Skaters & Bikers: An Xtreme Mural

Most of the time I get murals requests for flowers, animals, a little fantasy, stuff like that. This time I got a call from a mom of two tween boys that shared a big bedroom. She said one liked to skateboard and the other like to ride dirt bikes. She was looking for a mural to incorporate both of those sports, plus a graffiti style theme.

I hadn't really done anything like that before, especially graffiti. But, I saw it as a challenge. I did alot of research looking at graffiti art, competitions, fonts (there are tons of graffiti style fonts!), not to mention finding good references to develop my skaters and biker dudes.

I started with my background. Looking at graffiti, I never really thought about it, but a background really holds it all together on a chaotic wall. I really liked the sharp shapes, solid colors and hard lines.

When it came to the boys names, I used my projector to make sure I got the shape of the graffiti type correct. Which is ironic because the beauty of graffiti art is that it's loose, immediate, and freehand. But, since I didn't have alot of practice, I wanted to make sure I got it right!

It actually turned out to be tons of fun to create. Like any piece of art you work on, there are moments when you think you really messed it up, but I'm pleased with how it turned out and more importantly, the boys loved it!