Fresh Creative Co visited Oystermouth Primary School in Swansea last week to run a graffiti workshop for their year 6 students. This was run in conjunction with Craftsea UK and Mumbles Development Trust.
Did you know, we also work with schools and community groups on similar workshops. Take a look here
The aim of this workshop at Oystermouth Primary School was to give the students an introduction to drawing and painting graffiti. Whilst also producing a single 8ft by 4ft board with the students. Which could be displayed in their school.
Before the session began we made sure to arrive early and emulsion the board. So that it was ready for the group to work on when the time came.
Starting the workshop
Firstly working in the classroom with a brief talk and demonstration on the basic techniques of drawing graffiti style lettering. Taking time to go over exactly how we put our letters together. Also touching on 3D and perspective.
Talking about what we wanted to paint on the board. The students had already discussed this with their teacher. Deciding that they wanted to paint the word ‘Croeso’ which is Welsh for ‘welcome’. They hoped to display this at the entrance to the school to greet people as they came in.
Time to paint
Once we had a plan in place we split the group up into smaller groups of seven or eight. They came outside one group at a time to work on the project with us. We marked up the rough outline of the word on the board and then set about filling in the colours.
Working with the individual groups, showing each group how to use the spray paint cans properly. Explaining how to use different caps on the cans to achieve different effects such as blending two colours together.
Cycling through the different groups, making sure that everyone got at least a couple of opportunities to make their mark. Building it up slowly over the course of the session. We also added on some 3D to the letters which the students also painted.
Making the most of the workshop
Spray paint can be difficult to control when you aren’t used to using it. So there is always a certain amount of tidying up the students work. To ensure that they’re left with a product that looks as good as it can.
Once the piece had been filled in and the 3D was in place we stayed behind to tidy up their work. Adding some extra bits into the fill before outlining the letters in black. Adding some white highlights onto the letters and some shadows into the 3D.
Finally adding a blue ‘glow’ around the piece as a whole to help separate it away from the background. It’s often not until these final elements and outlines are in place that the piece really comes together.
The crew had a great time with the students of Oystermouth and I can’t overstate what a great group they were to work with, being polite, friendly, attentive and hard working on the project. We were really pleased with the piece they managed to produce and hope that they enjoyed their experience as much as we did. Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to return and do some more work with them in the future.
