Graffiti sketches is where most newcomers begin but really you should
start by asking yourself - graffiti - what does it really mean to you?
Most people see it as something that emerged only in modern society,
scribbled by urban youth on railway bridges. However, its use can be
traced back to ancient civilisations, such as the ancient Egyptians
whose hieroglyphics could be considered a form of what we know today as
graffiti. One can even say that graffiti or writing, as it is more
commonly known, dates back to the origins of mankind itself, when
Neanderthal man's sense of his environment was expressed through cave
drawings.
More
often than not graffiti has been characterised as vandalism due to its
associations with the spray-painted drawings you often see plastered
over buildings and walls in cities.
Graffiti art can be
categorised in three common forms: Tags, Pieces and Labels. All of us
have walked down a street and seen various walls covered with graffiti,
but can we differentiate one item of graffiti from another? The most
common and the easiest to recognise is a tag.
A tag is usually a simple one-coloured design (though it can be more
complex). Put simply, it is a depiction of a writer or artist's
nickname or message, and its aim is to send a message to other writers.
A
piece or masterpiece is a more complex form of graffiti art where a
writer usually starts with some kind of pre-conceived plan or sketch. A
piece tends to take graffiti art more in the direction of character
art, which has a big fanbase. People will often be able to distinguish a
writer's work by their character designs alone. Artists like D*Face,
Insa, Sickboy and Inkie can all be recognised by the characters or
symbols in their pieces.
A label is when a writer's tag or
character design is printed on posters or stickers. Labels can be found
in most cities around the world. This can be a great way for all kinds
of artists to promote their art far and wide; usually tags are quite
hard to see and they are only going to draw the attention of people
interested in street art. You often see labels plastered on the back of
street signs, lampposts, and anywhere with a smooth surface that can
have something stuck to it.
Although graffiti art seems to have
been part of the mainstream for ages, it was not until the 1970s that
graffiti reinvented itself with a more modern term named writing, which
first took root in the United States and later spread across the water
to Europe.
The last decade has seen writing really take hold of
the global art scene with celebrities emerging from the hub of graff
artists around the world. It is only now that you hear about graffiti
events like Secret Wars and people like American actress Angelina Jolie
forking out £100,000 for an original piece by the notorious
Bristol-born artist Banksy. Also, a new record was recently set when a
piece went for a massive £280,000.
Graffiti art is the new cool,
with hundreds of companies in the last few years jumping on the street
art bandwagon. Graffiti is no longer just a shunned art form, yet it
still manages to stay
