Step by Step “Evil” Graffiti Drawing
In this article I’m going to show you how to draw Evil in graffiti. This was part of the weekly word challenge in the Art by Ro Facebook group where all members are welcome to participate.
Graffiti art is a great way to learn composition, color usage, using markers for color, and many other benefits as well.
And a graffiti word challenge is a great way to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Let’s grab some supplies and get started.
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Art Supplies
- Thin black marker
- Paper or cardstock
- Markers
- Pencil
- Click Eraser, Pink Pearl Eraser
- White Gelly Roll pen
About Graffiti Art Challenges
A graffiti art challenge is where there’s a word prompt and anyone participating draws something using that word. For these challenges, all participants make their artwork in their own style and interpretation of the word.
In this tutorial the word was “Evil”. Anyone who participated in this challenge drew whatever they came up with for the word evil. Even if you’re not participating in a group challenge, they’re still really fun to do on your own.
Thumbnail Sketching
Working through a series of thumbnail sketches is a great way to warm up and loosen your muscles. And it’s perfect for brainstorming ideas for layout and composition.
Because they are so quick to do, it’s easy to make time for a few thumbnails before working on your main graffiti artwork.
Check out this post for more information: How to Use Thumbnail Sketching.
Of course doing this is totally optional and isn’t required for doing a graffiti challenge.
How to Draw “Evil” Step by Step
Step 1: Layout
Whether you did a series of thumbnail sketches or not, you need to at least think about your layout and composition.
You want to first consider where your word will be located on your paper. Also, how will it be positioned and how big it will be when finished.
There are a lot of different layouts you could use. You can learn more about layout ideas in How to Draw Graffiti Letters.
I usually use a colored pencil or a graphite pencil to draw everything out. If you use Col-erase pencils you can still erase any mistakes and they don’t smudge as much as regular graphite pencils do.
Some graffiti artists draw everything out with a pen or marker. But most of us aren’t to that skill level and confidence yet. Do whichever works best for you.
Step 2: Stylized Lettering
For your lettering, think about a style that would go well with the word you are drawing. You want to make sure the style fits with your overall theme and look you’re going for as well.
For example, bubble letters might not be the best choice for a word such as evil. But you also need to consider what images you’ll be adding to your background.
There are a lot of different styles of lettering you could use. Just be sure to pick something that fits with the look and feel of your drawing.
There are many alphabet lettering sheets available on the internet for you to use as a reference.
You could also design your own lettering style. This is a fun exercise to do and you can learn a lot from it. Click this link to learn How to Draw Stylized Lettering.
Step 3: Background Images
After you’ve drawn out your lettering design, you need to add some background images. Or you could just use shapes or leave it as negative space.
Again, you want to do whatever fits with the overall look you’re going for and you want everything to work together in your artwork.
For my drawing I decided to add Elmyra from Tiny Toons. This was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about the word “Evil”. I could have given it more thought and come up with additional ideas, but this seemed like a fun drawing to do.
I added her bow because I didn’t like all the negative space in that area. And I felt that it helped with the evil theme since she appears to be so sweet and innocent.
The Word Evil Outline
After you have your graffiti art sketched out, you’ll want to outline everything before adding color. This can be done with a black pen or marker.
You could also try using a color other than black if that would better fit your style. The choice is yours and you should do whatever you think looks best.
You can make your outlines thick, thin, or a combination of line weights.
I made my letters with a heavier outline and my background images have a thinner line weight. Again, do whatever fits with the overall look, feel, and style of your drawing.
If you’re not sure what you should do it means you haven’t practiced enough. So just take your best guess and see what it looks like.
After you’ve gone over all of your pencil lines you can use a block eraser to remove any extra lines and clean your drawing up.
How to Draw Evil (Graffiti Art) with Markers
If you want to use markers to color your “Evil” graffiti art, there’s a few things you need to know.
First, if you want to be able to blend your colors together you need to use alcohol based markers. Bic, Sharpie, and Copic for example. As well as many others.
Second, you need to work while the colors are still wet or they won’t mix together. This isn’t a big deal. Just make sure you work on a section at a time.
Third, you need to use colors that are similar to each other if you want to create a smooth transition of color. If your markers are too different they will leave a harder edge.
Choose colors that work well together. For this drawing, I started with Elmyra because I knew what colors she had to be. That helped me choose the right colors for the letters and negative space.
After you’ve finished adding color you can use a black colored pencil to add some shadows.
A white Gelly Roll pen can be used to add highlights.
How to Draw Evil in Graffiti – Conclusion
Now that you know how to draw “Evil” in a graffiti style, you may be wondering what your next steps should be.
Since art and drawing are skills that improve with practice, you should practice as often as you can. Try to draw for at least five or ten minutes each day. If you’re consistent you will see progress over time.
You can do some graffiti word challenges. Or you could work on individual letters. This is a fun way to practice all the skills involved in drawing graffiti art. And since it’s only one letter it really saves time so you can get more practice in.
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