this all colored in. Okay, so what we have
here is the stencil all inked up with
water soluble markers. I'm going to get a fresh sheet of watercolor paper and I'm going to spray it down
and get it real wet. Make sure that's even. Then I'm going to
take the stencil and just smash it down. Now, one more sheet of paper. Spray it down, spread it out, and we're going to
make another sandwich. We'll wait this down, and we're going to go
on to the next one. Time to go back to this bee. I want to make this be pop. And let's see. There's some black
left on this side. I think I can use
that to my advantage. I'm gonna put the marker on
this other side, I believe. Now, what colors do I want? I think the blacks
and the grays, maybe a little orange or
yellow here or there. I'm just gonna go
around the edges. Here, let me flip this. I'm
just going to go around the edges of this cutout in the places where
I want the yellow. Now remember this black you're seeing is
on the other side. Now. I believe I'm going to I think I just want
to get this very edge. I don't want to put too
much black because I think that's what
kind of I don't know. What happened to that last
one. I just didn't like it. So I'm going to try to do
something completely different. So, here we go. I'm just kind of making sure
that this marker is getting on just the slightest
bit, the slightest edge. Because this is such a
wide piece of plastic. I just don't I don't want
it to spread that much. So I'm just going to decorate a little bit around these edges. Okay. I'm kind of
moving it around on this white piece of
paper to make sure that I've got ink in
all the right places. I think this is
actually going to work, at least I'm hopeful. All right. Now, let's see
how I want to handle this. Think I do want to ink this. I know that's going
to bleed, right? A little bit more black. Alright, so we've got
our piece of paper. We're gonna wet it
down. I'm actually excited about this one this
time. Okay, here we go. Putting the be down,
make my sandwich. Okay, and I'll weigh this down, and we'll see what we
get in a little bit. Okay, onto the next one, we're going to put
this back down and kind of do the same thing that we just did with the B. I'm gonna hit the petals
of the sunflower. Oh, y'all. This
is gonna be good. I really hope you try this. I think this is an
exciting method. So now we're going
to do some leaves. So fill in your stencil,
have fun with this. This is meant to be
very, very easy. Again, these are techniques that we probably should
already be doing. Why haven't we been doing this? I think this is brilliantly fun. And finally, the
dark green up here. Okay, this is exciting. Here's our stencil we're
about to do. All right. We know how this goes.
I'm going to wet it. I'm going to stick it down. Okay, you guys, and finally, we're going to do these leaves. Let's see how they turn out, and we're going to paint
both sides of them, I guess. Wow, that's a lot
of ink on there. We'll see what
happens. And one more. Let's try some of these leaves. Okay, let's do this one
and see what happens. Wet down this one. Make a sandwich, and then
we'll let these dry. And then we'll come back
and see what we got. I'm so excited to see this. Alright, so now
we're going to take a look at this stuff
and see what we made. Alright. Number one. Number one. Oh, see, this is lovely. Right. Wow, is right.
That's spectacular. So with the markers,
you can really control where the paint
goes, where the colors go. So I'm really loving
that just from this. Alright. Let's see what's
next. Okay, this is the bee. I actually have high hopes for this bee because I didn't
like the other one so much. And I only say I didn't like it because I couldn't
see it very well. But it might end up being
one of my favorite ones. Alright. So here's the bee. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. That's what
I'm talking about. Isn't that beautiful? So I
could see that on a card, and then you come in
with a fine liner and kind of define the
wings and the body. That's beautiful,
just from a stencil, and it's something
different every time. I'm so excited.
Alright. The next one. This is Oh, yeah, this
is the sunflower. Okay. D D. Right. Yeah, it's like
sunshine. Look at that. So, it's a little
wonky in the middle, and I think that's probably just because of the way
I weighted it down. I actually did two
sets of books, and so that's my bad in the middle. But you
guys won't do that. You'll do even
pressure throughout the thing and make it
nice. But I'm loving this. I'm loving this technique. Okay, and finally,
we're going to look at the leaves that we made. And I have higher
hopes for these too, like I said about the bee. I think this technique's
go to help them out. So these are little
basal leaves. I think I'm liking
that, and I like that better than just the
plain watercolor. So I think what we need
to do next is maybe combine all of these methods and maybe make a
watercolor background, let it dry, or I could do that
on top of this right now. But I think these
are great bases for your watercolor projects. And I hope you
really enjoy this.
5. Class Project Step 1 - No Worries, It's Easy: Alright, so now is
when we are going to do our class project and combine many of the techniques that we have learned
so far in this class. We're gonna get going,
and I'm gonna tape off where we are going
to create very quickly. I think a clean border
always looks fantastic. And I also love a two
page spread where both pages have some
similar characteristics that tie things together. Okay, this is
looking pretty good. For those of you
all who don't know, this is washi tape. And you can get it on
Amazon or any craft store, scrapbooking supplies,
that sort of stuff. You just want to make
sure you press it down purposes so that the
water doesn't get underneath, and we have these clean borders that look so beautiful
in a sketchbook. Okay, so we're going
to begin this process, and we're going to
do it pretty quick. I'm going to grab a number
four squirrel hair. I'm getting some lemon yellow. And I'm gonna get some
halo green because I know it reacts brightly with
the yellow, and I love that. Got these beautiful
greens, blues. I'm making sure to wet the page. Making sure I've
got it saturated, then I can go back
and add more pigment, which I do recommend
more pigment. As we experimented
with in the beginning, we discovered that
probably should add more pigment when we
first do these stencils. Okay. And we're going
to make a sandwich with color on both
sides, obviously, what we're going to do
is we're gonna close the sketchbook and
create some new stuff, adding some more water, so things will move
around a little bit. Okay. And then that's it. All I'm going to do is
put this down. Let's see. Do I want to do that
one or this one. Let's see. I think I'm
going to do this one. We're going to put it down
and we're just going to close the book and let it dry
and see what happens. Okay, I'm so excited. It's been a few hours, and we're gonna take a look at this. So let me get all of
these things off of here. Okay, here we go. Here we go. Wow, you guys, look at that. Be beautiful. Alright. This is our class project. That was Step one, and now
I am going to use some of our watercolor markers and put something on another sensor.
6. Class Project Step 2 - Building Layers : So I've chosen this stencil with all these leaves and like, tree trunk on there. I think that will be beautiful. So I'm going to use browns
and blues and greens. Okay, we're gonna go for it. It's a little brown for
some of these tree trunks. I'm just following whatever
lines I want to make. I'm doing what I want, not
what the stencil wants. So I can use some or
all of the design. I don't have to use the whole
design if I don't like it. See, that's kind of interesting
with the brown that way. I'm gonna even flip it over. Not a whole lot, just enough. Put a little on this side. That's gonna be a lot of
pigment. Probably should stop. Okay. That's gonna be a
big old wash of blue. It makes me want to put
a little more brown. I some of this reddish brown. That reddish brown looks
good with the blue, right? And it shouldn't
matter if we have Some of this brown bleed up on the leaves, 'cause
that's believable. Purple, blue. Here's a turquoise.
That's kind of nice. I'm just gonna kind
of see what happens. I think that's what's
so fun about art is you might not know what
direction things are going. We're not afraid
to experiment a. A little bit of the
darker blue. Liking that. I want to pull that color
down on both sides. I still think I might
add more brown. Okay, friends, I
think it's time to wet the page and put this on. Let things dry, see what
happens. All right. Opening it back.
Spraying the page. I see it's mostly wet. I'm just going to do it
around with my hand. Why? Place this on. That's it. And I want to close the book. And we'll weigh it down, and we'll come back
when it's dry, and we'll see what
it looks like. Okay, let's open this
up one more time. Beautiful. I love it. I love how burial this is. And Aye. I think this is a
great backdrop, a great background to
do whatever we want to. We can add birds. We can
add woodland creatures. I think this is really great. I'm gonna let this dry
the rest of the way.
7. Class Project Step 3 - Time to Fly!: Okay, friends, now
it's time to fly. Now it's time to take the
backgrounds that we have made and make them into something
that is uniquely you. These are already
unique mono prints from the stencils that were all cookie cutter, and
now they're not. So take it to the next level with whatever style your art is. So, for me, I see a bunch
of trees right now, so I'm gonna pop in
some more trees. And I'll pop in some birds, too. I think this is a very
foresty landscape. In my opinion, it's just
where my brain goes. I see the sun coming through
the trees in the forest. And I also maybe see some snow
coming into the landscape. But I want you to take the
time and see what you see in your landscapes in
your stencil designs. Please upload your class project to page to this class page, and share with everybody
what you've done. I would love to see
the different stages, even the before and after, just like I have right here. And I'm just going to
continue to embellish, make a little bit of snow and just kind of
have fun with this, maybe make some lines
where I don't know. Maybe it looks like
wind and swirling snow. But I'm just going to
see where it goes, very stream of
consciousness, you know, really utilizing what
we have learned in the first two methods of upping our game
with the stencils. I think this is beautiful
and it's unique, and I would have never
made this otherwise, but it's also uniquely my own. So Yeah, let's see what
else I come up with here, adding some more pink and
allowing this to dry. Okay, I think I'm just
going to be bold and do a few things with a size 12 micron. I
think that will do it. I'm going to keep
this loose and quick, and I'm just going to
do these contour lines because I think it
will look good. How does that suit you? I think that's pretty cool. Okay? I'm gonna put in some
more black on these birds. So I'm gonna continue
to have fun with this. I encourage you to do the same and see what
you come up with, use these techniques over and over with the same
cookie cutter stencils, and you will come up with something different
each and every time. Just go to continue to embellish
and see where it goes. O
8. Results & Conclusion: Finally, the results of
all of our hard work, as you can see here on the left, I embellish this just
a little bit more with some white swirls
and a few more dots, both black and white. I think it really sets it off. We went from traditional cookie
cutter stencils that make the same thing over and over again to making a
unique background, starting with water
colors on paper first. Transitioning to another Stencil where we put markers
on Stencil first. And then finally, on the left hand side,
the final project. Look, I am so glad
you guys joined me. I'm Jules. This
is my art vendor. I hope you followed
me on YouTube and Instagram and stay with me
for my upcoming courses. I hope you enjoy this. I can't wait to see what you
make in the project section.
Jules Art Bender, Artist and Art Educator
