I can’t seem to come up with my own ideas from scratch. All my tag styles take inspiration from someone else’s and I can’t seem to invent my own unique style. I look at other peoples tags that contain very simple but cool styles and I always think to myself “why couldn’t I have though of that”? It seems like my imagination is non existent and I have to be externally provided with ideas in order to write something good. My question is, how do writers come up with their own styles without ripping someone else off? I can’t fathom how experienced writers are able to come up with such complex, unique works of art using just their imaginations.
Well..... Its truly rare when anyone comes up with a style that is not derived from someone else's influence. I would worry less about coming up with your own style and making sure what your doing is proper. The stylization typically is formed organically through repetition and a person's specific taste. Personally, I dont have a style. If you look at my body of work its all over the place but, my view on graff is different from most. I view it as art and not as something that stands alone and thus I do my best to stretch ideas and styles based off the words Im working on. Good luck with it all and stay focused
Well, I feel I need to chime in here, there was a time, when I wanted to be like some of the of writers out there, and then one day, I thought just as you are right now. Honestly I sit and studied different writers literally, thier styles, and it all came down to one thing, they were beening inspired by the world around them, so I used that, architecture, nature, you name it, I saw lines and letters in everything, it's a very rare occasion I do anything twice, but there are always hints of my personal style in everything I do. The key is to be patient with yourself, with time comes skill, patience is also something that can be difficult to master as well. There is a point when you will start to do this, mostly after you get bored with doing the samo samo thing over and over. Most would say wildstyle is the highest level you could achieve in graff, I will argue that , it's when you become a stylewriter, and that is someone who creates new styles.
The problem is, I literally cannot think up of anything by myself. I can only think of one way to stylise a D, and that is to turn it into a 90* triangle. I know there is a million more ways to stylise it but that’s all I can honestly think of. Whenever I’m exposed to other peoples’ work, I’m always kicking myself because I discover features that I feel like I should have been able to think of myself, but for some reason just never came to me. You mention being inspired by the world and seeing lines and letters in everything. How do you actually do that? Do you just pick a cool shape, maybe the silhouette of a skyscraper and try to incorporate that shape into your letters?
Would you like me to give you a couple of examples, and tell me what you see? And it will make more sense.
Speaking for myself, of course, the answer is yes. Pick a cool shape, silhouette, texture, curve but, a lot of that is training and understanding of what is going on. which can take some time to understand. Fortunately, we have youtube now and many artists thats draw live on social media. Also, doing a search online for "Fonts" but, I think the most important thing you can remember is that graff is like caricatures for fonts. So, stretching, pulling, bending, curving then finally adding to the letters. As an exercise take a sheet of lined paper or draw parallel lines equally distant apart in the first line create a word, lets say MATE. Create that word using basic block letters, same kind of letters we all learn to create in kindergarten. In the second row underneath. Do the same word but, this time do the block letters slanted falling backward. All the letters should be evenly spaced out and moving backward in the same direction/ angle. In the line underneath that one, do the same word but, instead of straight lines do an "S" curve instead of straight lines. Using the same structure as before. in the next line create the S curves but, using fluctuating thicknesses. So, the middle part of the letters would be thinner than the edges. you practice this same method but change different things moving forward. sometimes the curves are more angular, some have softer edges, some are super pointy, sometimes letters are stretched out, some are stubby.. Those are just basic examples of course but, it plots a good way of getting yourself out of a creative hole. hope this helps. Good luck
Sorry for the late reply. This is the throwup I'm currently working on. I reckon it looks good, but I racked my brain for days designing it and a lot of it actually came from mistakes that happened to look good. As I said, I can't really think of any more ways to style that 'D' without making it look stupid and unrecognisable.
That would look pretty aiight on a wall dude at the bottom. I can't wall tag for shit I did only once that was good it was in west Memphis arkansas. It said hrtlss in some ghost cartoon network letters.