What is the hardest graffiti style?

Wildstyle is generally considered the most difficult because the letters must stay balanced while being heavily interlocked and decorated.

What is the difference between a throw-up and a piece?

A throw-up is quick, one or two colors and simple. A piece is a full-color, detailed work that takes much longer.

Is stencil art graffiti?

Yes, stencil is one of the major graffiti and street art techniques.

Graffiti Styles Explained: Tag, Throw-up, Wildstyle & More

By Graffiti Generator Team · Updated 2026-10-13 · 2 min read

Quick answer: The main graffiti styles are the tag (signature), throw-up (quick bubble letters), piece (full color), wildstyle (interlocked complex letters), 3D, blockbuster (huge block letters) and stencil.

Graffiti has its own vocabulary, and the names tell you a lot about how and why a piece was made. Here's a tour of the styles you'll see on walls, with a link to try each one.

Tag

The writer's signature in one color. Fast, repeated and all about flow. Try the graffiti tag generator.

Throw-up

Quick, usually bubble-shaped letters in one or two colors, often silver chrome with black outline. Bigger than a tag, much faster than a piece.

Bubble letters

Round, inflated letters squeezed together. The original 1970s New York style and still the friendliest. See the bubble letter generator.

Piece

Short for masterpiece. Multiple colors, fills, highlights, a 3D block, often characters and a background. Takes hours.

Wildstyle

Interlocking, overlapping letters with arrows and spikes, so complicated that outsiders often can't read them. Try the wildstyle generator.

3D

Letters drawn as solid objects with depth and perspective. Some writers drop the outline completely and build letters only from light and shadow. Play with the 3D text generator.

Blockbuster

Huge, square, easy-to-read block letters, often rolled with paint rollers to cover big spaces fast.

Stencil

Images or letters cut from card and sprayed through, the style made famous by Blek le Rat and Banksy. Try the stencil generator.

Heaven spots, burners and more

A burner is a piece that "burns" with bright color and skill. A heaven spot is a piece painted somewhere very hard to reach, like high on a billboard. Neither is a letter style, but you'll hear both a lot.