How to Draw Urban Art

Urban art originated in the inner cities, represented typically in graffiti. It's raw art that depicts life in the inner cities realistically and often makes statements on crime, poor living conditions and financial desperation. Urban art also can express positive messages and hope for a better life one day. Most artists who create urban art have lived in the inner cities at one point or another, but having lived in the city is not required of an artist to create believable urban art. Learn how you can draw urban art that realistically explores the plight of the concrete jungles of America.

Things You'll Need

• Charcoal or graphite pencils

Instructions

1. Get familiar with your subject. While it isn't necessary to have lived or grown up in an inner city to create urban art, having an understanding of everyday life in a city environment will help you create drawings that are believable. It's hard to draw urban art from a luxury high-rise penthouse.

2. Make notes about what you see. Take in the city environment. You want to capture images that people living in the inner cities can relate to and that will enlighten those who have never seen the inner city. Sketch the homeless man on the street with a bottle of whiskey in his hand while he huddles under a cardboard box in the rain, but consider putting a hidden rainbow somewhere in the drawing as a subtle hint that we all need to look for the positive in life. Be creative. While you want to highlight the despair in a manner that draws attention to it, you want to emphasize hope as well.

3. Use charcoal or graphite pencils and do your drawings primarily in black and white. Add colors sparingly, to accent some elements of your piece. The juxtaposition of occasional color on black and white shows the starkness of life in the inner city.

4. Combine graffiti messages with images. For instance, the word "Projects" written in graffiti with apartment windows sketched into the letters and something going on within each of the apartments that represents life in the projects. Any sketch that engages your audience and convinces people your work is honest will make your urban drawings a success.

References

• Graffiti Sketches
• Urban Art Warfare