Graffiti is writing or drawings made on walls and other public surfaces, usually without the owner’s permission. In modern graffiti culture, it means something more specific: artists called writers painting their chosen names in stylized letters, from quick one-color tags to huge multicolor pieces. Graffiti art is the creative side of that practice, the lettering, color and composition that turned names on subway trains into an art form shown in museums.
This guide explains what graffiti means, where the word comes from, the main types of graffiti, how it differs from street art, and why people do it.
What does graffiti mean?
Graffiti means markings, words or images scratched, written or painted on a surface in a public place, typically without permission. Dictionaries define it broadly, covering anything from ancient scratched inscriptions to a modern spray-painted piece. In everyday speech, “graffiti” usually brings to mind spray-painted letters on walls, trains and bridges.
There are really two meanings in use:
- The broad meaning: any unofficial writing or drawing on a public surface. A name carved into a tree, a message scrawled in a bathroom stall and a political slogan on a wall are all graffiti in this sense.
- The cultural meaning: graffiti writing, the art movement that began in Philadelphia and New York in the late 1960s, where writers compete to get their names seen and to develop the best letter style. When people talk about “graffiti art” or “graffiti letters”, they usually mean this.
Where does the word graffiti come from?
The word graffiti comes from Italian. Graffito (plural graffiti) means a scratched mark, from graffiare, “to scratch”, which traces back through Latin to the Greek graphein, “to write, scratch or draw”. English borrowed the word in the 1850s, when archaeologists needed a name for the thousands of scratched inscriptions found on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Only later did it come to mean modern writing on walls.
The same Greek root gives English words like graphic, graphite and calligraphy, which fits: graffiti has always been about writing.
What is graffiti art?
Graffiti art is graffiti made with artistic intent and skill: designed letters, planned color schemes, 3D effects, characters and backgrounds, painted mostly with spray paint. It grew out of graffiti writing in 1970s New York, when writers moved from simple signatures to large, colorful pieces covering whole subway cars. Today graffiti art appears on legal walls, commissioned murals, canvases, clothing, album covers and in galleries.
What separates graffiti art from a random scribble is craft. A good piece has:
- Letter structure: letters that are balanced and connected, even when they are stretched, bent or broken apart.
- Flow: a rhythm that carries the eye across the word, often helped by arrows and extensions.
- Color and depth: fills, fades, highlights, outlines and a 3D block that make letters look solid.
- Can control: clean lines and even fills without unwanted drips.
Writers build these skills on paper first, in sketchbooks called blackbooks, long before they paint a wall.
Is graffiti an art form?
Graffiti is widely recognized as an art form, with its own techniques, styles, history and celebrated artists. Museums and galleries have collected graffiti since the early 1980s, and graffiti lettering now influences graphic design, fashion and typography. Graffiti painted without permission is still vandalism under the law, though. We cover that debate, including the famous 5Pointz court case, in is graffiti illegal? Art vs vandalism.
What are the main types of graffiti?
The main types of graffiti are tags, throw-ups, pieces, wildstyle, stencils, characters and murals. They range from a few seconds of work to several days. Each one is covered in depth on our graffiti styles page; here is the short version.
What is tagging graffiti?
Tagging is the simplest and most common form of graffiti: a writer’s stylized signature, done quickly in one color with a marker or spray can. A tag is the writer’s name, and the way they form its letters is called their handstyle. Most graffiti you see in a city is tagging. Our guide on how to make a graffiti tag explains how writers design and practice one.
Throw-ups
A throw-up is a quick two-color piece: usually rounded bubble letters with one fill color and one outline. It is bigger than a tag but fast to paint. Throw-ups often use just two or three letters of a writer’s name.
Pieces and burners
A piece, short for masterpiece, is a large, detailed, multicolor painting of a name, with 3D, highlights, effects and often a background. An especially impressive piece is called a burner. Pieces can take many hours and are where most graffiti art happens.
Wildstyle
Wildstyle is a complex form of piece lettering in which letters interlock, twist and sprout arrows and extensions, so they are hard for outsiders to read. It developed in New York in the 1970s and is considered the hardest graffiti style to master.
Stencil graffiti
Stencil graffiti is made by spraying paint through a cut-out template, which allows sharp, repeatable images and lettering. It is closely linked to street art, especially French artist Blek le Rat and Banksy. You can try it with our printable stencil letters.
Characters
Characters are cartoon figures painted beside the letters of a piece, often holding a spray can or reacting to the name. They add personality and help a piece stand out. See our guide to drawing graffiti characters.
Murals and productions
A mural is a large wall painting, usually done with permission or on commission. When several writers paint a wall together, with letters, characters and a shared background, it is called a production. Many graffiti writers today make their living painting murals.
| Type | Time | Main tool | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tag | Seconds | Marker or can | The writer’s signature |
| Throw-up | Minutes | Spray paint | Bubble letters, fill plus outline |
| Piece | Hours | Spray paint | Detailed, colorful name |
| Wildstyle | Hours to days | Spray paint | Interlocked, complex letters |
| Stencil | Minutes (once cut) | Stencil and spray | Repeatable image or text |
| Mural | Days | Spray, brush, roller | Large commissioned artwork |
What is street art, and how is it different from graffiti?
Street art is art made in public spaces that focuses on images and messages for the general public, using stencils, posters, stickers, paste-ups, sculptures and murals. Graffiti, in the writing sense, focuses on letters and a writer’s name, and is mainly aimed at other writers. Banksy’s stencils and Shepard Fairey’s posters are street art; a wildstyle piece on a train is graffiti. The two overlap a lot, and many artists do both.
A few rough differences:
- Content: graffiti is about the name and the letters; street art is about pictures, characters and ideas.
- Audience: graffiti writers often paint for other writers, who can read the style; street artists usually want the general public to get the message.
- Tools: graffiti is mostly freehand spray paint and markers; street art uses more stencils, prints, wheatpaste and mixed media.
- Public reaction: the public tends to be friendlier to street art images than to tags, even though both are illegal without permission.
Our famous graffiti artists guide covers well-known names from both sides.
Why do people graffiti?
People graffiti mainly for recognition, self-expression and belonging. The original goal of graffiti writing is “getting up”: making your name known across a city. Writers enjoy designing letters and developing a personal style, being part of a crew, and the challenge of painting well. Some use graffiti to make political points or claim a voice in public space. Others are drawn by the risk, which is the part that leads to arrests and injuries.
Today, much of that recognition comes from legal walls, commissions and social media, where a piece painted with permission can reach far more people than a tag on a wall.
A short history of graffiti
People have written on walls for thousands of years, and the ruins of Pompeii preserve many ancient examples. Modern graffiti writing began in the late 1960s, when Cornbread wrote his name across Philadelphia, and exploded in New York after a 1971 newspaper story about a writer called TAKI 183. Subway trains became moving canvases, writers invented bubble letters and wildstyle, and by the 1980s graffiti had reached galleries and spread around the world through hip-hop films and books. Read the full story in our history of graffiti.
Where can you see graffiti art?
You can see graffiti art on legal walls, at mural festivals, in museums and galleries, and in books and films about the culture. Many cities have legal graffiti walls or parks where writers paint openly, such as the Venice Art Walls in Los Angeles and the Leake Street tunnel in London, and the pieces there change constantly. Mural festivals and graffiti jams bring writers together to paint big productions with permission, so you can watch work being made.
For the history, museums and galleries collect graffiti and street art, and Miami has a Museum of Graffiti dedicated to the form. Two 1983 films, Style Wars and Wild Style, and the 1984 photo book Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, show New York’s painted trains at their peak. They are still the classic introductions to what graffiti looked like when the styles were being invented, and they introduce many of the writers in our famous graffiti artists guide.
What words should you know to understand graffiti?
Graffiti has its own vocabulary, and knowing a few terms makes the culture much easier to follow. Here are the most common ones. Our graffiti glossary has the full list.
- Writer: a person who does graffiti. Writers rarely call themselves “graffiti artists”.
- Tag: a writer’s quick signature. Handstyle is how they form the letters.
- Throw-up (or throwie): a fast two-color bubble-letter piece.
- Piece: a large, detailed, multicolor painting. A burner is an outstanding one.
- Wildstyle: complex, interlocking letters.
- Crew: a group of writers who paint together.
- Blackbook: a writer’s sketchbook.
- Getting up: getting your name seen in as many places as possible. All-city means being seen everywhere in a city.
- Bombing: painting many tags or throw-ups quickly.
- Buff: removal of graffiti by owners or the city.
- Toy: a beginner or unskilled writer, often an insult.
- King: a writer respected as one of the best.
How can you try graffiti art?
The best way to understand graffiti is to draw the letters yourself, on paper. Start with simple graffiti letters and bubble letters, then add outlines, 3D and color. Our step-by-step how to draw graffiti guide walks you through a full piece, and the free graffiti generator shows your name in different graffiti styles in seconds, so you can study how the letters are built before sketching your own.
When you are ready for paint, use canvas, wood panels or a legal wall, never someone else’s property without permission.