Write In Graffiti

When most people think of graffiti, they think of outdoor murals and tags created with spray paint. While the street is the most popular place to write graffiti, the truth is that writing in graffiti can be done with virtually any writing utensil and blank canvas.

Before graffiti artists start bombing the streets, they typically learn how to write graffiti with pencil and paper. The following steps are intended to be an introduction to writing in graffiti.

Step1 Choose a word to write in graffiti. Many graffiti artists use their name or pseudonym.

Step2 Choose a graffiti style. There are dozens of unique styles for writing in graffiti. You might consider becoming familiar with different styles by taking note of professional pieces of graffiti in your city or online. One of the most popular graffiti styles for beginners is bubble letters.

Step3 Once you have found your graffiti style of choice, keep an example of it on hand for reference. Put your pencil to paper and make light strokes to mimic the style of your example. Erase and rewrite as necessary until you are satisfied with your pencil drawing.

Step4 Add details such as shading or graphics. Use your creativity. Keep it relatively simple until you grow comfortable writing more complex graffiti.

Step5 Use trace paper or a photo copier to make a copy of your completed pencil drawing. This will make it easy to start over in case you make a mistake in the next step.

Step6 Use a marker or pen to darken the pencil marks. Make them permanent. Use colored markers or crayons to fill in your letters and compete your graffiti writing.

Step7 Keep practicing and experimenting with graffiti to develop a unique style you can call your own.

Excellently Executed - The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers

The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers has successfully compiled a who's who of writer's writers in a format that looks so legit, you'd swear you could feel the grooves in the pages left by pencils and pens... as authentic and realistic as possible, there are even a few blank sheets to get up yourself! I even tried to peel the sticker off the inside cover!

Way before there were all these electronic networks, there was piecebooks. And within the confines of the book's covers, writers explored styles and studied up on the art. With that in mind, Sacha "SHR" Jenkins and David "Chino" Villorente have compiled dazzling pages from the real sketchbooks of graf legends like Zephyr, Lady Pink, Dondi and Sane for Piecebook: The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers (Prestel).

"Piecebooks are also used to collect work from other writers we respect/admire," says Villorente. "There are very few items a writer might buy at 14 years old that they'll still be purchasing and passing around at 41." Through close attention to design detail--simulated duct taped spine, illustration proportions and texture over 200-plus pages--the two have triumphed, where most have failed, in capturing graf's authenticity in book format. --Mass Appeal, Issue # 51

Before it hits the wall, graffiti is often painstakingly planned out in a sketchbook or piece book. Well-worn and dog-eared, these books are passed along from artist to artist as a way of sharing ideas and offering instruction. Here hundreds of drawings, most of them never before published, are reproduced on uncoated paper to resemble the pages of an authentic piecebook. Bold and beautiful works from graffiti history s most important sources or seeds Zephyr, Dondi, Daze, CRASH, Lady Pink, T-Kid, CAP and Ghost, among others represent a dizzying array of techniques.

The authors, former graffiti practitioners themselves, offer biographies of the artists and an introductory essay on why piecebooks have become such valuable historical records. Fans of graffiti will find this an irresistible inside look at how their favorite artists perfected their talents.

No Graffiti But You Must To See - My Redeemer Lives

A son says to his father: 'Dad, would you be willingly to run a marathon with me?'

The father, despite his age and a heart disease, says 'YES'.

And they run that marathon, together.

The son asks: 'Dad, can you run another marathon with me?' Again father says 'YES'.

They run another marathon, together.

One day the son asks his father: 'Dad, would please do the Iron Man with me?'

Now just in case you wouldn't know, 'The Iron Man' is the toughest triatlon in existance; 4km swimming, then 180 km by bike, and finaly another 42 km running, in one stroke.

Again father says 'YES'

Maybe this doesn't 'touch' you yet by heart ... until you see this movie (put on sound!):

Graffiti Breaks Free From Wall

The Hip-hop theatre pioneer Jonzi D explores the issue of whether graffiti really is an artform or merely vandalism. He directs a team of six of the UK's best break- dancers and body-poppers, who become "physical calligraphy" alongside specially commissioned graffiti "sculptures" and on-stage video animations.

The dancers, representing paints and colours, move within large, sculpted graffiti-style letters made of wood, steel and upholstery, all created by the British graffiti artist Prime, of Sculptural Graffiti. The dance theatre piece, set to a score by DJ Pogo that combines hip-hop break-beats and scratch patterns, charts the story of an obsessive graffiti writer.

"We're not trying to define whether graffiti art is a crime or not: we know that it is," Jonzi D says. "But it is also an artform. We are having a creative discussion on the vandalism and the criminality and the artistry of the form."

The graffiti artist is played by John Berkavitch, a performance poet and breakdancer who is also a graffiti artist. "Like a puppet master, he shapes the bodies of the dancers with an imaginary graffiti wand into images that come to life," Jonzi D says. "He is exorcising his personal and creative demons in the only way he knows how."

Since graduating from the London Contemporary Dance School in 1993, Jonzi D has dedicated himself to hip-hop theatre, creating Lyrikal Fearta in 1995 and Aeroplane Man in 1999. He was an associate artist at The Place, London, and has performed dance theatre all over the world. He is also the creator and host of Breakin' Convention, the annual hip-hop festival at Sadler's Wells in London.

Ximending Graffiti Art Exhibit

Something is going on in Taipei on 12/12 in Ximending. It involves the best graffiti artists in Taiwan, so if you've got free time, get up there and get yer culture on!