One of my quirky hobbies I’ve covered on this blog many times is photographing street art, so it should come as no surprise that I was interested in creating my own.
Hidden away in a nondescript building in LA’s Fashion District, I arrived at a class from Graff Tours taught by Andi, an extremely talented local street artist.
The class was entirely indoors and used water-based spray paint. The first step? It surprised me but it makes sense: replacing the spray cap on the can with a higher quality one for better control.
Then we got into the bulk of the class: can control and various lettering techniques. We went over basic bubble lettering, filling areas, outlining, 3D visuals, backgrounds, and (importantly!) how to correct mistakes.
The photo above is my first attempt. For those who don’t get the reference, it’s a phrase scribbled on the wall in the video game Portal…
“This was a triumph. I’m making a note here: huge success. It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.”
Obviously, the minimum line width depends on how closely you’re holding the can to the wall. The catch? The paint will be focused on one spot, so you have to move the can quickly and steadily to avoid creating a dripping mess.
The more advanced technique involves layering; if you want a thin white line against a black background, for example, you’d spray the white line as narrow as possible, then “carve” a thin black line on either side of it to slim it down. Andi made it look effortless, but I could tell that ability took significant practice.
My recommendation: In case it’s not obvious, I had a delightful time with this one. The price was a bargain at around $40. I’m already thinking about taking more street art classes in the future if I can find some around San Francisco. For those in NYC, Graff Tours also offers a similar workshop in Brooklyn.
