5 Types Of Graffiti Throwies
Throwies are the an essential part of graffiti and they’re largely used to get your name up in a big yet simple way. Today, our new video on YouTube, "5 Types of Graffiti Throwies” , goes over a few while sharing some pros and cons of each. Here, I want to summarize and explain some of those pros and cons for you guys.
Heavily Stylized Throwies - #5
Throwies with tons of style carry lots of impact with a bit of wow factor to them. That being said, stylish throwies come in a wide variety of how much style is added to the letters. Some people take style just past the ordinary throwie, while others really drench each letter in style. Both look great when done well, but each has it’s downsides that new writers will want to be aware of.
Pros:
Impactful and impressive
Can help separate you from other writers in the area (requires high skill for this effect)
Cons:
Typically takes longer to do
Easy to mess up for intermediate and new writers
Becomes less practical the more style gets added
Straight Letter Used as Throwie #4
Strangely enough we have straight letters on this list but for good reason. These straight letters are distilled down and simplified to be used in the same way that theories are used. This makes them faster to do, and easier to do than the average straight letter, and that’s what makes them practical for getting up. Some artists can do these so fast that they can finish a straight letter such as this before many would have finished a throwie. So, even though these are definitively not throwies, I figured we can still put them on the list given their utility.
Pros
Plenty of structure = Easy to read
A bit more of a wow factor as they are more technical than throwies
Allows for more style and details
Cons
Simple mistakes can stand out and ruin structure
Easy to mess up if you’re not comfortable with the following, structure, fundamentals in general, and getting up
Can take long
1&2 Letter Throwies - #3
These are some of my favorite throwies but they come with some strange caveats. In graffiti, most names range from 3-7 letters so it stands to reason, the longer the name the more time you’d spend doing a throwie. Now most people will do the whole name either way, but its not uncommon to see people with 5 or more letters cut the name down to just a 2, or 1 letter throwie. Its also common to see really popular writers sometimes use a two or one letter throwie from time to time. This is especially true if they’re known for a unique recognizable style to where everyone will know them based on one letter. We saw this with Dondi and his single letter “D”. Where the caveat comes into play is when you have a brand new writer with little to no experience in graffiti and they start off with a one or two letter throwie. Often times we see this no matter how many letters they have in their name even if they have short names. We don’t often see this with experienced writers whose names are short to begin with. For this reason, abbreviating the name comes off more like they’re afraid rather than for any other reason. Remember, the point of getting up outside is to get your NAME out there, so if you’re a new artist you haven’t gotten your name out there at all. If you have a short name, and you’re abbreviating it then you’re sacrificing getting your name out there for the sake of safety. This goes against all logic, because if you wanted to stay safe then stay at home, if you wanted to be quick then do a tag, if you wanted to do a throwie then commit and do the throwie.
Pros
Convenient
Fast and easy to do
Cons
Can make newer artists look skittish as they’re prioritizing safety over getting up
Standard Letter Throwies - #2
Standard letter throwies are about as textbook as you can get. Now every letter-based artform has the pure anatomy of the letter that you have to learn, these letters are exactly that. For that reason, when multiple people have these letters its not considered copying/biting. Now, that being said, don’t think just because these are standard letters that they’re not good, or they’re meant only for new artists, that’s not at all the case. Very experienced writers use these, and they are perfect for just about anyone and everyone. Since these are the pure structures, there are no inherent downsides to using these, and any downsides they do have will either be the downsides of theories as a category (such as lacking structure), or the downside will be personal preference.
Pros
Best place to start for new graffiti artists
Perfect style for all skill levels including veterans of graffiti
Easy to add style to
Practical for getting up
Cons
Any cons would be personal preference or cons of theories as a category.
One-Liner Throwies - #1
One-liner throwies are really the perfect tool for getting up if you care about optimizing your line order, and speed. There is however a balance to strike here, as simply turning a throwie into a one-liner doesn’t guarantee an optimized line order or speed. If you force your one liner, or you are doing it simply for the sake of style then you’ll likely miss out on the speed and line order aspects. This is fine if you simply like the style of one-liners. When an artist chooses to refine the throwie down to a one-liner, then that’s where we see the utility really shine. It’s here where the artist can rapidly do the throwie much faster than most could do a tag and this makes them much more effective at getting up. Now with that said, this is by no means necessary as this level of speed is oftentimes completely unnecessary so do keep that in mind.
Pros
Highest efficiency
High speed (only if optimized)
Cons
Can look very forced if you try to carelessly make a one-liner
Can decrease flow, and lower speed if designed badly or without planning the line order
Risks being sloppy if your lines obscure too much structure
If you’re new to graffiti than play around with each of these for some fun and allow yourself to mess around for a good time. Id recommend not really focusing on the quality if you’re new, simply because many of these are very stylish, so experimenting and having fun would be the goal here. However, if you’re looking for some practice as a new writer than start off with the standard letter throwies as this would be the best place to begin learning.
If you’re looking to learn the basics of graffiti then check out our brand new book The Ultimate Graffiti Guide Book Part 1-Fundamentals where you’ll learn all of graffiti’s basics in an easy-to-follow book. By the end of it you’ll fully understand how to find your style, and how to keep progressing for the rest of your graffiti journey.
