Whether you love or loath graffiti, you can’t deny the purity and beauty of the free expression many graffiti pieces embody. Graffiti, like many other recognized forms of art, is a vehicle of expression often employed by the oppressed youth within a society. For many the decision to learn to graffiti is a way for these groups to be heard and noticed within an otherwise ‘too busy’ ‘money focused’ society.
There are many factors that influence graffiti style. These factors can include personal, social, political and social influences and are often the result of experimentation and trial and error. At its roots, graffiti style emerged from hip-hop culture and is based on vibrant colors, free-form expression and signs and symbols prevalent in the culture. There are a number of different methods in which to learn to graffiti, including tagging, bombing and creating masterpieces often called ‘pieces’.
A writer’s graffiti style is based on their tag. If you’re going to learn to graffiti you need to develop your own unique tag to build your graffiti style on. In order to develop your tag you need to choose for yourself a name. It really can be anything you want, an acronym of your own name, a nickname or a name you’ve made up. The choice is yours. It is best you don’t use your actual name though!
Once you have your tag perfected you need to get to work in your blackbook. All good graffiti writers have one. Use your blackbook to learn to graffiti and develop your graffiti style. From the work you develop in your blackbook you can graduate from tagging to bombing and piecing which is where a lot of writers see the true merit in graffiti.
Bombing is often a writers tag on a larger scale. You still need to aim for style, but bombing is about getting up as much as you can in a short period of time. Writer’s bombing often consists of their tag name outline with a single color fill. Other writers may also just use their own character they’ve developed, but this is often more effective if you’ve already established yourself among other writers. Bombing will get your name out there as a graffiti writer and help you build your reputation.
If your like most artists trying to learn to graffiti for the respect and fame then the best way to do this is by getting up as many high quality pieces as possible. This is where your graffiti style is paramount. If you haven’t mastered your can skills and refined your graffiti style you don’t stand a chance amongst the more experienced and respected writers. This is where your blackbook will be invaluable to you.
An experienced graffiti writer won’t be found without a blackbook. No matter how long writers have been in the game, the blackbook is an indispensable tool. Use your blackbook everyday to sketch out pieces you see and admire. Get together a collection of makers, sharpies, chisel pens etc to use to develop your graffiti style. As you learn to graffiti, all of your work will be put together in your blackbook. And don’t be afraid of color!
Your bombing should have given you a feel for how to use your cans and paint markers of choice. As you move on to piecing you need to refine these skills to get up pieces that will stand out and be noticed by others. There’s nothing worse for your reputation than repeatedly getting up with whack pieces. You may as well give up and go home.
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