Anyone can be an artist now. It’s not just for those who have a talent for cartooning, painting or sketching, thanks to the use of stencils.
A stencil is a very simple way of reproducing letters (as you might have owned one when you were in school) or a design and is made from either metal or plastic. However, it’s not just about art but serves important purposes as well.
Let’s say you need to reproduce certain numbers using the same font again and again, you can pick the kind of font that you’d like and cut out the numbers from zero to nine to use this number stencil for whatever purpose that you might seem fit.
It’s no different with designs that need to be reproduced several times over, and thanks to the internet and computers in general, it has become easier than ever to create custom made stencils for any design that you might want to reproduce.
All you really need to know is how to trace the lines for the numbers, alphabets or designs that you might want to reproduce, and you can be well on your way to becoming a celebrated artist even if the artwork can be considered as ‘destruction of public property’. Yes, we’re talking about Shepherd Fairey, a notable artist among many, who got arrested using stencils to leave a message for the people living in Boston.
Of course, there are industrial and official uses to stenciling as well, and very often, some vehicles, locations and objects are clearly labeled using this kind of artwork. The beauty of it all is because of the uniformity in using the same kind of stencil every time, people know that the messages are official and should be taken seriously!
