Origin of Graffiti Fonts
Learn how graffiti has turned from simple writing style to widespread pop culture!
Graffiti is a word that is derived from Latin “graphium” meaning wrote. According to archeologists this was a term used to refer to articles that were found in Egyptian nation’s old building and the old buildings of Rome. It was used for purposes of describing the murals using simple written form of words. There are people today who see it as a form of art that can be displayed in galleries,
like famous street artists. Over time graffiti turned into an existence of underground pop culture which has been associated with b-boying and hip hop. Graffiti are letters that appear as if they are scrawled, scratched, marked or painted on a property. Graffiti has been there since the medieval times in Roman and Greece Empire. In ancient Rome, people used to scratch the wall when they had a written message because at the time newspapers, fax machines and photocopiers did not exist. Today, most countries see graffiti as illegal. There are different styles of graffiti. The simplest graffiti type is tagging and it is done using spray paints, pens or markers. They lack the form of artistry. For a complicated graffiti design, we have stenciling. To produce designs that are color rich you can use two or more layers. Another form of graffiti made by Zephyr and Tracy 168, who were popular artists, is known as wildstyle. It is an artistic and complicated form of graffiti. There are different styles of graffiti. Some of them are hip-hop, blockbuster, wheat pasting, stickers and heaven. For studying graffiti alphabets or letters, graffiti fonts are the best. People are encouraged to express graffiti fonts in their own styles. There are many websites from which you can download graffiti fonts free. In New York City, graffiti was first seen in 1960s and it was introduced by teenagers who used it to write their street numbers and names on subway cars. They did this in order to gain popularity and it was referred to as tagging. It spread to other areas such as Philadelphia where words such as “Cornbread” and “Topcat” were common. Graffiti became colorful graphics after the introduction of spray paints. Through use of different colors, styles and forms people became creative and there were two types of graffiti makers: the artists and the taggers. The taggers did not have artistic flair. They were known for using many colors in order to stand out. Artists were popular for their artistic flair. Their styles were complicated. For example to look as if they were 3D, they would paint straight letters. They were known for their large scale multi-colored productions. They would use cartoon characters that were known. This was a point where there was a clear separation between simply scribbling tag and being creative. According to the University of Minnesota, the oldest graffiti writing is the tag style. It is said to be the most basic and the quickest. This style of graffiti is known for being wide and rough. The other graffiti font types that are popular include Human Rase, Subway, Uniwide, Toy and Owned.