SpectraFrame: Chiaroscuro Style LED Dynamic Pencil Sketch Compositions.

Welcome reader, to another of my 'Build in a Day' Instructable projects, this time an art project. SpectraFrame is a study of illumination and absence, where light becomes the artist and shadow its brush. Using the Chiaroscuro technique, what begins as a static pencil sketch image ends up fading into life with luminescent harmony, inviting the viewer to see not just with their eyes, but with wonder. SpectraFrame captures the fleeting dialogue between light and form. As illumination passes through each hidden layer, it transforms stillness into story... a pleasing reminder that even shadows hold light within them.

The attached video is a showcase and visual 'making of' tutorial (making starts around the 3:20 mark) which I made to accompany this Instructable, and also shows it in action.

The Project:

In art, the use of chiaroscuro creates a strong contrast between light and dark, giving the artwork a sense of depth and volume within a drawing or a painting.

SpectraFrame utilises this chiaroscuro technique, but using a multi-coloured picture lightbox using an RGB LED strip and the images made up of layered images to breath colour and warmth from a pencil sketch into an image that uses light and shadow to change the look of the picture. The frame is constructed of foam core/foam board, clear acrylic sheets, an RGB LED smart strip, and the images themselves which are interchangeable. The overall pictures are made up in layers... a pencil drawing, a window or background image, and a cutout silhouette which helps to combine the pencil sketch and the illumination of an area withing the sketch, such as sunlight coming through a window, casting light reflection and shadow. The multi-coloured lighting from the RGB LED smart strip is controlled from a phone app where not only can the colours of the illuminated areas can be changed, but so can the lighting effects, brightness, fading etc.

So with the back lighting off you have a nice pencil sketch, and with the back lights on you have a picture with a hint of colour.

As for the name, SpectraFrame is fusion of art and light, where framed layers create shifting scenes of illumination, shadow, and colour... Spectra: meaning ranges of light, colour, or energy, Frame: a structure that presents something visually, and in this case, helps disperse the lights and holds it all together.

The Inspiration:

I have been making these artistic pieces for many years, pretty much since LED strips became available, either for myself or others, and with different shapes and sizes. And at time of writing this, Christmas 2025 in not too far away and I am currently making presents for family and close ones and decided to make a SpectraFrame for a close friend who, like myself, likes to display pencil drawings at home so I want to give them something a little different. So making this was also a good opportunity to publish an Instructable show how to make anyone who is interested how to make their own.

The frame is relatively straight forward, but the real work is the artwork itself although you really don't have to be great at drawing, it's just a matter of realising what light does when it shines on something and where it shines, and using that to your advantage. I will guide you through the making steps, giving useful tips and alternatives along the way. You will see that I have made and attached an accompanying make video of the process too that you may find useful.

Lets get to it.

Tools:

1. Pencil
2. Metal (or metal edged) ruler for measuring and for use as a cutting edge
3. Marker pen
4. X-acto knife or similar with a new blade and a cutting board
5. Pair of scissors
6. Hot glue gun and good quality glue stick (you could use a PVA glue - although a longer set time)
7. Computer/printer to draw and colour the images (or you could hand-draw/colour them)

If you are thinking about doing pencil sketches on a PC, a cheap USB drawing pad and stylus is much better than using a mouse or trackpad, although you can use these.

Materials:

1. 2 x Sheets of white 5mm foam core A3 size (any colour foam core can be used, but a piece of white is needed to help disperse the lighting) For a more luxurious frame, you can use a nice softwood or hardwood.
2. Pack of clear acrylic sheets, 1mm depth A4 size (you will need at least 3 sheets for one picture)
3. Smart RGB LED strip (or a simple non app controlled strip will be fine)
4. Clear tape
5. White paper A4 size
6. 'OPTIONAL' Reference material (pictures or photos to get ideas from, pictures that show windowlight is ideal)

Build Time:

1. Under an hour to make the frame, but the images are dependent on what technique you use, your skill level, the amount of detail you add to the images, and how many overall pictures you want to make.

List of Following Steps:

1. Step 1: Design Aspects.
2. Step 2: Building the Frame:
3. Step 3: Making the Pencil Sketch:
4. Step 4: Window Cutouts:
5. Step 5: Silhouette Stencil:
6. Step 6: Back Panel & LED Attachment:
7. Step 7: Assembly:
8. Step 8: Conclusion:

1. Frame: This is made from white 5mm foam core, cheap, easy to use, lightweight yet sturdy. But you can use wood instead to add a different astatically pleasing look (which I did on a larger SpectraFrame a few years back), or you could use PVC sheet. For A4 prints you will need A3 size foam core sheets because the front and longer sides of the frame needs to be larger than the A4 clear acrylic sheets and images.
2. Clear Sheets: The thickness of the clear acrylic sheet is not too important, but the thinner it is, the cheaper it is to purchase. 1mm doesn't sound a lot, but it's ridged enough for this project. You can use glass sheet, but acrylic is the safer option.
3. Lighting: I chose to use app controlled RGB LED strips mainly for the option of remote control and different lighting effects. As for colour, plain white LED strips can be used, but the RGB strips give the option to change colours which look really effective and changes the whole look of the piece evoking different emotions. Choosing the option of LED strips that have added lighting effects also adds to the overall piece, especially using a 'Fade' option on a sunlit room picture, giving the sense of Sun rise and Sun set. I also opted for a battery powered strip so there are no power cables trailing from the frame when hung on a wall.
4. Layers: Windowlight and Sunlight effects are a big part of what make these pictures unique. A front clear acrylic sheet at the front, the pencil sketch laid on top which is the main visible image, a window scene mounted on another clear acrylic sheet, and then a monochrome (black and white) silhouette image with the white areas cut out, then the final layer of a white foam core sheet with the LED strips attached and facing the back of the other layers.
5. Mounting: The frame can be hung on a wall, but still be thick enough to be displayed on a shelf or tabletop securely.
6. Artwork: The most important part of the project is the artwork itself. This is where imagination, trial & error and the understanding of shadows and windowlight work. As an example... Sun will shine through a window, the windowlight shines onto the floor, this would be a white part of the silhouette. There is also a chair inside the window, the sunlight hits the front and high points of the chair (seat, frame), another white part of the silhouette, and a shadow is cast from the chair itself (the chair back, legs) and anything else the sunlight doesn't hit, the black parts of the silhouette. The artistic expression comes from the pencil drawing itself, but the additional lighting adds to this or even changes the expression or interpretation of the viewer.

1. Lay a sheet of A3 foam core onto a cutting board. Measure then mark out a piece the size of the A4 acrylic sheet plus 10mm wide and heigh to account for the foam core side panels. Total size = 30.7cm wide and 22cm tall. This will be the front of the picture frame.
2. Cut the section out with a metal edged ruler and X-acto type knife with a new blade fitted. Lay the ruler onto the foam core against the markings, then make a slow and steady score cut. Then make another three of four light cuts until you're all the way through. Don't try to make the cut in one go and use the multiple pass method.
3. Now cut the the center out of this panel. Measure and mark the panel so you have a 15mm border all around, then cut out.
4. Measure, mark and cut four side panels, top and bottom measuring 30.7cm x 5cm, and left/right at 21cm x 5cm.
5. Apply hot glue to the edges of the side panels and attach the back of the frame front.
6. Remove any protective film from one of the clear acrylic sheets and drop it into the frame.

NOTE: You can apply a small amount of hot glue to the inside of the front frame panel and permanently fix the front acrylic sheet into place which will also make the frame a bit more ridged, or leave it unglued if you prefer as the back frame panel (fitted at the end of the build) will hold everything in place.

The pencil sketch is probably the most important part because this is what is always going to be on display and seen by you and anyone viewing it, whether the LED effect is On or Off. Although the lighting is what makes this artwork unique and adds another level to the drawing, the picture needs to be meaningful as well as the right style for the lighting effect to work. As you have seen, I drew pictures of the inside of a building with large windows or patio doors as these work really well. Personally, things like a summer house gives me a sense of calm, and warmth with the lights on, and apartments with a skyline view as i like the styles and is somewhere I would like to live. But there are other scenes that work just as well as you have seen in the other pictures.

For this Instructable, I am using a computer and printer as the example tools I used, but hand drawing the pencil sketch and for the other layers are equally effective. I'm not going to tell you how to draw here but I want to give as much detail as I can to help you get the best results at any given skill level. What I will say is make it as good as you can, and if pencil sketches are not in your arsenal of maker skills, then there are other options to help.

1. Drawings: These can be as detailed as you like, but take not of light and shadows. Bright areas where sunlight reflects off a surface will be illuminated in our picture which will be achieved in Step 5. You can add some colour here, but the style of the SpectraFrame is solely pencil sketches. The following points are different options you can use for your pencil sketch...
2. Tracing: If you have a photo or picture you like, you can place a sheet of A4 paper over it and trace with a pencil (using a drawing lightboard for best results). For tracing on a PC, use a paint program like Paint.net of similar which has a 'Layers' option. The first layer would be the photo you like, and adding a second layer is where you would draw/trace over the photo, then delete the first layer so you are only left with the tracing drawing which you can then save and print.
3. Copying: This requires a little more drawing skill, but to make things easier do a side-by-side copy. Have a picture like a photo you like and place it beside your blank A4 paper, or on a PC, open two windows... the image and your draw/paint program canvas, and draw a copy of the image.
4. Conversion Software: If artistic pencil drawings are not you thing, then there are free and paid online image editors that can convert a photo into a pencil sketch. I don't really use these but for the sake of this Instructable I have tried a couple of these out. Icoloring is a free trial one that works well, and Fotor as another with a free trial. Simply upload your photo, convert the image, then if you're happy with it, download it and open it in your paint program then resize and save it to A4 if needed.
5. Use What's Available: You can also use paid and royalty free draw sketches, and of course you are more than welcome to use any of mine attached to this Instructable that you can find in Step 8 along with the associated layers. Use them as the picture you want to use, or as examples to make your own.

Back to the build. So we need our photo image sized to A4 and saved as 'Photo', and with a completed pencil sketch sized to A4, we can save this image as 'Drawing', then we can move to the next step. Just to note that a small border section of the picture and all the other layers will be slightly covered by the picture frame front.

The details from the windows in the A4 sized photo will not really be seen in detail, as all we are looking for here is a little background colour and shadow images. These windows however need to be correctly aligned behind the pencil sketch image. If you are coping from a photo you can use this and crop out the window areas, or you can find a generic photo of trees, skyline etc. and use these. Another option is to draw some coloured images, making them slightly over-sized so you can cut them exactly to size of the windows in the pencil sketch.

1. On your paint program, open up the 'Photo' image making sure only the photo is seen and not any blank canvas. If there is canvas showing, use the 'Crop' tool to only leave the A4 photo.
2. Use your drawing tools (Lines, Filled Boxes etc.) set to colour white, and go over the entire photo so only the windows (French doors, patio doors etc.) are left. No door frames, no curtains/blinds or anything should be left, just the window view.
3. The overall image should still be A4 sized, so use the 'Save As' option and name it 'Windows' as a backup, and print it off.
4. Cut the top half of the print out, cutting around the top halves of the windows.
5. Attach some double sided tape to the back of the window areas only, remove the tape backing, line up the bottom half of the print out to the second clear acrylic sheet, the lay the print out onto the acrylic.
6. Grab your knife and cut around the bottom parts of the windows and remove the excess blank paper so only the windows are left attached to the acrylic.

If you are hand drawing the layers, place a blank sheet of A4 white paper on your table, then place the pencil sketch on top. Now grab a pencil and flip the sketch back and fourth which helps you as a guide to where to mark out where the windows are. When the window outlines are done, remove the sketch and add some coloured shapes like trees etc. with some coloured marker pens within the window frames.

Depending on the pictures you are drawing and the paper you are using, you can get away with not cutting the window images out as the light from the LEDs can come through the paper, but cutting them out and mounting them of the clear piece of acrylic does give better definition of the shadow and light.

We can now make our silhouette stencil which basically acts as a blackout panel. This is the monochrome image where the blacks filter out the backlight, and the whites are the lighting points which will be cut out of the finished silhouette stencil. The image details in this step are not as important as the main pencil sketch as a lot of it will be covered or cut out.

1. Open up either the 'Photo' file in your paint program and notice the bright areas of the image (bright areas where sunlight falls i.e. floor areas, table tops, tops of seats, furniture edges etc.).
2. Cover the dark areas using a selection of paint tools like lines, filled squares, paint fill etc. with the black colour selected. What we are looking for here are outline shapes, not details of the picture.
3. When the black areas are mainly done, switch the colour to white and fill all of the light sunlit areas.
4. Finish off the stencil by finely tuning the silhouette so all of the areas ae completely filled.
5. Finally, use the 'Save as' option and save the stencil image as 'Silhouette' as a backup, print the image out, then place the sheet onto your cutting board. With a new blade fitted to your knife, cut out all of the white areas, large and small so only the black areas remain, ideally in one piece (see below).

Some things to note:

1. I mentioned at the start of this step that details are not too important here, but the more smaller details you put in, such as shadows cast by things like chair and table legs, and the light that is cast around these shadows, the more detailed the final picture will be and will look better.
2. But, when doing these small details, keep in mind the areas that will be cut out. Very small details will be very difficult to cut out and are not really necessary.
3. And when shading the white areas into the stencil image, you want to keep in mind to try and keep the final stencil sheet in one piece after the white areas have been cut out.
4. If you are hand drawing the layers, place a blank sheet of A4 white paper on your table, then place the pencil sketch on top. Now grab a black marker pen and flip the sketch back and fourth which helps you guide where to draw black lines for the blackout areas. When you have made your marks, remove the sketch, colour in the black areas and cut out the white areas.
5. And depending on the drawing you have made, you can sometimes use different colours instead of black to highlight blue skies, greenery etc. This worked well for my Lighthouse drawing to highlight the water and sky.

When the SpectraFrame is illuminated, depending on the thickness of the paper used, there will be a little light bleed-through from the LED strip in the black areas, which is not actually a bad thing because in daylight it won't be noticeable, but in a dark room, the bleed-through actually helps subtly illuminate the whole picture.

1. Cut out a piece of white foam core, A4 size (21 x 29.7 cm).
2. With the foam core panel laying flat on your table, roughly draw out seven equally spaced marks onto the panel. This is to help you guide you for fitting the LED strip which will go along the length of the panel in seven rows (technically six and a half rows from a 2 meter strip).
3. Start to peel pack the adhesive backing paper of the LED strip and attach it to the foam core panel.
4. Attach the battery pack to the other side of the foam core panel, along the bottom and in the middle so it is balanced if you want to hang the SpectraFrame on a wall. If the panel is a tight fit, make a tiny cut into the bottom of the panel for the LED cable to feed through so it doesn't pinch.
5. Cut out a small piece of foam core, no deeper that the frame with the layers fitted, and glue it to the panel, top center. This will act as a small pull lug if you want to take the layers out and change the picture.

1. Lay the picture frame face down onto your table with the front acrylic sheet near your tabletop. Ensure the acrylic is clean.
2. Lay in the pencil sketch, then the acrylic sheet with the windows, then the cut out silhouette making sure the image layers are all in the correct orientation, then fit another sheet of clear acrylic to help hold the picture sandwich together.
3. Cut a couple of foam core strips to fit along the inside length of the frame. Cut them to length so they are a press fit as these will help to keep the picture sandwich held together. Simply pull them back out to change the picture.
4. Finally fit the LED back panel, LED strip facing inwards, making sure the panel in against the back of the frame. The distance from the LED strip to the pictures will help disperse the light with no hot spots showing through the images (Hot spots are when you see the individual diodes from the LED strip shining through the paper). Then fit batteries into the battery pack if you haven't already done so.
5. Stand your new SpectraFrame upright and check the picture looks good,
6. Finally, if you haven't done so already, set up your LED strip and turn the backlights on to see the final result.

If you find there are parts you're not quite happy with, make a note of the issue... is it the windows, is it the silhouette, and make any necessary changes. Remember you have backups of the images (if done of a PC), so if you cannot make changes to the layer images you already made, you can make some new layers. And have a play about with the lighting too to see what the effects are with different colours and LED strip settings.

Above are the layers (3 layers per picture) for all of the pictures featured in this Instructable. You will notice that the Lighthouse image has a black/blue and a white/blue silhouette. Using either one of these gives a different Chiaroscuro lighting effect. Give them a try and see what you prefer.

I mentioned at the start that I have been making these for a very long time and have made them in different shapes and sizes. For example, I made one at A1 size (59.4 x 84.1 cm) which came out really well, but from what I can remember, because of the larger size I made a soft wood frame for the extra strength, and used 2 or 3mm thick clear acrylic because I felt that using the 1mm thickness would be too flimsy. And I believe I used a 10 meter length of warm white LED strip. No computer or printing, everything was hand drawn and coloured on a large sheet of paper.

As for shapes, I did make a smaller round frame using foam core and used kerf cuts (making multiple close vertical cuts about 3/4 of the way through the board allowing the foam core strip to curve) to make the round frame sides, and glued the outer clear acrylic sheet to the edge of the frame. I tried a triangle one too which looked pretty cool.

But the artwork itself is where it all comes together and is what it's all about. I have tried many different designs, some really good, some not so great, but it was fun none the less experimenting with what worked and what didn't. Look at and study photos of certain scenes to see how shadow and reflective light acts, then use your imagination to see what fun and meaningful designs you can come up with. And if anyone makes their own SpectraFrame, I'd love to see the designs you come up with in the comments.

Many thanks for reading, and until the next time... happy making.