This was my first real graffiti piece, and looking at it now, I can see how rough it is. Uneven pressure, a shaky outline, fills that don't quite sit where they should. But back then, standing in front of that wall, I was sure it was the best thing I had ever painted. If you're a graffiti beginner, that feeling is the right one to start with.
Wooden panels, three colours and no undo button
I painted it on the wooden panels of a park: raw timber, outdoors, one of those spots where you learn graffiti fast because there's no undo button. The colours were khaki green, pink and banana yellow. A combination I'd probably never plan on paper, but somehow it worked. I don't fully remember why I reached for those cans. At the start, graffiti is almost entirely instinct, and instinct doesn't keep notes.
The outline is the hardest part
I didn't do it alone. A writer called OGAS, who later went by VISBY and repped the BSG crew, stood next to me and helped me pull the outline straight. That's the hardest thing to get clean when your hand still shakes. The fill forgives you. The outline shows everything.
It's been so many years since we last crossed paths, a whole lifetime ago really, and I still think about him sometimes. I wonder how he's doing, whether he's still painting somewhere, still holding that same steady line. Wherever he is, a piece of that first wall belongs to him too.
Montana Black and Montana Gold
Those were Montana Black and Montana Gold cans, the same ones you can see in the photo. Good paint, the kind every graffiti writer respects. The irony is I had no money and no work back then, so how those cans ended up in my hands is a story of its own. Every writer knows that particular math: broke, but somehow never short on paint.
The storm
It was summer. The moment I finished, the sky cracked open: a full thunderstorm, rain coming down in sheets. My brother and I ran for the bus and got completely soaked, laughing the whole way, the fresh piece left behind to take its first rain alone. I still can't think of that wall without hearing the thunder.
What a first graffiti piece teaches beginners
- Paint next to someone better than you. One experienced writer beside you teaches more in an afternoon than a month alone. My outline is proof.
- Fill first, outline last. The outline cleans the edges of the fill. Doing it the other way round is the most common beginner mistake. The step-by-step is in how to draw bubble graffiti letters.
- Good paint matters more than many colours. Three colours from decent cans will look better than ten cheap ones.
- Start legal. Park panels and legal walls give you time, and time is what a beginner needs most.
- Don't wait to be good. The first piece is supposed to be rough. You only see how rough years later, and that's the point.
Before the wall comes the name. If you haven't settled on yours, start with what a tag is in graffiti.
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