for this you will need either photoshop or other photo editing software.

Step 1: Step 1

find an image you want to stencil. in my case i had the idea for a viking stencil so i found a photo of the lead singer of amon amarth.

Step 2: Step

select the background and delete. use eraser for parts that could not be selected with the wand tool.

Step 3: Step3

image>mode>graysscale or just desaturate it.

your stencil wont come out right if you dont do this.

Step 4: Step4

image>adjustments>threshold

adjust to the settings you want. for this i adjusted it from about 70-80.

Step 5: Step5

now comes the artistic part. islands are a huge pain in the ass with stencils. any white areas surrounded by black you need to color in black. remember this is the part of the stencil you will be cutting out.

Step 6: Step6

add some cool text and print and cut it out and your done!

once i figure out how to upload video i will post a video of me cutting and painting this stencil.