Let's face it: doing graffiti is a lot of work... or at least it can feel that way sometimes,
especially when the buff man is trying to keep your name down and make sure it gets seen by
absolutely nobody! Pesky buff man! And that is why right now i'm going to share with you the top five
places to do graffiti so that it lasts! And, at the end, i'll even pose a question to you guys
about what kind of graffiti you think is best. I'll specify later. So let's get right into it!
So, number five on this is already an example of how there's probably some implied asterisks
or "if"s next to a couple of these top five places to do graffiti so that it lasts, depending on the
situation. And the fifth top place to be putting up those burners so they don't get buffed or gone
over is of course abandos or abandoned buildings. And here's the if in this situation specifically.
Those nice, quiet, peaceful abandoned buildings are perfect to practice piecing,
put up amazing time-consuming burners that won't get buffed or covered up by other writers
IF they're not well known spots within your own local graffiti community. I'm sure we can all
think of the abandoned building or some abandoned place in your local graffiti community that all
graffiti writers know and that is used as a very popular place to paint. And at that point you
might as well just be going to a free wall, let's face it. Because if that is the case you're gonna
get covered. And this is where it becomes super important to take advantage of one of the most
underrated parts of graffiti, in my opinion, which i call the adventure portion of graffiti. I always
say the adventure of finding new spots, getting to a spot, the journey to and from a spot is half the
fun of graffiti. I've said it in the past: "to me the journey to the spot that you're going to
paint at, whether that be a hike to a train yard or a bit of a trek in a few abandoned buildings,
it's a great part of graffiti in my opinion." And that is exactly how you need to go about
finding those secret abandoned spots where you can paint, nobody else knows they're there,
and you won't get gone over. I found a huge abandoned ruin a few years back and i filmed a
couple videos painting there actually including my review for bombingscience.com of Dang Prime
Paint, which even to this day is still one of my favourite videos I've made. if you want to see it,
link in the corner where the cards are or in the description below of course.
But i've painted pieces in that particular abandoned spot and even put them on video,
uploaded them to YouTube, and it's not until one, two, three years later now that some other
writers are starting to send me photos of my pieces that i did there, still perfectly intact
and not even gone over! So, while i move on to the number four top place to be doing graffiti
so that it lasts, i guess the moral of the story here, for this one at least,
is just if you work hard to find yourself those cool spots to paint, usually you will be rewarded.
The fourth top place to be doing your graffiti which makes it virtually unbuffable actually is
sort of a controversial one as well, especially because it doesn't really fall under the category
of 'real graffiti,' especially if you're one of those graffiti purist types. So, i almost didn't
want to include it on this list, but because of how effective a way it is to make sure your
pieces don't get touched and stay up for years, i felt i had to include it. And that is of course
getting commission work or mural work for yourself as a graffiti artist. Now hold on just a sec,
i hear you! I hear you saying, "SCIZ, i can't get mural work!" or "SCIZ, that's not a place
i can paint regularly! What's so great about these spots?" And okay, okay, just - just - i
can only answer one comment at a time. But i have a great story or actually a couple great stories
that i think will change your mind about how great these spots to paint actually are. And firstly,
i have a story about a graffiti artist in the Toronto area who is a straight up legend. I
know right now that the Canadian writers on the channel here will be in the comments saying,
"yeah i've heard of him, we know who he is." And that is of course because it is Skam or Gems.
And this story is about how this method of finding places to paint has worked so well for him,
alongside the other more traditional methods of getting your work out there shall we say. But,
as I said, the artist we're talking about here is Skam aka Gems. His instagram is @skamoney.
But massive amounts of his work can be seen in and around Toronto, on businesses that have
commissioned it, in the famous graffiti alley in Toronto, which i was able to paint in way back in
2014! Link to that silly little video if you want to see the tiny Sciz painting seven years ago or
so. It's a fun little video. And Skam has had so much success painting this way that he's even been
approached by one of Canada's top comedy shows, Kim's Convenience, to paint a mural to be featured
in an albeit sort of silly fashion in an episode of the show. When i asked Skam about it he told
me that the show approached him and paid him to write his own name so that it could be used in a
scene of the show. How cool is that guys. Like, you can't argue with that. That right there...
is results! And i'll move on to the third way in a bit, I promise, but i just want to say, if you're
anything like me it's very easy to watch whatever tv show or see whatever movie and get very
frustrated at just the poor excuses that a lot of production teams have for what passes as graffiti
in a street alleyway, this that and the other. And it makes you - it just begs the question,
why wouldn't they just pay an actual graffiti artist to do it proper! So, what i'm really
saying here is hats off to Kim's Convenience for recognizing that "hey, we should just commission
an actual artist to do this for us." And props to them for supporting the local art scene in
and around Toronto. Hashtag canadiantv i guess or something to that effect. As for the second point
about not being able to paint regularly there, all i can say is it doesn't hurt to try. I volunteered
as part of a neighbourhood renewal project a few years back where i was able to volunteer my time,
have my paint paid for and paint a two-story tall building which ended up in the city newspaper.
And, at this point although it is a mural that i would like to redo because i'm not
super proud of it, it has been great to hear from people that it does brighten
their neighbourhood and it has been a positive step towards that neighbourhood renewal process.
But, on to the third top place to be doing graffiti so that it is unbuffable and it
lasts. This one also has sort of an asterisk next to it, but it's what i call high-ups or rooftops.
Now my definition personally of a high-up spot is one that's either above a line of pieces or
say a place where you're hanging off a building with a roller to be able to do a roller piece,
something like that. And the general rule for me here is, if it's a hard spot to physically paint,
it's usually also a hard spot to buff! And this method of painting graffiti is actually nice for
graffiti writers who are looking for more ways to bomb graffiti because A) it maintains that
visibility that you want; you want your graffiti to be in that spotlight of course. But, it also
maintains some barriers to buffing for the buff man there. So really it's a win-win for everyone
except the buff man! So, that's another win for for us right? Rooftops on the other hand are a
little bit iffy and more situation dependent in the sense that ones that particularly can be seen
from below, seen from a street, are highly visible and are usually going to be buffed quicker. People
will take note of them, specifically the people who own the buildings, and if they're visible
they can be buffed pretty quickly whereas a lot of times rooftop spots that aren't so visible,
if you can get in and paint a piece, that piece might even last for years in these scenarios. It
obviously won't be seen as much but that's the trade-off here: you can either have something
that's not seen so much and last a long long time, or it can be seen by hundreds, thousands of people
and probably get taken down pretty quick. And i'm sure every graffiti artist has an opinion on
which of those two situations they would choose or which one they think is better, and i'm sure
there are many different opinions on it. Feel free to leave yours down below in the comments.
Speaking of the comments, the second top way to be doing graffiti so that it lasts is going to be
highly debated in the comments, i would think, and that is because it is on freight trains,
tanker trains, hoppers, all that good stuff. And before you say anything, let me say that this
is very very dependent on the area you live in, the routes that the trains passing through your
area take, and the companies who own them, if they care about buffing their trains or not.
But all i have to say is anyone who is doubting that this is a great way to have your name up
for a long long period of time needs to watch our graffiti freight train watching series
on the channel here where we have taken a look at hundreds and hundreds of graffiti freight trains,
tankers, etc that have pieces that are even 15 years old or more on them! This has been
a great way and a proven method by graffiti writers to get your name up, get your pieces up,
your tags, your throws, your Markal monikers, and more, and have them last for years and years.
And if some of the trains you are seeing on screen are making you want to see more, i just released,
this past Friday, the most updated version of our graffiti freight train watching series.
I'll link it in the top right corner. And something else you might want to check out,
i can link all of our season one of our freight train watching series in that corner as well,
so you can really see the best of those pieces on the freights. It's a lesser known series on the
channel here, but it is actually, i would say, one of the greatest series we have, especially
if you want to take a look at what's going on in graffiti communities across the continent.
But, without further ado, the top spot to be doing graffiti is so that it lasts,
it's never buffed and, in this case, is also seen by millions is heaven spots! Just for some of the
newer writers out there, a heaven spot is a spot that if something goes wrong it will...
send you to heaven... hence the name I guess. So, of course these spots include places like those
really high up billboards, some of the older style water towers, bridges especially very large ones
over crossings or bodies of water, generally things that you just don't want to fall from.
And these are the top places to put your graffiti if you want it to really really
last simply because it's just so gosh darn hard for the buff man to take the graffiti
down from there! Similar to those high-up spots mentioned in spot number three of this list,
these heaven spots are extremely hard to paint and therefore are usually extremely hard to buff. They
are the extreme of that situation. If those high up spots are the equivalent of a neutron star
then these heaven spots are the equivalent of a black hole! That's how extreme and hard it is
to buff this stuff! Is anyone gonna get that reference? Does that make sense? Anyone? Put
in the comments if you - if that makes sense at all. And the reason that heaven spots have been
placed in the number one spot for graffiti that will last is not just because it will last but
it's because it will last and be seen by so many people to the point where it becomes a landmark
almost. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the epitome of graffiti, i would argue. And speaking
of that, i did say at the beginning of the video i have a question for all the graffiti artists,
graffiti writers out there, and it is: do you think it's better to have graffiti in spots that
will last longer or be seen by more people? I guess an extension of that question is: is it
important for other graffiti artists specifically to be seeing your graffiti as well and does that
influence where you paint? Let me know in the comments below because that topic is going to
be one of many upcoming videos on the channel here and if you want your opinion to be heard leave it
in the comments. I will read it, i promise you. I will show it some love and you might even find
yourself featured in that upcoming video yourself! Feel free to subscribe to the channel if you do
want to see more videos on your home page from the channel here including top fives. And you
can check out another top five on screen such as the top five ways a graffiti mission can go
wrong! That one's a real banger, so i hope to see you guys over there. Until then, peace.