While the weather keeps being so edgy, give your old deck a makeover with some beautiful skateboard stencils!

By Helen Lovelee

You will need:
*An image
*4x A4 sheets of transparency film
*4x different colours of spray paint
*Masking Tape
*Scalpel
*Newspaper/cardboard
*A dusk mask or scarf

Instructions:
This is a four colour stencil so you need a separate layer for each colour.

Making the stencil:
1. Place a sheet of transparency film over a copy of your image.
2. Tape both sheets down so they don’t move about while you’re cutting.
3. Cut along the outside edge of the shapes you want to be sprayed in one of your four colours. While doing this watch out for ‘islands’,  these are the shapes within the bigger shapes that need to remain part of the stencil. To attach these islands to the rest of the stencil cut a ‘bridge’ through the shape the island sits inside of. If you don’t like having bridges in your artwork when all the spraying is done, you can colour them in by hand in the same colour as the spray paint.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for each of the four layers of transparency.
5. Discard all the loose shapes you cut out of the transparencies and what remains is your stencil.

Spraying your stencil:
1. Spread loads of cardboard over the area you’ll be working on to protect the surface from spray paint.
2. Position the stencil on your board where you want your artwork to sit.
3. Place a few pieces of masking tape underneath the stencil to stick it down well.
4. Cover the rest of your deck in newspaper so when spraying paint doesn’t get all over your board.
5. Spray thin layers of spray paint back and forth through the stencil. Obviously spray paint isn’t good to breathe in so make sure to spray your stencil in a well-ventilated area.
6. Remove the stencil and newspaper.
7. Repeat steps 1 to 6.
8. My illustration work is very detailed so I couldn’t resist finishing off my stencil by painting in further details with a fine brush.