Thanks man !
They're all done on photoshop. If I want a photo-realistic stencil like the one above this is the method I use:
1. Crop image and cut out all unnecessary elements via pen tool.
2. Desaturate
3. Adjust brightness and contrast to get a good balanced composition
4. Image > Adjustments > Posterize (choose amount of layers)
5. Select > Color Range (Choose each individual color and copy them into separate layers
6. Cut 'em up
They're extremely detailed and you obviously can't cut out every pixel, but with some practice, you'll find which elements are necessary. I takes awhile to know how to make sturdy stencils with proper bridges and there are also some short cuts. One short cut I use is cutting out the outline for the darkest layer and then I just stack all the other layers on top so you can't see the background at all.
Hope that helps!
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