Original subtitles

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MAN: We're going to be talking about spray paint

and why it is the main tool of graffiti writers and street

artists.

It's lightweight, easy to conceal,

and the fast growing nature of the medium

made it possible for us to continue to move on quickly

and to do other work.

So, before we get started spraying anything,

I would recommend you wear gloves.

Sometime, I wear gloves, but I take off the right glove,

because I'm right handed.

And I feel sometimes this-- even this slight little bit

of tension here, it's restrictive.

So, it's up to you to decide how you would best approach it.

But, nothing wrong with gloves.

And obviously, because we're spray painting,

I would recommend wearing a mask.

We've got this guy here, but I happen to also like--

very much the N95 style.

So, let's get this guy on.

MAN: I would also recommend not just wearing a mask,

but in addition, wherever your work environment is,

trying to set up something with adequate ventilation,

i.e., of course, a fan.

And some levels of ventilation, you know,

open windows, something like that.

And anyone who is working with you in your environment

should also be masked up.

Shake your paint.

Shaking paint is like, probably the most important thing.

MAN: The spray can is a pressurized container

with a mixture of paint and propellant.

Shaking the paint will mix the paint and the propellants

so that your spray is a fine and even mist of color.

Love the sound of that marble can.

I guess if you looked at the instructions,

everything is on the can as well.

Read the fine print.

It's going to tell you to shake it for about a minute.

I think once you hear the marbles moving around in there,

you're good.

I wanted to show you something I created.

It's a bit DIY on my part.

This is your basic thing I've done, and basically

modified a skill saw.

There's my blade, which I've attached.

What looks to be like a water bottle cage from a bicycle,

we actually 3D printed this cage ourselves.

But, any type of contraption to get it to connect to this

is possible.

Now, mind you, we did this with a skill saw.

I've seen people using drills, anything to just get

the thing in motion.

This tends to be quite effective just as a quick fix

to shaking the can.

Because, to be quite honest with you,

shaking the can after a minute or more is a bit tedious.

So.

[WHIRRING]

I would say that can is sufficiently shaken.

Not stirred.

MAN: So, it's important to know the fullness levels

of your spray cans.

I tend to work with cans that have differing amounts of paint

and propellant, so that I can vary the effects that I'm

able to achieve with each can.

We're going to be using four cans as my example.

And, we've got a full can.

Let's call that 100%.

We've got a can at three quarters filled,

let's call that 75.

We've got a can that's half empty, that's your 50.

And then we just about have an empty can.

So, each one of these cans is going

to be quite helpful as we work.

Because at a certain point, we're

going to need paint in kind of all these stages.

Obviously starting with your full can,

it's going to give you full pressure, full--

wow, paint's just running out of this thing and--

every job starts with a full can, no doubt about that.

This one's my full can.

This one's my 3/4 can.

Full can means full coverage, right?

Full can means, hey, you know, I've got all this paint here

and I could probably paint with this can three or four

of these sized canvases if I wanted to completely cover

the surface.

So-- and mind you-- this was the 50.

You can never do these dots with a full can.

It's just too much paint, too much pressure.

This is only possible because of the lack of propellant,

and in the same time, the lack of paint.

It's a reduction of propellant and paint

in a kind of consistent fashion.

In my technical style of emptying the can, sometimes

more propellant comes out than I may want, in which case

there may not be enough to push it out correctly,

you're going to get a can that's going to be spitting.

Because it doesn't have enough propellant to push the paint

out and thus, it splatters.

It spitters.

And that can be also very helpful.

If you're having a studio practice

and you're working with spray paint,

you need to be aware of the sort of levels of all these cans.

And if I were you what I would recommend,

please try to organize those cans accordingly,

i.e., full cans, 75, 50, 25.

This way you know when you want to do something

like this you're not messing about with a full can.

You've gone right to your 25 or your almost empty can.

Try something that works for you.

I mean, once again, this all happens through error

and experimentation.

And you'd be quite surprised what happens sometimes

when you don't expect it to.

MAN: So, one point I would like to make is about the nozzles

that we use.

And traditionally, all these cans

come with a basic nozzle, seen everywhere.

Honestly, for me, I'm not a big nozzle specific person.

I'll work with what's available.

I think another thing from people from our generation

is that we never had--

we never had very much in the way

of any kind of upgrades and changes

to what we did when we began.

And so, I'm still kind of traditional.

I'll just use the nozzle that comes with the can.

Obviously, the medium is so far advanced, there's thin caps,

fat caps, skinny tip, fat tip.

All types of ways that the paint will come out of these cans

with various nozzles.

MAN: There are setups and nozzles

on a couple of these cans and we can

see the difference visually.

This one, let's just call it--

let's call it a medium cap for now.

And I just want to show you that--

you're seeing all of this speckling.

So, as you can see, that's a lot different

than what we were getting before.

And this is also me controlling the pressure of my finger

on the nozzle.

Because that's the other part of spray painting.

It's a lot to do with what happens right

there with your finger and the nozzle

and how you depress that nozzle, how much force you put down,

what have you.

MAN: So, for me now, with this particular effect,

and this cap--

which, to be clear, I don't necessarily

think I could get this from my classic cap,

because the can is completely full--

however, maybe.

We'll see.

No.

Well, you can see.

Initially, it just wants to spray.

Unlike this particular one, which does want to spray

if I pressed it properly.

But if I press it ever so slightly,

I don't know what you would call that effect--

but it's certainly very fine and scattered.

In addition, there are these caps which we call fat caps.

The advantage of that is they're going to push the paint out

twice as fast as the traditional nozzle that comes on the cans.

So, something like this--

this cap should be, you know, 25% wider

in terms of how it performs against the black nozzle,

if you will.

People should experiment with this,

as they feel, in terms of what nozzle works for you.

Once again, it's not just the nozzle.

It's the nozzle, it's the quantity

of the paint you're working with,

and it's the pressure in which you're

pushing down on that nozzle.

Now, that effect that we've got with the black

was kind of cool, so, we know what

cap did what, let's see if we can

make the red can do what we--

we had the the black can doing.

Which you can see, it's-- it's sputtering, it--

I can hear it.

It kind of wants to paint, and it wants to do that.

But, I don't want it to do that.

In which case, I'm going to keep pressing it ever

so slightly, until we get this scattery effect.

It's quite visible here on the blank canvas,

we can see what's happening.

But, this, I tend to like to do on top of-- let's say something

else that may be done.

Let's just look at this orange, and you know, oh wow!

Wouldn't some, you know, wouldn't a little bit

of black--

whatever-- and mind you, this is simply a very minor detail,

but also showing you specifically

how the cap performs.

I don't think I would recommend,

and it's something I'm very conscious of, is--

go easy with spray paint.

OK?

Don't be so heavy handed, i.e., don't just press the nozzle

and let it all fly.

Try to maintain some sort of consistent flow

in how you apply the paint.

Spray paint in abundance will do nothing but drip,

and that's something that's a really, like--

spray painters don't like drip.

So-- unless, of course, there's something specific

you're going for, and, you know, you-- yeah,

no, I want drips in my work.

But, I think traditionally, drips

have been no-no's in the culture.

One assignment I could even suggest,

and it doesn't have to be something as classic as a, you

know, stretch canvas, it could be paper, cardboard,

could be wood, could be glass, could be anything-- but I mean,

go ahead and try something.

You know, try something small, controllable.

Paperworks, cardboard, cardstock, old cereal boxes.

You know, I mean, you could just paint--

I mean, obviously, you can paint anything.

So, be creative.

Be experimental.

And also, like, do things that other people necessarily

aren't doing.

You know, that's a good way to find unknown territory.

I don't mind getting into trouble in my work,

to figure things out and possibly discover new things.

MAN: So, spray painting in general, as an artist's tool,

is available everywhere.

You know, every hardware store, every art store.

I can recall my first going to Europe

and finding brands of paint many years ago that we never

heard of.

But there's tons of paint now.

The community has been supporting itself.

There's artists from the community who

have gotten into the business.

If I'm not mistaken, this company, Montana,

other companies who are manufacturing

spray paint for the culture are actually

descendants of the movement, ex-artists and writers

from graffiti cities around the world.

But yeah, I would suggest that if you want to get started,

and you're not really sure, you know,

you might not even have to go to an art store.

You might find something in your family's garage.

Maybe someone was trying to paint some bits of lawn

furniture or something.

But, once again, for me, if you think

of the world that existed before everything was available

and very convenient, you know, one

had to think for themselves as to how

you would acquire these things and/or how you would use them.

Before all of the bells and whistles

and caps and all this modern convenience,

one had to just grab very primitive cans, limited colors,

and do the best that he or she could.

So, I would say if you really want to start,

go to your local art store.

Anyone there would be more than happy to help you.

You don't need to just go by a variety of colors.

Maybe, specifically think about, oh, I

want to do something in this--

in these shades and go for it.