@APITATAN

@Freakingart

@MrDevas

@Dato_one

@reineroro

Common Areas

Graffiti can be anywhere and everywhere, but if your interested in finding a lot of graffiti; trains, big cities, under bridges, and bridges are great places to find some. These areas are most common for graffiti because these all deal with transportation. When a writer is able to find a place where a big group of people will see his work, most times, he'll graffiti there. See, if you do graffiti in an alleyway thats in a small town or something, not as many people see your work as much as they would see on a billboard next to the interstate. Understand? This is what writers call "getting up." It means that a writer is getting their name out  by throwing up his or her tags or pieces. In the big cities, its common to see graffiti on business or company buildings also.

LEGENDS

TAKI 183

     Some call him the godfather of modern graffiti. TAKI 183 is one of the most influential graffiti writers. His "tag" was short for Demetaki, a Greek alternative for his birth-name Demetrius, and the number 183 came from his address on 183rd Street.

Zepher

     Zepher is a graffiti artist, lecturer and author from New York City. He began creating graffiti in 1975 and first signed using the name "Zephyr" in 1977. He has been identified as a graffiti "elder", who along with PHASE 2 and TAKI 183 have invented styles and standards "that continue to be used and expanded upon today". He was also part of the first wave of graffiti artists to make the transition to galleries, collectors and commercial work. In the early 80s, he showed at NYC galleries specialized in graffiti.



PHASE 2

      He was another and well known New York City graffiti artists. Mostly active in the 1970s, Phase 2 is generally credited with originating the "bubble letter" style of graffiti writing, also known as "softies". He was also influential in the early hip-hop scene. He began writing in late 1971 under the name Phase 2, Part of the appeal of graffiti writing for Phase 2 was that it allowed him to get his "name" known yet remain anonymous. He noted later that tagging provided disadvantaged urban teens "the only significant vehicle to represent their 'existence.'" It was in late 1972 that Phase 2 first used an early version of the "bubble letter" or "softie", a style of graffiti writing, which would become extremely influential and is considered a "giant leap" in the art form. The puffed-out, marshmallow-like letters drawn by Phase 2 were soon copied by other artists who added their own variations. He is also credited with pioneering the use of arrows in graf writing around this same time. In 1974 Phase 2 joined the newly created United Graffiti Artists, a professional graffiti collective that began to attract media attention which appeared in New York magazine and inspired a new generation of graffiti artists. In the 1980s, Phase 2 began publishing International Graffiti Times, the first zine about graffiti writing.

COPE 2

     COPE 2 is a famous graffiti artist from the South Bronx, New York. He has been writing graffiti since 1978-79, and has gained international credit for his work. Though he is now known worldwide, he didn't receive recognition in the mainstream graffiti world until the mid 1990's. Cope2 has achieved considerable mainstream success for his artwork and has collaborated and released many projects alongside such names as Adidas and Time Magazine. Also in 2005, Time Magazine commissioned Cope2, for $20,000, to paint a billboard ad in the SoHo district of Manhattan, New York on Houston and Wooster. The ad depicts the magazines cover with graffiti tags scrawled over it; the text reads "Post-Modernism? Neo-Expressionism? Just Vandalism? Time. Know Why".

Graffiti At Your School?! And Legal?!

Recently I've had an idea to bring new art to my high school. I've been thinking about working on a piece for my schools red hallway. The design that I've had in mind is something that says, "TIGERS". I could make it all capitalized with an outline first. Next, I could fill it in with black because the wall is already white. After the fill in, I can put on orange stripes in the letters, giving it that tiger's look. After the stripes are in, I can than outline the piece with white, bringing the letters to life and giving them their shape again.

After all of this is done, I can get into more detailed work. I could create it so its 3D looking; I can add a glow effect, shading to different color if I wanted. With the letters, I can draw a tiger or tiger eyes above the lettering. If I wanted to get really into detail with this, I could have the tiger looking like its busting out from the wall behind, and have the lettering kinda all busted up but still readable.

I'm still deciding how big this piece would be. I've got an idea that each letter might be 4 feet high and 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide. But these are just my ideas that I have right now. I could come up with something better in a little bit but I'd like to know what you would like to see in the design.

I've spoken to my principal at school to see if this would be allowed and we both agreed that this would be a new good thing for our school. Hopefully if completed and happens, it creates more tiger spirit throughout the school body. I look forward to this project because this will be my toughest one yet and I'll also be leaving my mark on the school.

Do you want graffiti at your school?

This one was a close call. I actually had to come back and finish this one. This probably took me all together in time spent an hour or so. I think I used 3 black and 2 white cans on this one. I was just finishing the fill in when I heard a vehicle pass over above. Talk about a rush of adrenaline, my heart was pounding so fast but the excitement was great. So I ran, and as I just left the area, the vehicle pulled in on bottom. Ended up being lucky and getting out in time. Next day though, just came back and finished it. I probably wont forget this piece because of the experience I had.

I created this piece way back ago. I think one of my firsts. If its unreadable to you, it spells out my name again. In this design i was going for more of a block lettering look. This one took me less time to finish because there is no fill in just outline. I only needed 2 cans for this.

This is a piece I created at my own place. I used about 8 cans on this one. If you are not able to read this, It says KYLE. Took me about half and hour to finish. To me, this is currently one of my favorites that ive created. I like the wavy lettering it has and the color I chose for it.

This is one of my artworks I have completed. Iv'e already posted about this in "Graffiti Near You" post. Is there anything you would wanna see added to it? I think the fading from white to tan could of gone a little smoother but in overall I was happy with this one. Had a couple paint runs but thats whats gonna happen when you spray paint on that type of material.

Crew Krew Cru!

Today its common for a crew to be in graffiti. A graffiti crew is a group of other artists or writers that perform graffiti. Most people think that graffiti crews are affiliated with gangs which is false. Most graffiti crews are unaffiliated with gangs. A graffiti crew can be created by anyone as long as the group is interested in graffiti and are collaborating about it. The bigger the group the smaller the risk of being held responsible for illegal artwork on buildings. The risk becomes smaller because from a legal point of view, anyone could have painted the artwork thats in that group.

Graffiti Near You?

Just yesterday I created one of my own graffiti pieces in town. My art is located at Molly's Rude Awakening. If you decide to go see it, let me know of what you think. The time I spent into it was probably around hour and a half and I used about 12 cans. I used the word "coffee" because thats what Molly had asked me to spray paint. The colors I chose for it too kinda makes me want coffee. Does it happen to you?

WHATS YOUR STYLE?!

Tags
Tags are basically the graffiti writer’s signature; if they’re associated with a crew, they might also contain the crew’s name or initials. Tags can be done with spray paint, pens, and markers. Tags can be found anywhere, inside or outside.

Throw-Up
A Throw-Up is a quickly done piece of work. Mainly meant for in and out situations. Usually only containing no more than three colors or two. Throw-Ups are used more often because you can throw up numerous spots rather than just one.

Stencil
Stencils are used for quick designs that can have good detail. Its not used as much as a throwie but it still works. Usually only used with spray paint.

Stickers (Slaps)
Using stickers for quick tagging without markers or paint.

Wildstyle
Wildstyle is a particular style of writing that was developed in New York City. It’s a complicated stylized form of writing that is not easy to read. Wildstyle writing has arrows, spikes, curves and other elements that give it a wildstyle look. Wildstyle is often 3D and is considered to be one of the most hardest forms of graffiti.

Piece
A piece is a graffiti painting, more detail and time than a throw-up and having at least three colors. Writes who do pieces often gain more respect because pieces are more time consuming and involving greater details. Some pieces are allowed on buildings because of the great art that it is.

Blockbuster
A blockbuster is used to cover maximum area in a minimal amount of time. Often consisting of large block letters, paint rollers with long handels are used. Usually these are used to go over other crew graffiti or get their name out there big.

Heaven
Heaven is a spot that is dangerous to reach. Usually a heaven spot to graffiti is on top of high buuildings, train bridges, freeway signs ect. Anywhere you can die trying to graffiti is a heaven spot. If pulled off though, a writer can gain a lot of respect from other writers and you also know it would be hard for someone else to cover up your work.

Graffiti Documentary

I would agree with them, I get the same feeling too. If graffiti did become legal, it wouldnt be the same. The rush of being in and out and actually having a challenge creates half the thrill. But then again, it would be much more conveinient. But is there anything that gives you the same feeling almost too?

graffiti vandalism

In my personal opinion, graffiti is a crime. But just because I think its a crime doesn't mean I believe its bad. To me, graffiti can be beautiful, and also ugly. People who just spray bad language or rediculous material give graffiti a whole worse name than it actually is. See, people who create an artwork and spend time in making it look amazing isnt a bad thing. I think of it as decorating haha. But the problem is, when someone picks up a can and sprays a beautiful piece, others think they can do the same. When really they shouldn't be near a spray can because they just give graffiti a bad name. Graffiti is an artform, and although many others have frowned upon it and labeled it as a crime, I believe it creates an escape for me from reality. Its what calms me down.

intro.

Yo, whats up? This is my blog about graffiti and graffiti related ideas. on this blog, feel free to comment and give your thoughts about the subject. I will be also posting some of my art too. And ask me questions about anything you wanna learn a little more on about graffiti. I'll post you back.

My name is Kyle, and im a senior in high school right now. The reason why im blogging about this is so I can talk to others about graffiti. Find out what others know anad who else is interested.