Drawing Challenge Graffiti Style
Doing drawing challenges is a fantastic way to improve your art skills. If you want to get better at drawing graffiti, then doing graffiti drawing challenges will help you improve.
If you’re not a particularly big fan of graffiti, you’ll be amazed at how much fun it can actually be. Not to mention, the huge gains in your art skills that can be achieved.
For a bit of inspiration, take a look at some of the paintings by Banksy. He’s an amazing artist.
What is a Drawing Challenge
There are many different types of drawing challenges. They can be time based where you draw for a specific amount of time each day. Or for a specific number of days in a row, like with the 30 day drawing challenge.
There are subject based drawing challenges where you would draw a specific subject by using daily prompts. Or drawing only a specific theme, like we do in the 7 day drawing challenges.
Forcing yourself to draw a specific theme or subject is a great way to push your creativity to the next level.
Graffiti Drawing Challenge
So what exactly is a graffiti drawing challenge, you might ask. This is where you are given a word prompt, which you will use to design your graffiti artwork. You will decide what style lettering to use, and how to design your background.
These challenges are a great way to develop your artistic style. Or experiment with some new techniques. If you struggle with consistency think about starting your own blog to hold yourself accountable.
Let’s get started by looking at some basic supplies.
* Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. This means I receive small commissions for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.
Art Supplies
Black marker or pen
Download Your Free Graffiti Guide
Lettering Challenge
One of the key points to a drawing challenge is that the subject matter, or word in this case, is chosen for you. This will force you to be more creative and to step out of your comfort zone.
These are key elements in creativity. For this challenge you can pick a word from anywhere on the list, or start with the first one and work your way down.
Keep in mind that the more uncomfortable a challenge is, the more room there is for growth.
Using a number generator is a good way to choose as well. Just enter in the total number of words, 30 in this list. Then pick the word that correlates with the generated number.
Decide on a word, and then figure out what type of lettering you want to use. You can be as tame or as wild as you want to get.
Take a look at Stylized Lettering to learn how to design your own lettering style.
The next step is to choose a layout. This will be determined by your lettering style, along with your concept for the overall design.
We go more in depth on this in our Beginner Graffiti Guide.
Graffiti Drawing Ideas
Let the word that you are drawing inspire the look and feel of your artwork.
When I was still teaching in the classroom I would pick students and draw their name. The background would be whatever I thought represented them and their personality.
There can be a lot of meaning and emotion in a work of art. Think about how the word makes you feel, and use those feelings to guide you in your drawing.
This is the easiest way to come up with graffiti drawing ideas. Any type of drawing should be fun and enjoyable. And drawing is a great way to relax.
Yet so many people get stressed out over their drawings. Don’t let this happen to you. You’re the artists and whatever you say, goes.
And drawing graffiti can be very freeing and expressive, if you let it be.
How to Color Your Graffiti Drawings
This is very much a personal preference. I’m partial to markers, but you may choose a different method.
Doing graffiti drawings is actually how I learned to color with markers. I have both expensive and inexpensive markers and I’ve really come to love using Bic markers.
If you’re using markers, be sure to use smooth paper for the best results. This makes blending markers much easier and helps you get a smoother transition.
And be sure to use several different shades of the same color if you’re trying to get a gradation in your colors.
Benefits to a Graffiti Drawing Challenge
One of the things I’ve always loved about doing graffiti drawings is all the decisions that need to be made. I stumbled upon this accidentally when putting together a lesson plan for my middle school students.
Prior to doing this I had no knowledge about graffiti. While doing my research, I began to have a greater appreciate for this art form. And very quickly realized there is a considerable amount of thought that goes into doing this type of drawing.
One of the biggest benefits to doing graffiti drawings is the amount of thought that goes into the composition. You want to make sure the lettering and the background compliment each other. This is something that takes a bit of practice to master. But it is a really enjoyable process, and can be a lot of fun.
The colors have to work together. If you’re not comfortable with color theory, you will be after doing a handful of graffiti drawings. And there are an endless number of techniques to color your drawings. So the more drawings you do, the more you’ll start to experiment with these techniques.
Because there are so many decisions to be made, and no limits to what you can do, these are a great way to work on your creativity. The more drawings you do, the more creative you’ll become. And your art skills will improve as you do more graffiti drawings.
Don’t forget to grab your Graffiti Freebie!
More Articles for Graffiti Drawings
- Brick Wall Drawings
- Graffiti Drawing for Beginners
- Blending Markers for Beginners
- How to Draw 3D Letters
- Stylized Lettering
Graffiti Drawing Challenge
