Make a spray paint stencil in three steps
Add your photo
Drop a picture, paste one, or pick a file. Clear subjects with strong contrast work best: a face in side light, a logo, a silhouette.
Tune the look
Drag Detail until the shapes you need are black and the noise is gone. Raise Remove specks to clean up. Switch between Cut stencil and Line art any time.
Download and use it
Save a PNG, an SVG for a cutting machine, or a PDF to print. Print at the size you need and always test on scrap first.
How a spray paint stencil works
A spray stencil is a sheet with holes. Paint passes through the holes and lands on the wall, board or fabric underneath. In StencilBench the black areas are the holes and the white areas are the sheet. That is the same way the photo looks, so what you see in the preview is what the paint will make.
The catch is that a single sheet cannot hold floating pieces. The centre of an O, the pupil inside an eye and the island in the middle of a ring would all drop out as soon as they are cut free. Street artists solve this by leaving bridges, small strips of sheet that connect each island to the frame. StencilBench adds them for you.
Bridges: width and look
Bridges leave a thin gap in the painted shape. Narrow bridges look cleaner but tear more easily, especially in card. Wider ones are sturdier. Start at the default and widen the bridge if the sheet feels weak, or narrow it for acetate or a similar tough material.
Choosing a material
Card and stiff paper are easy to cut with a craft knife and fine for a few uses. Acetate or mylar sheets last longer and wipe clean. A cutting machine can follow the SVG for you. Whatever you pick, tape the stencil flat and test on scrap before you paint the real surface.
Painting tips
Hold the can square to the surface and spray in light passes so paint does not creep under the edges. Keep the stencil pressed down near the bridges and lift straight off. If detail is lost, your photo may have needed a higher Detail value, so make a new version and compare.
Settings explained
Cut stencil or line art
Cut stencil turns your photo into solid black and white shapes. Black is what gets cut out, so paint or ink goes through it. White is the sheet that stays. Line art draws only the edges as black lines on white, which suits tracing and transfer paper.
Detail
In cut stencil mode, Detail sets how dark a pixel must be to turn black. In line art mode it sets how faint an edge can be and still get a line. If your stencil is a solid black blob, lower it. If shapes are missing, raise it.
Smoothing and Remove specks
Smoothing blurs the photo slightly first, which removes skin texture and grain. Remove specks deletes black bits below a size you choose. In cut stencil mode it also fills tiny white holes, since those would be too small to hold together as paper.
Bridges
A bridge is a thin strip of sheet that ties an island to the rest. Think of the middle of the letter O or the pupil of an eye. Without a bridge, that piece falls out when you cut. StencilBench finds each island and joins it to the main sheet along the shortest path. Widen the bridge for flimsy paper, narrow it for fine detail.
Free and planned Pro exports
Single-layer exports are free. Multi-layer files, which help with colour stencils, and poster-size printing are planned, not for sale.
| Export | Free | Pro (planned) |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | Up to 1600 px on the long side | 4K |
| SVG | One layer, no watermark | Multi-layer, plus DXF |
| One page, Letter or A4 | Poster size, tiled over many pages | |
| Bridges, specks, line weight | All included | All included |
Spray paint stencil questions
Is this spray paint stencil maker free?
Yes. The converter, automatic bridges and PNG, SVG and PDF downloads are free with no watermark. Layered files and poster printing are planned, not for sale.
What are bridges and do I need them?
Bridges are thin strips that connect floating pieces, like the centre of an O, to the rest of the sheet. If you cut a one-piece stencil, you need them or those pieces fall out.
Can I make a multi-colour stencil?
Today you get one layer, so you can make several stencils from different Detail settings and paint them in turn. Proper multi-layer export is a planned Pro feature.
How big can I print it?
The free PDF fits one Letter or A4 page. For a larger stencil, scale the SVG in a vector or print program, or use a print shop that accepts SVG.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. Everything runs in your browser and nothing is sent to our servers.
Can I cut it with a cutting machine?
Yes, download the SVG and import it into your cutting software. Check the scale and the island bridges in the preview before you cut.