ForumsArt, Music, and WritingGraffiti Art -Tags,Throw-ups,Pieces+Productions

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FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
3,224 posts
Nomad

I love graffiti and have done my whole life, so here's a thread about it.

Tagging is the calligraphic writing of one's name or alias. It is generally regarded as the earliest form of graffiti. No outline involved in the leter forms. Generally the fewer the syllables the better. Taggers write their own name/crew name. Some go for clarity, others let the can drip on purpose='drippers'.

Throw-ups consist of single letter outlines, executed at speed, sometimes just a single stroke and filled in with a solitary colour. There are tons of styles out there, most frequent is the 'bubble style' ie round forms.Block lettering from a can or with rollers or 'block busters' are in this category. Images eg faces/figures can be throw ups too.

Pieces are, in a nutshell, more detailed versions of throw ups. Very personal to the writers usually using modified letterforms of some kind. Can be done in 'wildstyle' - staright lettering, as in 70s NYC writers, but are seldom used nowadays.

Productions are pieces or a series of pieces tied together with a common background background. Often written by crews.

Here's an example of all of the above.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8025/graffitiexamplesresizedvq3.jpg

(Footnote: Pieces and Productions are generally coloured in((but not always)), but due to laziness issues they remain in black and white.)

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LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
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LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
2,283 posts
Jester

^I don't have any pictuers with me eaither. Still would have loved to see the "finished" peices from people. Maybe Dacer has one?

FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
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Nomad

Anywho here is my new piece, my very own graffiti wizard. Enjoy.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6250/graffitiwizardresized.jpg

FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
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Nomad

Still would have loved to see the "finished" peices from people. Maybe Dacer has one?


Ye maybye, I'll ask him, but on Monday (tommorrow) I am going home and I have access to all my old pics. I should be able to show you guys some real pieces, and hopefully a few productions if I can find the right camera.
LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
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LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
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Jester

^WOW man, that wizard is great! I would love to see that on a wall, nice and big!

I should be able to show you guys some real pieces


Sweet, I can't wait. :3
dacer
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dacer
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Nomad

i dont have the skill for bombs, i just tagg, but i can probly get a pic of one of my freinds projects.

FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
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Nomad

Here's a piece I found from my early days. Must have been around 1999/2000. Anyway here it is, so enjoy.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/8277/f20wdmd.jpg

I have found 2 of my old cameras. One of them has most of my best stuff, including a couple of productions. I am stil trying to find it.]

LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
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LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
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Jester

WOW, that one is really great! I like the blend of colours you used! Was it all you, or a group peice? Beacuse there seems to be names of multiple people?

FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
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Nomad

It was just me, although the pic was taken a week later, so people hasd already started to burn it.

This next piece however was completed by me and my older brother. I like it much more than the other piece I put up. Bad picture quality but hey.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1588/boomresized.jpg

LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
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LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
2,283 posts
Jester

WOW, great job man, I wish I had those kinds of skills! This reminds me when the "tagg" on the school, was considerd, "gang related".....

FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
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Nomad

The thing about graffiti writing is that it isn't as hard as it looks. Each writer out there who produces consistently good pieces to the laymans eyes, is really not seen to be special. I mean of course anyone who can make decent pieces is considered a writer, but that doesn't earn them that much respect within the community. It's all about practice. Anyone can make this stuff if you put in the hours. The first piece is always your hardest, then you develop your own style and it becomes exponentially simpler after that.

As for the tags:

I can't count the number of times, when I've been doing a piece and someone has come up to ,e and said, ' I really admire you for doing these great pieces of art, not like those crappy tags you see around'. I always say the same thing in reply, that without tags and throwups you would not have pieces and productions. Every writer starts with a tag. How do you think they practice, by doing it on a giant sheet of paper in their back garden? No. You practice on a wall and get better.

I consider it a food chain. Without tags, which are seeminghly unimportant and annoying to many, you would not have piece or productions.

Ahh, nice to get that off my chest. I'm still looking through my old camera, I'll put some stuff up later tonight.

Strop
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Strop
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Bard

Wow, you're good at this stuff Firefly.

I may need your help at some stage- one of my projects is a graphic novel that is predominantly set in urban areas with lots of graffiti. But I have no experience with it whereas you know what you're talking about, so I'd probably need a consult! As soon as I figure out what I'm doing that is.

FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
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Nomad

Wow, you're good at this stuff Firefly.


Sigh don't remind me how I wasted my youth. jk, from what I've seen of your stuff around the forums and you're pretty damn good. I consider graffiti an art, so really (in my mind) we are both artists just with different styles.

I may need your help at some stage- one of my projects is a graphic novel that is predominantly set in urban areas with lots of graffiti. But I have no experience with it whereas you know what you're talking about, so I'd probably need a consult! As soon as I figure out what I'm doing that is.


I'd be happy to help. One question I would ask, probably the most noticeable variant in graffiti, is the time period. Is it set in the past (if so what decade preferably year), present or future? Neighbourhood styles have changed dramatically, each graffiti era having very distinct styles.

For example:

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1691/neighbourhoodstylesresi.jpg
Strop
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Strop
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Bard

Darn, that's a good question. The setting as I see it was a little like this history of the areas around downtown LA, where the University of Southern California is situated:

Basically the area used to be 'nice', with a good university and therefore good housing and rich people and all that. But as the city expanded over the decades, these people started moving away towards the urban center, leaving a socio-economic vacuum filled by half-way houses, gangs and homeless drifters. Consequentially while the school remains, the standard of housing fell and the crime rates rose.

The place I've set most of my story is modern, but there are vestiges of the old classy venues which have been either burnt out, abanoned and lived in by squatters or turned into other "enterprises". In a way it's more culturally active (in the red-light district sense), but the main feature is that turf and assets are actively contested: this is supposed to be an environment where I can explore competitive and hostile behaviors in their rawest form.

Zootsuit_riot
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Zootsuit_riot
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Nomad

How long does it normally take you to finish a piece or production? Do you have to do one layer one day, and then come back to it?

LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
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LiL_GaNgSta_BlAzE
2,283 posts
Jester

How long does it normally take you to finish a piece or production? Do you have to do one layer one day, and then come back to it?


I don't know about FireFly, but it may depend on the writer. If you are a "good" and experinced writer, then it may seem like you are faster. And where as you are a new writer...(Slang: Toy :P) then it may be a bit longer.
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