When I was very young I was obsessed with making perfect copies. I didn't have access to a computer or photocopier but i used what I could get my hands on and traced things. I really wanted to be able to draw free-hand, but i didn't have the attention span for practicing my technique. Instead I traced from comic books and Mad magazine, mostly pictures of naked women to show off on the playground at school. These traced images went over quite well with my classmates, but when teachers got ahold of them I had to go to the school psychologist.

The internet has lowered the value of traced naked women as a commodity, but it has done nothing but foster my intrest in reproducing images. I've been trying to make spraypaint stencils lately. My first partially sucessful attempt was with blister-pack plastic (the clear flexible stuff that GI Joes are packaged in), but i'm looking for other things to try. Plastic advertisement pannels from inside El trains seem like a good idea. Anyway, in my search for better techniques, I ran across a cool website. Stencil Graffiti is a forthcoming book about street stenciling, and the author's 'links' page references a huge stash of images applied to urban landscapes via spray can. Banksy is one of my favorites.

:: Ira 3:48 PM [+] :: [comment/respond]
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