Official OT-Creativity Thread 1

[Sherman Gill]

Personally I much prefer ANYTHING to a grey concrete wall. If it's someones signature drawn in funny letters, so be it, I still like it better.
That said, I really love the last thing you posted, the can-ephone girl, and it makes me wish people would more often make graffiti that's not their name.

[Helm]

That's a stencil piece, I think.

[Chalk]

Helm I'm still a little unclear how you feel about it. I have read your statement a few times. Maybe i'm just a dumbass but could you dumb it down a little for me? 
Also for me it's not about ego trippin'. However when it comes to street art ( stencils ) I do try to do things that i find entertaining and will make even the general public like and appreciate. I also live in a place where is there almost no graffiti. well, good graff anyways as you can see by the walls that i feel should be covered in graffiti havent even had a drop of paint on them.
more stencils:







by the way that banana is 11 feet tall so you have a sense  of scale

[.TakaM]

I feel like chiming in

Where I live, pretty much all the spots with grafitti had grafitti as long as I can remember, almost every week walking home from primary school there would be a new addition to the ally wall, I didn't mind it then and I don't now.
I like that within this 'subculture' there is a bit of respect and nostalgia, like if someone ever did a massive awesome piece on the wall, everyone he painted over didn't seem to mind, and rarely anyone would add their 3 random letter toy-tags to the end of his.

ofcourse there is plenty to hate, as I mentioned, I really can't stand the three letter tags done with shoe polish every suburban kid seems to be doing nowadays, it's annoying to walk down the street and see the same 3 letters on everybody's letter box.

nice stuff btw chalk, anything done with the aid of a concept reference is in my books

[ndchristie]

do you design your own stencils?  we're getting way off topic but until a moderator puts his foot down the convo is interesting.

[Chalk]

yes this converstation is very interesting.
and I do design all my stencils, and if at all possible I try to take the photo i use for it. I use adobe illustrator.
the monkey i had to search high and low for pose i thought would work.
the little girl is one of my old roomates. the little boys are actually myself when i was 1. umbrella girl is a friend of mine. and the beach bum is also myself.
I could and would talk all day about my stencils. and graff in general. but i would say if you are looking to get into it
www.stencilrevolution.com

[Helm]

Graffiti as illegal and potentially destructive activism is more interesting to me (to study as a social phenomenon, not because I like the art much either way) than as accepted art that soccer moms like now because it brings 'color to their towns'. I feel the latter mentality has neutered this subcolture of any significant social impact.

Stencils usually carry far more emotional strength for me, and the pieces you've posted above also do this.

I like your work, I suggest you use reference for reference, and draw your own stuff from the start, no tracing. I'm not sure what the attitude is towards these things in this subculture, but it's generally the best for any artist of any type to have his own strength, not borrow it from photographs. Reference is okay, copying is not.

[Zach]

just wait until the hackers get into a frenzy and start blowing up websites as their form of tagging.

[Darien]

Helm, I find it a little odd that you don't like the ego tripping aspect of tagging, but seem to have some respect for the illegal aspect.  To me it always seemed that the illegal aspect was tied to the ego tripping--the artist effectively saying "look at me, I'm a rebel who doesn't care about law."

[Conzeit]

Chalk, I've never really cared for graffity at all, but the guy just cowering in the corner really clicked with me somehow, as did the little girl...if you do any more work like that please post it =)

EDIT:who am I to be putting words in the mouth of people....