Determining the Depth of an Image - Layered Stencils
The comment I get the most when I create these more intricate designs is, “Wow, it’s almost like it’s 3D. I don’t know how you layer it to look like that!” It all boils down to the depth of an image. It’s a BIG subject that I don’t expect anyone to learn from just this post! I’m not going to go into all of the nitty gritty here, but I do want to discuss the basics. Just to get your feet wet. The best way to think of ‘depth’ is to imagine how the subject would look in real life. This elk for example, I think, “What part of the elk would be the furthest from me?” That’s where I want to start making my first stencils. Take a few minutes to study this image before moving on. Focus only on which parts of the elk would be furthest away. Once you feel like you know the answer feel free to move on to see if you were right!
Painting credit goes to Ken Carlson (born in 1937)
I have high lighted the furthest points in red for you. Did you get it right? Feel free to leave a comment about whether you were right or not! I’d love to hear from you, even if you got hung up somewhere.
I also find it extremely helpful to study the object I am going to be designing by referencing multiple images from different angles and perspectives. Let’s use some elk images to better acquaint ourselves with it’s 3D form.
Now that we have determined the furthest depth of the image we’re working on, we can start to pull it apart and start to create our first set of stencils for this design! In this video you will see that I have already run our elk image through Inkscape (a free program) to separate the colors, this makes the creation of our stencils easier. Typically, the darkest color is usually the ‘shadow’ of the design and therefore most likely the ‘furthest away’.
Watch this video to see the stencil creation in action!
I’m sure at this point you’re thinking, “Wait! I thought we were only creating the stencils on the furthest back layers!?” And you are correct! In this video I focused only on those furthest back parts of the elk to create layers. Let me explain. A base layer or “support layer” must be created in order for each “closer” stencil to be able to be built upon. Otherwise, there is no support for the icing on the next layer which will be explained a later post. This is where I start to get really excited about stencil creation because this is the beauty of layered stencils! You have to remember that EVERY STENCIL builds upon the stenciled layer below it. THAT is what creates the 3D, realistic effect! If you go back and look at the end of the video, when all of the stencils are complete, you’ll see that I have created a ‘base support’ for not only the body of the elk to build upon, but also the front antler and leg.
I think this is where I’m going to leave this post. I hope I was able to keep it straight forward enough to make some sense of how to determine the depth of an image. Again, please feel free to utilize the comment section with any questions. I love to hear from everyone and will do my best to answer any questions you may have.
I’ll see you on Tuesday when we dive more into how and why we create those ‘base supports’!
Photo Credits: Masterfile (Royalty-Free Div.), AWEvans, Unsplash
