CREWE students have been creating a big impression by displaying eye-catching portraits of themselves at college.

Graphic Communications students at South Cheshire College have made their mark by creating black and white portrait stencils and spraying them onto hoardings which surround the site of the college’s new £74 million campus.

The group have produced the sea of faces as part of their Self Identity course unit, which focuses on stencilling, lino prints and collagraphs.

Students started the project by taking photos of each other before converting them into solid black and white using Adobe Photoshop software.

They then cut out stencils before taking them out to the hoardings at the back of the Dane Bank Avenue campus and spraying them onto the boards.

John Nuttall, graphics lecturer, said: “I’ve been amazed at the standard of some of the stencils which students have produced.

“The portraits look superb on the hoardings and some of the attention to detail on them is fantastic.”

Last November, art and design students painted a giant mural onto the hoardings as part of the Colleges Week 2008 Celebrations.

Up to 120 students joined forces to create the longest piece of artwork ever produced in Cheshire in a day by letting their creative imagination run wild.

John Nuttall added: “These black and white self portraits add to the existing murals on the boards.

“The work of Banksy in the UK and Shepard Fairey in the US have made stencilling a really popular contemporary art form.

“Students had a lot of fun doing this project which has formed a valuable part of one of their course modules.”

The hoardings separate the existing college campus from the new building which is currently under construction and is set to open its doors in September next year.

Students will reproduce their self-portraits as full-size posters to include in their course portfolios.