Having my own style with letters has always been important, as it should be for all graffiti artists...I've recently been going through loads of old files, after kindly been given a new P.C, and have decided to share some...
I've always tried to develop my piece every time I paint...There's no such thing as a right way to do graff, but there are, or used to be, certain unwritten rules you had to follow or understand...I like seeing an artists work that has always been in progress.Without the obvious biting of another persons work...It seems these days graffiti magazines are like style catalogues for some, where artists switch styles depending on what's popular..It's difficult not to get inspired, (whoever put bubbles behind their letters first has been copied the most) but copying or obvious switching of styles has never been my thing..
I started to find my own style in 2002 after a few years of sketching outlines and tagging..Since then I have painted regularly and will hopefully continue to do so.. Below are some pieces from each year to show how my letters have slowly evolved..
These days I paint most of my pieces freestyle- without a sketch, mainly because I'm comfortable enough rocking a HOAKS piece spelled in a number of ways..HOAKZ,HOAX,HOEX,,HOEKZ,HOEX,HOEKS and a there's a few more. I do still sketch every now and then, it's always good to have something in mind before painting, but depending on all the factors- weather,space,time,paint - I tend to work around that more..It would be nice to have a big wall with a whole week to spend painting it in the sun with an endless amount of paint, but that's never the case.. Most of these paintings were painted in a few hours, some of them in the cold with whatever paint I had or could afford at the time..Those are just some of the joys of our art form, which some people don't realise.. ..
More walls coming soon !
Thanks for looking,
