This drawing is for my mom's future husband. He knows my passion for drawing so he asked me to draw up a tattoo of my mom's name, with which he mentioned I had full control over how it looked. So after a long time of thinking of how to draw this piece I believe I finally found the right idea that would fit for him accordingly.
Here are two pieces I have completed for a series I am currently working on called "Graffiti Isn't Black & White". This series of marker and paint drawings will be expressing the true beauty of graffiti art and how it's purpose is to brighten our communities not deface them.
Air Brush:
Mechanical spraying device used to apply paint to the surface of work.
Ex:
I got to air brush my sister's sweater the other day.
Contour Line:
A line depicting the outer edge of a shape or group of shapes.
Ex:
The contour line of the drawing really makes it stand out.
Directional Line:
A line or lines, which direct our visual attention in a specific direction.
Ex:
The directional lines in the graffiti piece are a bunch of arrows.
Distortion:
Changing an object's usual shape to communicate ideas and feelings.
Ex:
A lot of graffiti art is done with distortion of the letters.
Division Space:
Breaking up space by use of positive and negative shapes.
Ex:
Some artists use division space to separate the letters in the graffiti pieces.
Emphasis:
The main element or focal point; what the viewer's eye should see first.
Ex:
The paint can emphasizes the whole the piece very well.
Exaggeration:
Increasing or enlarging an object or figure to communicate idea or feelings.
Ex:
A lot of letters are exaggerated in graffiti art for style.
Fantasy:
Imagery existing in the imagination.
Ex:
Graffiti cab display of fantasy in the art.
Foreground:
Part of a picture which appears closest to the viewer and often is at the bottom of the picture.
Ex:
You must first lay the foreground of your piece before painting it.
Full Round:
Work meant to be viewed from all sides.
Ex:
The 3D letters make the art piece look full round.
Gradation:
Compositional term referring to the transition from one form to another by changes in value.
Ex:
The gradation in the background complements the graffiti letters well.
Harmony:
Pleasing arrangement of elements of design in a work of art.
Ex:
The letter styles are drawn in complete harmony in the piece.
Horizon Line:
The distant point at which sky and ground appear to meet.
Ex:
The horizon line in the piece needs to be more straight.
Idealized:
Referring to art in which representational images conform More closely to ideal aesthetic standards than to real life.
Ex:
Graffiti uses a lot of idealized drawings to express a thought, feeling, or action.
Intensity:
The relative purity or grayness of a color. Saturation of color.
Ex:
The color scheme in the piece bring out so much intensity to the piece.
Kerning:
Selectively altering the spaces between letter combinations for a better fit.
Ex:
Graffiti uses a lot of kerning in its letter spacing.
Logo:
A visual symbol that identifies a business, club, individual or group.
Ex:
Bobby's open source logo design is the best ever.
Lowercase:
The small letters of an alphabet.
Ex:
The lowercase letter in the drawing was done very well.
Metaphor:
A figure of speech or visual presentation in which a work, phrase, or image is used in place of another to suggest a likeness between them, while in the process formulating a new concept for the imagination.
Ex:
Graffiti artists sometimes write or drawn things as metaphors for something.
Modeling:
In drawing or painting, effects of light and shadow that create the illusion of three-dimensional volume.
Ex:
Graffiti uses a lot of modeling to add 3D effects to the piece.
Street Cred:
Street credit, credit for creating good street art.
Ex.
The graffiti artist got major street credit for his billboard piece.
Reality:
The world or state of things as they exist.
Ex.
I put my view of reality in my art work.
Critique:
Criticism on someone else's art.
Ex.
The teacher critiqued the students work after they completed it.
Shapes:
Patterns and forms of things.
Ex.
The graffiti piece has many different shapes.
Texture:
The look and feel of the piece, shading for example.
Ex.
The shading texture of the scales on the fish painting makes it look so real.
Medium:
The genre or art form you are using, like painting or sculpting.
Ex.
My favorite art medium is street art and graffiti.
Background:
The area that appears farthest from the observer on an art piece.
Ex.
The background complements the piece.
Biomorphic:
Taken from nature, structured based on life.
Ex.
The sky painting had such a real biomorphic look to it.
Bleed:
The part of an image that extends beyond the edge of a page and is trimmed off.
Ex.
The thick paint bleed as it was sprayed on the canvas.
Calligraphy:
Art of clean beautiful writing like cursive for example.
Ex.
The artist has great calligraphy skills in cursive.
Color Wheel:
A reference chart for colors.
Ex.
I always look at a color wheel for direction of color choice.
Concept:
Idea of the art work or meaning behind it.
Ex.
I bird with its wings spread over the country exposed the concept of the piece well.
Content:
What's in the art piece.
Ex.
The bird adds good content to the piece.
Color Scheme:
Choice of colors for an art piece.
Ex.
The graffiti artist has a great color scheme in their work.
Choke:
A method of attending the thickness of a letter or solid shape.
Ex.
The graffiti artist always chokes the tips of his letters to make a crisp point.
Composition:
The way parts are arranged.
Ex.
The letter positions in the piece add great composition.
Crafts:
Art works that are both decorative and functional.
Ex.
Paper airplanes are a great craft.
Crop:
To cut off a portion of a shape.
Ex.
I had to crop the letter a bit to make it match with the others.
Culture:
Behaviors, ideas, skills and customs of a group of people.
Ex.
The culture in Santa Maria is different to San Luis Obispo.
Design:
To choose and arrange elements to form an art piece.
Ex.
I had to design a logo for Dr. Preston's Open Source Learning system.
In my research I looked up my ultimate favorite graffiti artist of all time, "AROEMSK." Aroe, born in the 70's, grew up in the UK, and got completely inspired by the whole early 80's Hip Hop scene. After watching the 'Buffalo Gals' video one night on TV with his brother, their lives changed forever having them focused on writing (graffiti), b-boying, djing, just about anything Hip Hop related. But through the Hip Hop Funk, writing was Aroe's passion. He changed his life around after getting into serious legal issues he created a music group known as "First Down" and recorded a series of records which eventually brought them a great fan base then parted ways into their own directions. He began to get deeper into his art, but seems like life got in the way and painting had to be put aside until things finally got managed. I love his opinion on graffiti, because it's very true when he says, "Many artists claim they do this for themselves and hate the fame and attention-it's part of the game as far as I'm concerned. Not for one second do I kid myself that the writers that painted the subway cars of New York did it for any other reason than to make a name for themselves and get the kudos and street fame in order to feel elevated among their peers." He does graffiti for the pure reasons I do and way much more, definitely the main reason why he's my true idol. To learn about him I looked up www.aroemsk.com.
I found while going through a random instagram feed a graffiti artist/disigner known as "HUEMAN". Hueman caught my attention first off, because she is a beautiful female who happens to be a graffiti artist, now it's always a great moment to hear about female graffiti artists, because you don't see many girls into the raw and rough style of graffiti art. I found her website called www.huemannature.com, and from going through her bio I learned first off that her name is Allison Torneros and that basically she is a free spirit artist. It's artists like her that inspire me to continue on with my passion for art, because for one she's a female in the graffiti scene, how cool is that?! I honestly give her props. But after seeing a few videos of her expression behind her art and reading why she paints, I can't help but admire this artist for we look at art so similarly. We take our time add things to our work as we progress in the piece, basically free styling. I also began to understand the origin behind her name "HUEMAN," do to this quote she said, "When I dare to go outside my comfort zone I feel more human, and hope to inspire others to do the same," which I hope to do for others one day as well.
I found another article on www.kcet.org called "The Legal Street Art of Santa Barbara," by Ethan Stewart. Stewart first starts his article saying, "Santa Barbara has a certain reputation in the outside world and generally speaking, it doesn't include graffiti." He then expresses calling Santa Barbara "the Sunny Seaside Hamlet," and saying how Santa Barbara's known for their red tiled roofs, nice sunny weather, and clean city. But then he talks about the first block of East Mason Street, where you come across a T-shirt shop with displays of legal graffiti art on it's outside walls. Now this wall wouldn't have even become reality if it wasn't for a local art scene fan named Laura Inks who opened a small gallery store with her boyfriend just across the street from the T-shirt shop that will display the works of street art. Soon after looking at the old building before it became a complete mural gallery, Inks with help from friends devised a project known as A.M.A.S.S (Artists Making a Street Scene) which helped open up an opportunity to display graffiti legally on the streets of Santa Barbara. With which after gaining permission of coarse the T-shirt shop displays all these amazing murals that stand as examples of the hard work and dedication Inks brought to her city.
In an article I found called "Artists On the Edge" by Yvette Cabreraon at www.missionandstate.org. The author starts her article off with a simple introduction sentence, "This place isn't meant for everyone." She then gets into a fully descriptive paragraph on the experience it is on the trail towards this mystery wall in between the Goleta and Santa Barbara area. She describes how the trail leads to an abandoned campsite where there are old trails of spray paint cans which she says are "left like artifacts." Through all this mess she comes across a huge patch of weeds which covers what she describes as a wall "that goes on for yards" and how it, "explodes into a noisy canvas of color, blending industrial, futuristic, expressionism." But she then raises the questions, "is this graffiti or art? Did artists or outlaws do this?" She then responds with, "the answer can depend on your perspective." She starts talking after about how the Santa Barbara community handles graffiti and how young artists basically end up paying for committing what is considered a crime to every one else but the artist. But at the end of her article she says "the art versus graffiti question may keep for debate, but staring at the fusion of aerosol and attitude out here in the middle of nowhere, one thing is clear! This wall has a message, someone used it to make a point." Which in my opinion the point is that graffiti art is ment to bring beauty and tell a message to the world through the expression of paint, letters, and creativity.
In spring semester:
1. What do you really want to do?
I want to learn more about graffiti art and trying and get more information and help on trying to make more ways and open more doors for graffiti art to be expressed other than getting a can of paint and writing a quick tag.
2. How can you use the tools and things you learned last semester?
I can use the tools I learned last semester by using the research skills for more study on graffiti and using the internet to find new ideas and ways to make my vision come to life.
3. What do I need to prove to myself and everything else that I should have no regrets by June.
What I need to prove myself is still focusing more on my blog posts, finding more information, and starting to contact and even collaborate with others on ideas to begin the vision of more graffiti art expression.
4. When someone looks at your blog in June, is someone going to notice a difference in it?
I hope to have left a mark in my blog because I should have posted either more information I have discovered, displayed art pieces I have worked on, or shown the progress on my vision for more graffiti art expression.
5. Can someone look at your blog and get what your trying to do?
Hopefully by my display of my art work and my updates on my graffiti expression vision should get the viewers to figure out where I am going with all this.
6. Am I the only one at the party?
I don't believe I am the only one at the party but I don't know as much people who shared the same views as mine but that's why I am going to venture out and explore my resources and try to meet more people who hold the same ideas and views as mine.
Opulence:
Great wealth or luxuriousness.
Ex.
The hotel held a lot if opulence.
Copious:
Abundant in supply or quantity.
Ex.
We were copious when it came to spray paint.
Aforementioned
Denoting a thing or person previously mentioned.
Ex.
I aforementioned about my old writing partner the other night.
Highfalutin:
Pompous or pretentious.
Ex.
The student was very highfalutin.
You don't want any highfalutin jargon.
Graffiti:
Writings or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in public.
Ex.
The student is an amazing graffiti artist when he uses spray paint.
Noisy:
Loud expression in the art or piece.
Ex.
The graffiti piece was so noisy and vibrant with color.
Canvas:
Any form of surface used to create art on.
Ex.
I use many different canvases but my favorite is a brick wall.
Futuristic:
Having or involving in very modern technology or design.
Ex.
The graffiti looked very futuristic with its straight lines and angles.
Geometric:
Of or relating to geometry, or according to its methods.
Ex.
The graffiti piece was very geometric.
Expressionism:
A style of painting, music, or drama in which the artist or writer seeks to express emotional experience rather than impressions of the external world.
Ex.
Graffiti displays a lot of expressionism.
Femininity:
The quality of being female, womanliness.
Ex.
The female graffiti artist displays a lot of femininity in her work.
Juxtaposed:
Place or deal with close together for contrasting effect.
Ex.
The graffiti seemed very juxtaposed.
Fad:
An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something.
Ex.
Sagging your pants was an over rated fad.
Writers:
Another name for street/graffiti artists.
Ex.
Did you hear about the crew of writers down by the Santa Maria bridge the another night?
B-Boys:
Another name for break dancers.
Ex.
I saw a crew if B-Boys in LA the other day.
Culminated:
Reach a climax or point of highest development.
Ex.
Throw Ups:
Quickly drawn bubble letter styled graffiti art.
Ex.
I saw a bunch of throw ups on the building.
Pieces:
Huge and well detailed graffiti murals.
Ex.
The pieces in the LA river bed are amazing.
Toys:
A negative nickname for a rival graffiti artist or an artist who just sucks.
Ex.
That kid Acer is a toy!
Tag:
A quick write of an artists name usually done with a single spray paint can or marker.
Ex.
That dude Also has a clean tag hand style.
