LESSON 4: The Trace & Transfer Technique
In this lesson, you will be learning a variety of ways to get an image (from print or online) onto a stone for painting. This is a great option for those of you who are not comfortable with freehand sketching.
A note about copyright
Before we begin, I feel it is my duty as a librarian, and as an artist, to stress the importance of NEVER copying someone else’s work without permission. This is literally against the law… copyright law, to be exact. While the interpretation of copyright law can be fuzzy in many instances, it is simply safest to assume an image is already protected by copyright.
There are some websites that offer free images that can be used for a variety of things. Some are completely free with no strings attached and no attribution necessary (attribution means giving credit, usually at the bottom of a photo, to the owner of the work). Other sites require a line of attribution or the mention of a website. Take a careful look at your source to be sure you comply with the regulations.
Here are some good sites for royalty-free images (click to open these in a new window):
For more information about copyright, go to “Copyright Law of the United States” (warning: it’s NOT fun reading!).
In addition to basic painting supplies, you will need the following:
Tracing paper (you can find this at any craft store)
Transfer paper (also called graphite paper or carbon paper)
A ball stylus pen with a very small tip
A pencil and eraser
For some projects you will need a cell phone
PROJECT 1: Giraffe and Bumblebee
For this project, we will be tracing two of my own designs, transferring them to rocks using my Trace & Transfer Technique, and then painting them!
Watch the video above and/or follow the steps below:
Prep 2 rocks, about 3 - 3.5” in size, with a base coat and a background color of your choice. (For the giraffe I will use tan background, and for the bumblebee I will use a sky blue background.) Allow to dry completely. If the background coat is even a little damp, the transfer technique will not work!
Click “Trace & Transfer Templates” image (below) to open a PDF of the template sheet. Print the sheet.
Lay a square of tracing paper over the giraffe. Trace the outline of the giraffe using a pencil.
Lay another square of tracing paper over the bumblebee. Trace the outline of the bumblebee using a pencil.
Lay your giraffe tracing over one of your prepped rocks and center it. While holding down one corner of the tracing paper, gently slide a square of transfer paper (graphite paper) underneath the tracing paper, DARK SIDE DOWN. You need the darker side to be facing the surface of the rock.
Holding both sheets of paper securely on the rock, use a small-tipped ball stylus pen to trace over the outline of the giraffe. You will need to press down hard so the image transfers properly. Be careful not to shift the papers while tracing.
Voila! Lift up both papers and you will see that the giraffe outline has been transferred to your rock!
Repeat Step 6 for the bumblebee. You can re-use the same piece of transfer paper a number of times.
NOW… paint the giraffe and the bumblebee! Be sure to re-outline your images in black acrylic paint pen once all paint has dried.
Click this image to pull up a PDF for printing.
Project 2: Online Image
In this project, you will learn how to transfer an image from an online source to your rock for painting. (Go back to the top of this lesson for links to copyright- and royalty-free stock images.)
** You will need a cell phone for this project. “Why?” you ask. Good question! We will be using our cell phones to capture the online images AND to serve as a light box!
Background story: When I was about 10 years old, my dad made me a light box. I wanted something that would allow me to trace images, and the only way to do that easily is when you have a light source beneath the original image. So my woodworking Dad made me a wooden box with florescent light bulbs inside. The top of the box was a piece of clear, hard acrylic. All I had to do was lay down an image (from a coloring book, for instance), and I could easily trace it by laying another piece of paper on top. The light shone through from below, allowing me to see the outline of the original image!
I have discovered that our cell phones - something we use every day! - are actually PERFECT MINI LIGHT BOXES! They have an internal source of light, making it easy to trace images! Super cool, huh?
Watch the video above and/or follow the steps below:
Prep a medium-sized rock with a base coat and a background color of your choice. Allow to dry completely. If the background coat is even a little damp, the transfer technique will not work!
On your cell phone, pull up an image you want to paint. Use one of the sources in the introduction to this lesson to find a copyright-free image. I like to use pixabay because they have a section of Vector images, which are easy to trace and transfer. Find an image you like and click one of the download options. (Some sites require you to register before you can download.)
Once you have downloaded your image, use your fingers to make it bigger or smaller (according to how it will fit on your rock). Then take a screen shot of the image. (To take a screen shot on an iPhone, press the Home button and the Power button at the same time.)
Save your screen shot to your phone’s Photos.
Pull up the photo. Place a square of tracing paper over the image and carefully trace the outlines using a pencil. You will need to hold the paper at the edges of your phone with your non-dominant hand. If you touch the screen with a finger while tracing, the image will resize, and you want it to stay steady. This take a little practice.
Now you have the outline of your image!
Lay your traced image over your prepped rock and center it. While holding down one corner of the tracing paper, gently slide a square of transfer paper (graphite paper) underneath the tracing paper, DARK SIDE DOWN. You need the darker side to be facing the surface of the rock.
Holding both sheets of paper securely on the rock, use a small-tipped ball stylus pen to trace over the outline of the image. You will need to press down hard so the image transfers properly. Be careful not to shift the papers while tracing.
Voila! Lift up both papers and you will see that the outline of the image has been transferred to your rock!
NOW… paint the image! Be sure to re-outline your image in black acrylic paint pen once all paint has dried.
Resizing Images
Often you will find an image you like in print or online, but it is too large or too small for the rock you want to use. I have a few solutions for this dilemma!
Option 1: If the source is an online document like the template sheet I provided in Project 1 above, use the Scaling feature on your printer to print the size you want. For instance, set the printing Scale at 50% to reduced the image size by 50%. Play around with scaling and sizing until the image is the size you want to transfer.
Option 2: For a printed image, use your cell phone to frame the image in your photo window until it’s the size you want. Snap the photo. Then use the Trace & Transfer technique.
Option 3: If the image source is online, take a screen shot of the image and then, in Photos, simply use your fingers to resize the photo. Then take another screen shot to capture the resized image. Then you are ready for the Trace & Transfer technique.