I can remember my mother being pissed off with me because I had sold some of my blackbooks. At the time I know I didn’t value the energy I had put into those books. I would take pictures of the burners I saw subways and walls and then copy that style using my tag name. I used the pictures for references on lettering and coloration as well.
When SACHA JENKINS isn’t creating stage plays and television shows and TWittering (@tedbawno?) he is curating books on graffiti masterpieces with the big homey Chino BYI. Their first masterpiece diary is titled ‘Piecebook‘ and it is a collection of artwork from some legendary graf writers. The piecebook or blackbook is where you store your ideas and you perfect your style.
The blackbook is a diary in the sense that it describes your progression as a graf artist from toy to b-boy, but the blackbook also holds some designs from your closest associates and the other writers that you respect for the all-world style or their all-city status. Piecebooks were supposed to be passed down from artists to one another because everyone did shit for the love of the art back then. I sold mine because of all the photos I had inside of them.
SACHA and Chino have a companion to the OG Piecebook called ‘Piecebook Reloaded‘. I’m gonna go on Amazon and cop these joints so I can reminisce and enjoy the artwork. I may even get off my ass and go to AlphaBeta and pick up a few cans. On second thought, I don’t need to get arrested again for a long time so maybe I wil just go to Pearl Paint and pickup a blackbook and some Design markers.
