• Stenciling with drawing mediums offer many avenues for creative exploration and new discoveries. Simple graphite drawing pencils render subtle, dimensional effects that almost look hand drawn and shaded. Charcoal’s stark contrast is black, bold and matte. The color variety is endless with colored pencils. All of these mediums are easily accessible and can be dissolved or dispersed with rubbing alcohol.

What you’ll need to get started:

• Drawing pencils, B type is softer than H type.
• Charcoal pencils, also B or H type or charcoal sticks. 
• Inexpensive colored pencils.
• Rubbing alcohol and a small container to pour it in. A spritzer with a ratio of rubbing alcohol and water if desired for pencil. More alcohol than water.
• Sand paper. Necessary for charcoal and colored pencils as they will not ‘color’ as easily as graphite pencil.
• Paper, your choice. Copy paper, tissue, sketchbook, book pages etc.
• Blending brushes
• Stencils, your choice.
• Any palette you can find to color graphite from your pencil onto that won’t fall apart with a little moisture. I used an old plastic placemat with some texture. You might try a plastic notebook cover, these often have texture. Anything slick will likely not work as the goal is to adhere some graphite from the pencil onto a surface that you can then lift with a blending brush.

For pencil:

Color your palette with your pencil until the surface is well covered. Spritz a little water and alcohol mixture on top. Pick up enough graphite to color your blending brush then stencil onto paper of your choice. If it appears too wet, blot first. Use a light touch, apply as many layers as desired. You can also use pencil to apply graphite washes or blends.

For charcoal and colored pencils:

Color a small piece of sandpaper with either. Dip your blending brush into alcohol and the pick up some of the pencil dust from your sandpaper to stencil with. Don’t over wet your blending brush or apply too much moisture to your sand paper. Apply as many layers as necessary to get the intensity you desire. 

Pencil and colored pencils stay put when dry. Charcoal might smudge on a smooth surface. Choose a paper that has some texture like sketchbook paper. The more wet your charcoal the less likely it is to smudge when dry. You might need a fixative. You can also use charcoal or colored pencils for washes or blends.

Some ideas you might like to try are to create collage fodder with tissue paper using either pencil or charcoal. Choose a variety of stencils and apply randomly across a large sheet of tissue paper. Melt wax on top for DIY vellum. Use pencil on book pages. Choose detailed image stencils to create a hand drawn sketchbook look for your journal pages, the shading is effortless. You can layer colored pencil over watercolor for mixed media. You can layer pencil and charcoal over or under watercolor. 

Tip:

Sandpaper might affect your blending brushes. Use old ones or dedicate a couple for use with these mediums only.

Grab a few pencils and stencil. You might find new ways to stretch your imagination with these simple easy to find mediums.

Happy paper crafting!