5 Types Of Graffiti Pieces
Pieces are the top of the food chain in graffiti with no other form of graffiti topping them. Today, our new video on YouTube, "5 Types of Graffiti Pieces” , goes over a few while sharing some pros and cons of each. Here, I want to summarize and explain some of those pros and cons for you guys.
Wild Styles - #5
Wild styles are the most stylistic version of graffiti pieces, and the key here is that wild styles have no limit to how technical they can be. For this reason, wild styles come in a wide range of technicality, but one thing remains consistent. To be classified as a wild style, the graffiti needs to reach a minimum of style added to it that exceeds that of normal pieces.
Pros:
Allows you to show off your skill and knowledge
Helps to push the art form forward (only applicable if you’re doing something new and unique)
Cons:
Almost always contain fundamental flaws from beginners - slightly advanced artists
Requires a very high skill level to pull off
Hard to read (especially if it has flaws) even for experienced writers
3d Graffiti #4
This is easily the hardest form of graffiti when done well, yet its surprisingly simple. While that may seem like a contradiction, lets explore why that is. To do 3D graffiti you first have to understand ALL of graffiti’s fundamentals, and ontop of that, you have to understand the elements of art. The elements of art are standard practice, and expected of any artist in all other art forms, but graffiti artists almost never study this. In my 20 years of teaching, and in over 20 years of doing graffiti I have never met a graffiti artist who knew and studied the elements of art if they’ve only ever done graffiti. For any artist who likes other forms of art, they’ll likely know the elements of art, so mixing that with graffiti to make 3d graffiti is a walk in the park. There are very few artists of this type, and that’s why you see just about all 3D graffiti copies the same 5 or so people. Most people who do 3D graffiti don’t know the elements of art at all, and they hardly know graffiti’s fundamentals, this is what makes them 100% dependent on those 3D artists they copy from. For these artists, they find 3D graffiti to be just about impossible to do without biting as they don’t understand the elements of art.
Pros
Looks amazing and allows you to do many things not in the scope of normal graffiti
Expands your potential skill and knowledge for graffiti to new heights due to the elements of art (only applicable if you learn the elements of art)
Very easy to do if you know the elements of art
Cons
Requires high knowledge of graffiti and an understanding of the elements of art that most graffiti artists don’t have
Very easy to get stuck in a rut of copying more capable artists causing your skill and knowledge to stagnate
Very easy to mess up if you don’t know the basics
Black and White / Block Busters- #3
This category is a fun one because they arent necessarily a style of graffiti as much as they’re a result of getting up. While block busters are almost always straight letters, you can certainly have wild-style black and whites/silvers. Black and white, or silver paints used to be easy to find, and you can get some cheap cans with those colors and be fine so this category became associated with getting up and catching spots
Pros
Fast (unless you’re doing a huge blockbuster)
Easy to do
Cons
No real downsides unless you don’t like simple letters or bringing buckets and rollers to a spot
Old School Pieces - #2
Old school graffiti from NY was iconic, and for being a whole new art at the time, artists then had a great sense for the basics. Their work was surprisingly great for being a new art and they had a funky style about their letters and colors. This aesthetic is very hard to recreate and it was a style very much of it’s time.
Pros
Iconic memorable style
Often times easy to read
Cons
Hard to replicate and look authentic
Straight Letters- #1
Pieces come in 3 different categories, and straight letters are the most simplistic of the 3 categories. Don’t let that fool you though, straight letters can be much more difficult than wild-style pieces. Since straight letters are more simplistic in their design, you have fewer tools at your disposal to hide your mistakes. wild styles make it really easy to hide your flaws, straight letters are a raw demonstration of your skill and knowledge. So even though they have an easy-to-achieve simple design, you’ll be forced to refine all of your fundamentals to really progress this style of graffiti; think of it as an easy to learn hard to master kind of style.
Pros
Easy to do
High speed
Easy to read
Cons
Hard to master
If you’re new to graffiti then play around with each of these for some fun and allow yourself to mess around for a good time. I’d recommend not really focusing on the quality if you’re new, simply because many of these are very stylish, so experimenting and having fun would be the goal here. However, if you’re looking for some practice as a new writer then start off with the straight letters as this would be the best place to begin learning.
If you’re looking to learn the basics of graffiti then check out our brand new book The Ultimate Graffiti Guide Book Part 1-Fundamentals where you’ll learn all of graffiti’s basics in an easy-to-follow book. By the end of it you’ll fully understand how to find your style, and how to keep progressing for the rest of your graffiti journey.
