Drawing

A considerable amount of attention should be given to the ergonomics of using stencils in an optimal way that can produce the intended results, minimize errors, maximize time efficiency, and allow for reproducible copies of the art.

Here are some observations based on my recent experience:

1. Use two flat bottomed desktop paper weights. One should always be in position, while the second one is moved as untraced areas need uncovering. This keeps the stencil from sliding on the page.

2. Slightly different traces can be realized depending on the angle that the pen tip makes against the stencil edge. This effect will be different for right and left handed people.

3. Complex patterns can be achieved simply by spinning or rotating a concentric shape inside of a larger one, and then retracing. For example, a star shape can be rotated in a circular cut-out piece by any arbitrary angle to create a star with double the number of points.

4. There can be a small amount of bias in the thickness of the trace depending on the handedness of the person.

 5. The best results in regards to time efficiency are seen when the outlines of the shapes in the stencils are 100% completed before filling in any shapes. Work from outside in; in case there is a slip of the stencil, it will be much easier to realign against a large trace than a small one.

6. Broad tipped markers have more variability in how thick the ink is deposited.

7. The cut-outs can be traced in isolation outside of the stencil, but small shapes will be tricky to handle. If mastered though, the possibility for multiple designs is unlimited, and can be scaled up to larger papers.

8. Water based inks may swell and buckle the paper; consider using a heavier paper.

9. Laser cutting of small shapes with tight turns leads to some play in the fit of that shape in the hole created around it. In other words, once the smallest cut dimension approaches about 10 times the laser line width, variability becomes noticeable and the highly symmetric design may show some minor irregularities. It seems reasonable to characterize this as an expected consequence of manually created art.

10. Depending on the tip sizes of the pens, stencils and their cut-outs should be lifted, and not slid, off the page to avoid ink smears.

11. Using the metallic Gelly Roll pens lead to significant bleed out of the ink underneath the stencil solid portions as the ink is very wet and easily blobs at the tip when first touching down onto the paper. The workaround is to either use another type of pen or start the pen touching down on an interior portion of the opening in the stencil cutout. Making quick light stokes of the pen from inner to outer is also helpful to avoid bleed out.

12. Very small shapes such as the circles representing football players and the very thin shapes such as the goal posts should be filled with the stencil in place.

13. Filleting hard corners made for a smoother outline trace, such as the larger mid-field stadium bleachers.