Futura’s 7 Tips for Using Spray Paint in Your Art

Leonard Hilton McGurr, commonly known as Futura, is one of the early forces of the subway graffiti art movement and a pioneer of abstract street art. His career has taken numerous turns, spanning the worlds of graffiti art, music, fashion, product, and formal gallery, and fine art painting.

Born in 1955 in New York City, Futura gleaned early inspiration from the future-forward 1964–1965 World’s Fair and Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey, the latter of which informed his nom de guerre. He began writing graffiti under the pseudonym Futura 2000, painting New York subway cars alongside his childhood friend Marc André Edmonds, a.k.a. ALI in the early 1970s. Futura and ALI would eventually form the Soul Artists, a collective that explored how graffiti would evolve as a new form of public art.

In the early 1980s, he also participated in The Times Square Show, proclaimed “the first radical art show of the ’80s” by the Village Voice. His works were also included in group and solo exhibitions at the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Eric Firestone Gallery, the Galerie du Jour Agnès B., the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the FUN Gallery alongside street art luminaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf. In 1997, he launched his own studio and brand platform, Futura Laboratories, to ensure that his work would continue reaching audiences beyond the canvas. The brand sells streetwear clothing, toys, and other collectibles, and opened a retail store in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2004.

Futura has a few specific mechanics that help him create his works of art. Here are some of the cardinal rules of working with spray paint he follows to make his masterpieces.

1. 1. Choose a color palette. Determine what colors you want to use for your spray paint art, and stick to them. “When I choose a palette and a series of colors I want to work with, with one specific piece, it helps me stay restricted in some sense that I'm just not grabbing every color in the rainbow.” This way, you’ll be working with a suite of colors that you know will go together.
2. 2. Know your spray can levels. “One thing that will make a dramatic difference in the way your paint leaves the can is spray can levels,” says Futura. “I tend to work with cans that have differing amounts of paint and propellant so that I can vary the effects I am able to achieve with each can.” A can at 75 percent full is better for general details, whereas a can that is half full can be used for techniques like semi-blending. At 25 percent (or less) full, there is far less propellant in the can, which means less air pressure. Brand-new cans offer lush color and high pressure, which is great for covering large swaths but risks pooling on the canvas if used at close range. Depleted spray cans may be easier to use when creating concentrated details but will sputter and splatter as the paint and propellant run out (though an artist can also use this to their advantage).
3. 3. Shake your paint. The aerosol spray paint can is a pressurized container for a mixture of paint and propellant, and it needs to be combined to work. “Shaking paint is probably the most important thing,” says Futura. “Shaking your paint mixes it with the propellant so that your spray can be a fine and even mist of color.” Shaking the can is usually one of the first instructions listed on a can of spray paint, so make sure you follow all the directions for proper use before beginning your paint project. “Everything's on the can as well, so read the fine print,” Futura says. “It's gonna tell you to shake it for about a minute. I think once you hear the marbles moving around in there, you're good.”
4. 4. Layer your paint to clear up errors. Layering your spray paint can add dimension to your design, or even help you cover up some imperfections. “If you painted too much red, you can come with a can of white or with a lighter shade of blue. You can always go over, and over, and over it.” Futura says. “You're not lost, necessarily, if you make a wrong gesture or over-spray something.” For this step, it’s important to start by spraying sparingly to make your paints easier to layer in second coats and beyond.
5. 5. Mind your pressure on the nozzle. Though there are general rules as to how the fullness of a spray paint can will affect the paint spray, there are other factors that can affect how your paint comes out of the can, like the pressure you apply to the nozzle. As Futura says, “The other part of spray painting has a lot to do with what happens with your finger and the nozzle, and how much force you put down when you depress that nozzle.” Always check your nozzles and test out your paints in a safe area to see how they spray before applying to your final canvas.
6. 6. Experiment. Futura reminds painters that the magic of spray paint art comes to life through error and experimentation. “You'd be quite surprised what happens sometimes when you don't expect it to.”
7. 7. Practice proper safety precautions. Protect yourself by wearing gloves and/or masks while working with paint. Futura recommends wearing simple gloves and a mask, like an N95 mask. Safety also depends on your work environment. “Set up a work environment with adequate ventilation—like a fan, open windows—something like that,” Futura says. “And anyone who's working with you in your environment should also be masked up."

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