Morpholio launches its ‘digital stencil’ drawing app for designers

Stencils have invaded art in a big way. And now they’re getting much easier to create, thanks to Morpholio‘s Stencil tool. Stencil will be a part of Morpholio’s existing digital drawing app, Trace App.

You can use Stencil to create your own toolkit of custom graphics that you can stamp out on your drawings. It takes any image that you can find and then transforms it into a custom template for stencil art.

“Here we witness, through art, the power of stencils delivering rigorous detail with extreme efficiency, an almost perfect optimization of craft, process and drama,” says Toru Hasegawa, Morpholio co-creator, in a statement.

Stencil also has an array of pre-made illustrations and symbols that have been artfully created for architectural, interior, industrial, and graphic design. That makes it easier to do multilayered sketches and images.

“Creating stencils sits perfectly between the architect’s sketch and the quick photo,” said Mark Collins, co-creator at Morpholio, in a statement. “You’re trying to capture something — a texture, pattern, or detail that you want to use. Sketching is great, but slow. Taking a photo buries it in the photo album. Generating a stencil automatically creates an incredible tool that you can utilize in various ways. The stencil is the quickest path to distill an image into an actionable idea.”

If you like a real world facade or street sign, you can take a photo, set the contrast, and then transform it into a stencil that you can use repeatedly. You can use it to bring a sketch, floor plan, section drawing, or background image to life.

Here’s a video of the app. The app is free, while a paid subscription unlocks more tools.