Types of graffitis

A graffiti refers to a particular paint, with different shapes as signs recognized at urban zones with unique and personal characters. It’s created through an abstract content on the walls in a free and creative sense with infinite expressions, which their main meanings is wanted to be spreaded with a determined purpose, generally their essence is rebel and revolutionary, we can find political graffitis. It is realized espontaneously, fast and generally at the night, in public places anonymously.

Types of graffitis: we classify through genders which determine their style and about they are painted.

Tags: are the simplest level of graffitis, they are mere and they require a low amount of time for its elaboration. We can say that due its style are the mother of all of the graffitis, they started to appear at 60’s in New York.

The authors of these tags painted their name on the wall, with legibles words on the wall because there were a lot of limitations of freedom of expression on that epoch. As well the quality of the paint and aerosols haven’t been developed as nowadays. But these tags were the base for the incomings graffitis, where they start to add more elements on them and started to appear in new places as buildings, train stops and walls. The graffiti artists needed improve beautify them for not pass unnoticed by the people.

Some tag graffitis together on a wall with different colours and authors.

Tags with outline: it’s a variation of the tag, thanks to the creation of signs with letters wider, they were able to produce the outline (borders that covers the letters of the signs), which consisted on a line of another colour and less thickness which decorated each letter.

A bubble-letter tag with outline on a train car.

Bubble letter: we give this name to this type of artist due the fat letters, wider than the outline tags, rounded with differentiated colour of fillers and borders,  and it would be decorated with stars, lines, circles…

Bubble letter graffiti with a black and white shadows as borders and some blue circles and some tags which are ornaments.

Throw ups: contains characters with few meaning and design because its principal function is to generate quantity and no quality of the letters. We appreciate characters with big dimensions refilled with the lowest quantity possible painted also in the minimum amount of time capable.

A big graffiti minimalist with few paint used, a face on one of their letters and a thin gold border of them. This would be an example of throw up because should require scarce time for finishing it.

Block letter: it is highly appreciated its legibility and size. They must keep a simple design, with characters of big dimensions which its principal function is to be very explicit, i.e, of one look the individuals must understand what they say, generally, in long distances.

On this photo we can find one with big message which is able to distinguish its meaning far away.

Wild Style: the complexity and original design is which characterizes this graffiti style, it has converted on the most popular and practiced by the authors. We can find on them ornaments around the letters of grand complexity, purely aesthetic. They are denominated like this due its geometrical character, with angles, straights and pronounced turns; and dynamics, using links and ornaments smoothed and stylized which gives a sense of movement.

One graffiti with complex letters, using shadows and borders, using arrows and mixing colours. Gives a sense of flow and makes difficult to know what it means.

Model pastel: this style tries to get the attention of the people due its complexity and combinations of colours. Its principal purpose is the search of tridimensional effect in their characters, have got with diverse ways, with the shape they combine the colours as the special strokes which determine shine and shadow effects in diverse places of the letters.

This graffiti seems that the wall is not flat and are characterized by try to play with the perspective, which change when individuals see from different points of the street.

Dirty: also like rubbish style, create wrong figures, deforming the components of a graffiti, it creates the “dirty style”. It is very difficult determine whether this style is crafted in an intentional way by his author or if it’s just of a graffiti artist with few experience and talent.

Here many artists refill the wall with some tags, shapes and lines trying to leave something previous, without erase part of the previous painting. The wall gets a lot of paint layers ones over anothers obtaining a multicolour random meaning. Giving a impression that the graffiti is popular there or is a place abandoned since long time ago.

Characters: create characters with go with the letters, although also we can find graffitis purely personalized. This authors tend to be the group of painters with a big experience in complex elements, due they maintain a high level on the drawings and paintings. Generally they have a comic shape.

Here the artist paints Diego Armando Maradona, with his most relevant distintion with other players, the world cup he won in Mexico the year 1986. It requires a bigger level of knowledge about the use of aerosol and time.

Icons: it is considered a deviation of the characters, but with less complexity and schematically. Considers that its principal function is to impress to the people and convey certain message, generally, revolutionary. Some authors even have replaced his name by an icon, due it is easier to remind. It searches to create icons of big originality and visual impact, something unusual.

This banana was the icon of the hided artist Thomas Baumgärtel. This paint can be found specially in a lot of entrances of buildings of Cologne but also in other cities of Germany. He used to paint them on the gates of places which he considered they were related with art.