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Interweb Graffiti Collabos <MOAR> nsfw i guess
earthwormadam
ancient crust Registered User regular
ancient crust Registered User regular
Fairly recently, one of my friends moved in with me, and he happens to be an excellent graffiti artist. He works quite a lot throughout the week, but I would frequently find graff scribbled on papers left out on the coffee table. I started scanning them into my computer and adding characters on top of his lettering as you often see on wall murals and whatnot. He is exceptional at the art of script and I mostly stick to characters an cartoons, so it seemed a natural fit.
Here are the steps I took from the initial sketch concept, to the finished project. I just drew my character on a separate piece of construction paper, and I used the same type of marker so the image would seem cohesive when the finished product was complete. I just used photoshop to join the two sketches together, and then turned them into one black and white image. Once I had them joined I realized the lines were of poor quality so I retraced everything, making a few small alterations here and there. Once I had the final lineart I began coloring, and after that I was finished! When applying a character to someone else's bomb, always try to play off of the preexisting elements. For example, I tried to take the jagged line that makes up the U an use that shape for my character's nose. I also took the double lines in the last letter and used them to make up the money sign. I also added both my name and his name so it was clear who contributed to the image. I usually use gOOba but EWA would be fine too.
The idea that we could collaborate on pieces, without either of us actually in the room at the same time began to intrigue me. I know that this forum is not big on graffiti, but I also know that there a few of us here, and many of the artists here have styles that would adapt to the medium very nicely. After I saw DMAC's robot I knew that I just had to do something to reach out to the community here. When I thought about the "draw a forumer" thread, I began to think about how a graffiti collaboration thread would work.
I made three burners, one for DMAC, one for Beavo and one for Prox. I know how busy a lot of you guys and gals are, but you were the first three artists I thought of when it came to who I'd like to collaborate with. Do not feel obligated, I just wanted to get the ball rolling, so to speak. I spoilered the images because they're humongous. This way the other artists have a good quality image to work with. Keep in mind that you can juxtapose your character with the text in anyway. Above, below on the side, or all around. Also feel free to make edits to the letters when neccisary. For example, I had to erase parts of the graff to make my characters hands resting on top. You could always take things a step further and have a character biting or smashing the text which would involve making more edits.
These images are just the letters so you'll obviously have to increase the canvas sytle to fit anything else in there.
DMAC:
BEAVO:
PROX:
So that's basically how this thread will work. Pick a forumer you admire and would like to collaborate with, and take their name and draw it out in your own style. You may have to simplify or abbreviate the name if it's really long because most graff names are kept short and simple. For example I turned Beavotron into Beavo. When you are making your letter's keep the person you are making it for in mind, and try to gear your style towards them. For example I made DMAC's peice very clean, robotic and sharp, Beavo's artsy curvy and flowing, and Prox's zany and odd. This way when they put their spin on it, the image will feel like one whole unified image.
Here's a few more examples of what me and my roommate worked on before.
If you don't have a tablet don't feel left out. You can just do it by hand, but make sure that you make things clean enough so that the other artist wont have to spend too much time cleaning things up.
Once you're done with that, just post the image in here and hopefully that person will add their own character to it. They can also choose to color it, or just leave it black and white, or pass it back to the original poster and have them color it. You don't even have to be one of the forumers directly involved to participate. Like if you wanted to add a character to my DMAC piece feel free to add your own character or colors to it.
I always love collaborating with other artists in my blackbook, but the idea of collaborating with artists I look up to, without ever meeting them face to face gets me really amped up and inspired. Try to keep things simple, I intended the process to be fun and simple enough so that people could participate and not get caught up in a long laborious process. I most of all just wanted people to have fun and see if I could lure some of the regulars out of their prospective comfort zones. Comments and questions are appreciated as always!
Here are the steps I took from the initial sketch concept, to the finished project. I just drew my character on a separate piece of construction paper, and I used the same type of marker so the image would seem cohesive when the finished product was complete. I just used photoshop to join the two sketches together, and then turned them into one black and white image. Once I had them joined I realized the lines were of poor quality so I retraced everything, making a few small alterations here and there. Once I had the final lineart I began coloring, and after that I was finished! When applying a character to someone else's bomb, always try to play off of the preexisting elements. For example, I tried to take the jagged line that makes up the U an use that shape for my character's nose. I also took the double lines in the last letter and used them to make up the money sign. I also added both my name and his name so it was clear who contributed to the image. I usually use gOOba but EWA would be fine too.
The idea that we could collaborate on pieces, without either of us actually in the room at the same time began to intrigue me. I know that this forum is not big on graffiti, but I also know that there a few of us here, and many of the artists here have styles that would adapt to the medium very nicely. After I saw DMAC's robot I knew that I just had to do something to reach out to the community here. When I thought about the "draw a forumer" thread, I began to think about how a graffiti collaboration thread would work.
I made three burners, one for DMAC, one for Beavo and one for Prox. I know how busy a lot of you guys and gals are, but you were the first three artists I thought of when it came to who I'd like to collaborate with. Do not feel obligated, I just wanted to get the ball rolling, so to speak. I spoilered the images because they're humongous. This way the other artists have a good quality image to work with. Keep in mind that you can juxtapose your character with the text in anyway. Above, below on the side, or all around. Also feel free to make edits to the letters when neccisary. For example, I had to erase parts of the graff to make my characters hands resting on top. You could always take things a step further and have a character biting or smashing the text which would involve making more edits.
These images are just the letters so you'll obviously have to increase the canvas sytle to fit anything else in there.
DMAC:
BEAVO:
PROX:
So that's basically how this thread will work. Pick a forumer you admire and would like to collaborate with, and take their name and draw it out in your own style. You may have to simplify or abbreviate the name if it's really long because most graff names are kept short and simple. For example I turned Beavotron into Beavo. When you are making your letter's keep the person you are making it for in mind, and try to gear your style towards them. For example I made DMAC's peice very clean, robotic and sharp, Beavo's artsy curvy and flowing, and Prox's zany and odd. This way when they put their spin on it, the image will feel like one whole unified image.
Here's a few more examples of what me and my roommate worked on before.
If you don't have a tablet don't feel left out. You can just do it by hand, but make sure that you make things clean enough so that the other artist wont have to spend too much time cleaning things up.
Once you're done with that, just post the image in here and hopefully that person will add their own character to it. They can also choose to color it, or just leave it black and white, or pass it back to the original poster and have them color it. You don't even have to be one of the forumers directly involved to participate. Like if you wanted to add a character to my DMAC piece feel free to add your own character or colors to it.
I always love collaborating with other artists in my blackbook, but the idea of collaborating with artists I look up to, without ever meeting them face to face gets me really amped up and inspired. Try to keep things simple, I intended the process to be fun and simple enough so that people could participate and not get caught up in a long laborious process. I most of all just wanted people to have fun and see if I could lure some of the regulars out of their prospective comfort zones. Comments and questions are appreciated as always!
earthwormadam on
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Posts
i want to do this.
tomorrow when it's the day time and i'm hung over.
INSTAGRAM
My Portfolio Site
I'll definately follow and maybe participate
But for now I'll just content my self to watching.
At least it is for me.
With a white background...
With a transparent background...
I took a stab at my own rendition of Prox since he appears to be slaving away at the next epic iteration of Sword Dog.
INSTAGRAM
Go right ahead. I made an attempt to give it a 3D effect, but it didn't turn out so well.
Soon Flay, soon.
Stencils have always intrigued me, and it's something I'd really like to get into somewhere down the line. Makes me want to just go stencil crazy until they catch me and throw me in jail.
I got bored and did another one.
INSTAGRAM
http://manga.clone-army.org/gallery/gifts/misc/greg.jpg
The grey bits show up as white in real life, and the orange bits show up as red. The camera got some odd glare, I guess.
Tumblr Behance Carbonmade PAAC on FB
BFBC2
(Come on people, join in).
Totally badass!
^this^
I really like that one as well Flay.
Finished this one today...
INSTAGRAM
Holy shit that is fantastic!
Damnit, I'm inspired. Now I have to go and give inking WCK's tag a shot.
EDIT: Any tips on getting nice even curves using a mouse in GIMP?
(not familiar with gimp if it has that or not)
Tumblr Behance Carbonmade PAAC on FB
BFBC2
Yeah it does. I just can't seem to get the right look using it though.
*wishes he had a tablet*
I'll try and put some stuff onto paper in the next little while
edit: here is a quick show of the tag. like i said, it's simple and goofy. but if there is something like this around town, it is most definitely mine because no self respecting graffiti artist would copy me
all i really do is a bunch of different faces that have a structure similar to that. sometimes tweak the K a bit. I actually got the K from a memorial tag I put up for a while, after zonkytonkman passed.
Here's some of my quickies.
INSTAGRAM
My Portfolio Site
And those boobs are clearly a bit saggy and therefor quite mature.
DMAC done
INSTAGRAM
I might have to try my hand at this stuff....
You're just thinking about the word meticulous in a different way. The whole thing about doing this (tags especially) is that you're pretty much writing the same word thousands upon thousands of times until you get it how you want it. And then you're still never quite happy with it. I can't tell you how many pounds of paper I have scribbled Kojo over again and again. and I've only been doing graffiti for a couple months. You do a little tweaking here and there, but it's still neurotic repetition.
And yes, adam is ridiculously good and is making me realize, once again, how much I need to keep working at it.
Adam, those tags are rad as fuhhhhhhk.
edit:
I misread the thread
Imma make one of these with a name later
Tumblr blargh
Sublimus - Thanks, and you should!
srsizzy - I'm really big on typography myself, and I never realized how much both that and graffiti had in common. Working with letters in general just always seems fun to me. I'm a crazy perfectionist as well, and that DMAC piece must have taken at least 3 or 4 hours spread out over the course of the last few days. Being meticulous is a good thing, and using PS and working in layers makes everything much less painstaking.
Futore - Hey thanks for your compliments, it is funny how many times a graffiti artist must write his/her name over the course of a lifetime. A billion? Maybe. Writing everywhere is fun whether it's with markers in a bathroom stall, or with a finger on the inside of a foggy car window. I've been writing most of my quickies with a one single line approach for a while now, and sometimes drawing without looking yields some interesting results. Also try holding your pen, or whatever, from the top so that when you're writing you don't have such a firm control over where you are writing. Sometimes an unexpected result is the best result.
INSTAGRAM
these are awesome earthwormadam
and I love graffiti
it's like a big fuck you to the man, maaaan
Tumblr blargh
I'm really getting in to this whole graffiti thing. I decided to have a go at my own nickname; I was going for a more traditional style of graffiti and although I'm not sure if I achieved it I'm still pretty happy with the results (although the 3D effect could be better).
I'll give digital inking another shot, but it's still a bitch to do with a mouse.