How to Draw Graffiti Style

This little book with its spiral bound pages ( I love those in art books - so useful not to have pages spring shut when you're working) from the "how to draw " series contains a huge wealth of information from the history of Graffiti art beginning in the US in the 70's and the influences on it as it develops through to today's highly recognised and sought after art form. From its beginnings as a type of vandalism on old buildings its morphed into a huge commercial success and this book takes us through many of the styles that it now encompasses. Beginning with the all important Tag Kevin (Astek!) introduces us to basic techniques continuing on to lettering (Bubble style was a high school craze back in mid 70's when I attended ) including the incredibly complicated "wild style" , how to work in 2d and 3d styles of letters, to simple and more complex characters and on to stencilling. Not the simple household wall stencils the word conjure up but something much more detailed. Originally a simple process used for signs its become part of the street art movement pioneered by Banksy who used stencils along with freehand spray painting moving on to mainly stencils later. For anyone interested in graffiti as an art form this book is a great find with so much to learn from, and for any younger people you would like to encourage to take an interest in art this would make a terrific present, it'll show them how fun art can be. Of course I don't mean to imply its just a kids book - its far from that and there are adults that love this style too - I simply mean its written so that children as well as adults can easily follow it.-JeannieZelos.com