It doesn’t take much to get started making a silhouette art piece, but how long it will take you depends upon how simplistic or intricate you want the silhouette to be. A basic silhouette is usually black on white paper or white on black paper. And it can be paper on paper, ink on paper, chalk on paper or various other methods. For a silhouette that even kids can do, tape or tack a piece of white construction paper to a wall. Have the person that will be in the silhouette stand in front of the paper, but not too close. The person should stand where his profile can be seen on the paper. You may need to place a bright light in front of the person so that the shadow of the profile is perfectly outlined on the construction paper.
Use a pencil to trace around the outline while the person stands perfectly still. Be sure and go all the way around the face and head, but include some of the neck. Capture special things in the profile, like a hair tie or bow collar. Try to be as exact as possible or the silhouette may not resemble the person when it’s finished. After the drawing is completed, cut it out and again, be very exact. Use a piece of black construction paper to glue the silhouette to and then frame, preferably in a while frame or another choice that adds to the picture. You can outline the white paper after gluing it down well with black magic marker if desired. And you can add embellishments to the picture, like a fabric bow tie or glue on small earrings.
Instead of cutting out the silhouette you’ve just drawn, you can also do a background of marker or ink lines. After moving the drawing from the wall to a table, use a ruler to mark black stripes, across the entire background, stopping short of crossing over the white silhouette. The lines can be vertical, horizontal or drawn at an angle. The lines should also be close together to give the appearance of an almost solid black background. Instead of lines, though, you can use curly-q’s, squiggles or other doodles, but make sure they are close enough together to give an almost solid black appearance to the background. After drawing your background, go around the white silhouette image with a solid black marker. Reverse the method, using a white background and coloring in the silhouette in black. The doodles can also be done on the profile, but will take away somewhat of the appearance of the person. Many people then put a colorful border around the picture, or encircle the picture in an oval. If you decide to do the silhouette in chalk, use a spray sealer on the artwork afterwards to keep the chalk from dusting the glass of the picture frame.
Although the traditional silhouette is black and white, you can also do blue and white, gray and white, red and white or any other color combination. You don’t have to use construction paper, either. You can use cardboard, tissue paper, printer paper, foil, wrapping paper or wallpaper. For the image or the background, you can use beads, torn up pieces of paper, tiny silk flowers, cloth, paints or watercolors.
Sets of silhouettes make a nice family room wall hanging and you can do a silhouette of Mom, Dad, the kids and even the family pet, if you can get him to sit still.
