In this workshop we were using type to create our own stencils inspired by the characteristics of the font used. The class was split in to three smaller groups who were each then given a typeface in which their stencil creations would be inspired from. My groups was 'Baskerville' in regular, italic and bold variations. Then a specific letter was allocated to each of us to focus on, mine was E.
Here shows "E" in semibold" and then "e" in semibold italic.
Above is my sketch in which the stencil would be made. It started with sketching out the lower case 'e'. This gave a feel for the style of the font and how this could be edited whilst still remaining in a similar aesthetic as the actual typeface.
Below is the lower case 'e' cut with a craft knife to form part of the stencil.
Blocking in the centre of the 'e', these were placed on the thicker card for the poster. The darker black edges just demonstrate the edges of the shape, once painted with black acrylic and a roller it will look like the shape on the template on the left hand side of the photograph above.
After this, then the shading of the capital 'E' was added. The areas cut with the craft knife wasn't the outline of the full letter, but just what would be the depth of the character if it was a 3d object. This layer had to be carefully removed, as I really wanted the outline to remain crisp.
I think the overall effect looks really effectively, the contrast between the black lowercase letter and the uppercase which makes use of the whitespace. The crisp outlines look striking and very refined, however arguably doesn't really have the typical textures and rough patches like stencils normally have.
Inspired by how well the uppercase 'E' outline looked once painted, I wondered how the lower case 'e' would look in a similar style. As the E was defined by its 3d shaded area, I sketched out how this would be for the 'e' as well.
Working with a similar angle, the outline for this lowercase letter wasn't as strikingly definitive. The curved shading doesn't provide the same aesthetic, as it is difficult to define what shape it is outlining as strongly. This is all evidenced below.
As the capital 'E' worked so effectively, I wanted to replicate this singularly. However because the stencil had already been used once, it was slightly distorted and bubbled from the paint, and wasn't as strong. Therefore the lines aren't as crisp as the first output I generated.
