I am so impressed with Rebelle's realistic watercolor diffusion and color blending that I haven't yet stop experimenting with the software. As paper crafting is my number one pass time, I immediately saw Rebella as new way to create designs for greeting cards and other paper craft projects.
Many paper crafters, including myself, use stencils, such as those from Martha Stewart and Tim Holtz, for the foundation of their card designs. With the Rebelle 2 upgrade and the stencil feature, you can use digital stencils that work the same as their real-life counterparts. In fact, these stencils are even more flexible and versatile than the real thing. Let's take a look at a few of the ways you can use stencils in Rebelle.
Traditional Stencil Method
With this method, the stencil works in the usual way (see screenshot). The artist adds paint to the areas of the canvas that are exposed by the cut out areas of the stencil. The areas covered by the stencil are masked from paint.Invert Method
Most watercolor artists use masking fluid to mask a previously painted area. Wouldn't it be great if you could invert the stencil and immediately use it to mask the area that you just painted? Well, you can. In this example (see screenshot), I have inverted the stencil in order to paint a few small blue stars around the red balloon.Other Features
How many times have you wished you could reduce or increase the size of your stencil? Well, you can scale your digital stencils in Rebelle. Of course, you can also rotate, flip and move the stencil, using the buttons on the attached Stencil Menu or with your finger on a tablet. (see screenshot).DIY Stencils
You can create your own stencils (see screenshot). In the first two examples (see screenshot), I have used the Rectangle selection tool to select an area. I then used the Create Stencil from Selection option to create the stencil. I repeated the process in the second example, using the Freehand tool to draw the selection.You can also create a stencil from a layer. In this example (see screenshot), I painted a watercolor wash to use as the background graphic for a website header. I then created the stencil from the original painted layer and tested the new stencil using green watercolor paint. As you can see, most of the details and transparency of the original painting was maintained in the stencil.
The last method is my favorite, as I use it to make many stencils for my own card designs (see screenshot). I first create the stencil image in .png format with a transparent background. Any solid areas in the image will become cut out areas in the stencil. When you create a new stencil from a file, the stencil will be permanently added to the library and available in the Stencil panel.
Stencils Panel
In the Stencils Panel (see screenshot), you can drag the stencil thumbnails in the panel to re-arrange the stencils. You can also rename or remove them from the list. When working with a stencil on the canvas, you can hide the stencil from view by clicking the Show/Hide Stencils button at the bottom of the panel. But don't forget to also select the option to Keep Stencils Active When Hidden.Rebelle 2 Website
https://www.escapemotions.com/products/rebelle/index.php
Screenshots used by permission of Escape Motions, s.r.o.
