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Celebrating Place:
Digital Stencil Sticker Design

Create a visually engaging digital stencil sticker that celebrates a chosen location through a creative combination of images and the outline of a map.

Instructions

1. Location Selection

  • Choose a specific country, province, or region that holds significance for you.

  • Research and gather information/images about the location's landmarks, culture, and unique features.

    • Try typing in your location on Redbubble and see what stickers come up! That's how I found the two Vancouver Island stickers above.​

2. Map Outline Stencil

  • Find a map of your location, this will be the border of your stencil

    • You may need to use a larger map that includes your location (ex: a map of BC that includes the regional borders of the Cariboo)​​

  •  Once you find you map, open Illustrator

    • Create a new file that is 11 x 17 INCHES (poster size).​

      • Raster Effects = 300​

    • Paste in your map. Play with Image Trace and the Direct Selection tool (white arrow) until you have only the silhouette of your map.

  • Change the fill to black.​

  • Resize it fit your artboard as much as possible.  

  • File > Export > Export As + save it as a PNG​

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​We are doing this assignment in Photoshop, so we need to prepare our canvas there:

  1. Open Photoshop and Create a New File

    • Units = Inches

    • Width and Height = 11 x 17

      • Since we are creating a raster image, we cannot make it larger later BUT we can shrink it.

    • Resolution = 300 ppi

  2. Locate your .png file and click and drag it onto your canvas.

    • You need to click the checkmark at the top of the screen.

  3. Use the Magic Wand tool to select your silhouette. 

    • Trouble selecting? Try changing the "Tolerance" setting in the top bar.

    • Also, you can increase the contrast if you need to by going to Image > Adjustments > Levels and moving the sliders.

  4. With your silhouette selected, create a new folder in the Layers panel.

  5. Apply a mask of your selection to this folder

    • Click the icon of the rectangle-with-a-black-circle-in-it at the bottom of the same panel

  6. Hide your original silhouette layer by clicking the eye next to its thumbnail.

  7. Create a new layer inside your masked group.

    • Use the paint bucket tool to fill this layer. You should see your new colour appear.

    • ​You can draw/paint or paste images on any layer within the masked group.

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3. Imagery

Criteria:

  • Your image has a distinct silhouette. 

  • Your drawing/painting adds an extra layer of interest. You are not simply "filling it in". See the examples above.

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Color Palette:

  • Choose a color palette that complements the theme and mood of the location.

  • Consider the emotions you want the viewer to associate with the sticker.

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You have two options at this point:

  1. you can draw/paint (or handwrite, see example above)

  2. you can do a photo collage

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Option 1 Tips:

  • Change your Workspace to "Painting" mode (click the rectangle with a bar inside of it in the upper right corner.

  • Explore the different options in the Brush Panel.

    • I'm a big fan of "KYLE Ultimate Inking Thick 'n Thin" inside the Wet Media Brushes.

    • You can download more brush packs here (remember to log in with your student email).

  • Use one of the class Drawing Tablets.

    • ​Just plug it into a USB port​

    • Most brushes will let you control size (to a degree) by how much pressure you use​

  • USE LAYERS

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Option 2 Tips:

  • Keep a list of all of your image sources!

  • Watch the video below:

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