GRAFFITI FOR BEGINNERS: HOW TO GET STARTED

Is Graffiti art or vandalism? This is a question we have answered before, but knowing graffiti as an art, today we want to explain to you how to get started as a beginner!

You have to know that to be a professional in the graffiti field, you have to be an expert with its techniques and tricks!

How to draw graffiti for beginners?

As we said, graffiti is complex but it’s not impossible to learn. First of all, let’s see the different parts of a graffiti:

• The fill-in: colored areas
• The outline: colored or black line around the fill-in
• 3D blocks
• A background
• A keyline: line that runs around the whole piece

Highlights and the year of creation are optionally.

And there are the different materials you will need to start:

• Plain paper
• A pencil
• An eraser
• A sharpener
• A fine line black marker or pen

Step 1: Trace

A graffiti tag is the basis of the design of a graffiti piece, so let’s start deciding what word we want to draw. For example, you would try with your name or a name you want as a sprayer.

In addition, you can add some elements that have a meaning in the context of the word such as drips or arrows.

Once you have this, let’s move on to the first step. Consists of tracing the edges of the lines with a pencil leaving a little bit of space between the edge of the marker and your new pencil line. The result will be the same letters but in bigger proportions.

Step 2: Improve!

It’s very important the composition of the whole graffiti, so if you see that one letter is bigger than the others, try to make them all the same size!

In addition, in this step, you can think of competing for the graffiti with other elements that for you are characteristics. For example, you can draw arrows, flowers, or serifs. Also, it’s important to use the serif option, a small extra stroke attached to the end of the main vertical and horizontal strokes of a letter, since in that way the artwork seems more complex. You can also add forms as circles if you want to improve it more!

This step is the slowest, you should not take the first thing that comes out! Practice, practice, and practice! Add effects, shapes, elements and make the graffiti amazing!

Step 3: Redraw the lines

This step is to redraw your pencil lines with a marker, try to do it slowly, there is no hurry! You will have to wait to let the color dry and then you will be able to erase all the pencil lines.

Step 4: Color your graffiti

A good option to make your graffiti even more complex is to draw gradients. Color is very important in graffiti, so try the best that expresses your idea.

You can search different color options on Instagram or Pinterest as an inspiration, if you are a beginner this is the best option to find the colors which best fit your graffiti!

Step 5: Don’t forget the 3D blocks!

The vanishing point is the clue here: choose a point below the graffiti where all the 3D blocks lead to. Also, you have to choose how big the blogs should be. Then, with a ruler, draw a line (in its measure) from every corner of the graffiti letters to the vanishing point. Cool, isn’t it? Here you have the 3D blocks!

You can paint them as well! Use your imagination!

Step 6: Background

The first thing to do here is to paint the keyline, the line around the whole graffiti. Therefore, you will be painting the background of the graffiti. In addition, you can add some effects such as drops.

You have already done your first graffiti, how do you feel? Do you already feel ready to participate in urban art painting with spray? Practice nonstop and we won’t doubt it!