Write the Future is a distributor of spray paint products and also hosts a variety of workshops. It is a wonderful cross between gallery, art supply store and all around funky fresh place. I had the pleasure of attending their Spray Paint & Graffiti workshop and I will most definitely return for more writing in the future. See what I did there? Check them out here.

https://www.facebook.com/writethefuturehk/ 

The workshop started with a presentation on the history of graffiti art. Our teacher explained the difference between street art and graffiti art and, to make my teacher proud, here is the difference. Graffiti art is generally someones name or tag without a message and street art is imagery with a message. Graffiti art is also about the movement and placement of that name. Ever wonder why there is so much graffiti on train cars? It’s because that name then moves and it can be seen further and farther.

From there, they got us sketching a throw-up which generally consists of a one color outline and one layer of fill-color. I found it quite difficult to create a balanced throw-up and it obviously takes a lot of practice to be able to consistently do it in a short amount of time. Mad respect!

After we finished our throw-ups on paper, we choose our spray paint colours (hardest decision of my life), nozzles and then made our way to the roof. There, they had provided us with stark white boards to practice on and gave us a brief introduction into different spray paint techniques. Ready. Set. SPRAY!

I found the shadow in black to be the most challenging as well as remembering to keep my wrist straight and instead to move my body to make my marks. I was a little unsure of my throw-up’s ‘coolness’ but as soon as I added the orange force field and the white highlights, my throw-up had a 14-year-old-skater-punk coolness to it. Eat your heart out Avril Lavigne!

Here are my fellow classmate’s throw-ups.

Through this experience, I have gained a new appreciation for graffiti art and more importantly, I will now accurately teach what it is and isn’t to my students. I am also excited and energised to continue experimenting with spray paint as a medium. Even though I don’t foresee myself tagging around town, I have gained a new respect for this unique art form the talented artists behind the cans.