• 64 characters
  • Checked October 2026

Graffiti Characters Ideas

Three graffiti characters per press, each with the one feature to get right.

Graffiti Characters Ideas

Show all 64
  1. Rooster with a comb like three paint dripsThe comb is three fat drips on top of the head. Chest puffed out, one wing on its hip.
  2. Roll of masking tape rolling away, loose end flappingThe hole is a wide-open mouth. The loose end trails behind like a scarf, with a torn zigzag tip.
  3. Letter O as a shouting faceThe hole of the O is the mouth. Eyes on the top curve, a tongue rising from the bottom.

Next step Letter a word beside it: graffiti drawing ideasGive the animal a job: animal character generator

All 64 characters

Spray cans and markers with faces 16

  • Black book with arms, hugging a pencil A black book is a writer's sketchbook. Open the cover a crack so the pages show as lines.
  • Chisel-tip marker with a grin, cap tucked under one arm The slanted tip is the hairdo. Keep the barrel straight and bend only the arms.
  • Fat marker leaning on its elbow with crossed legs Draw the front leg whole, then the back shoe peeking out behind it. Soles as thick as the ankles.
  • Leaking marker staring at its own ink puddle Eyebrows tilted up in the middle make the worry. The puddle is one flat shape with a single highlight.
  • Marker drawing a line that loops back to its own shoe Keep the drawn line as heavy as the outline, so the two read as one stroke.
  • Paint bucket with its handle worn as a headband Tilt it and let paint slop over the low side of the rim. Thick rim, thin handle.
  • Paint pen doing a handstand on its tip The tip leaves one dot of ink on the ground. Shoes in the air, soles turned toward the viewer.
  • Paintbrush with bristles swept into a quiff Three or four big locks, not single hairs. The metal band is the forehead; the eyes sit just under it.
  • Roll of masking tape rolling away, loose end flapping The hole is a wide-open mouth. The loose end trails behind like a scarf, with a torn zigzag tip.
  • Short can and tall can with the same face Same eyes and grin on both; only the cylinder changes. That is how a character stays recognisable.
  • Spray can cap on tiny legs, chasing its can A cap is a short cylinder with a round hole in front. The hole is the mouth, so the eyes go above it.
  • Spray can flexing one arm, cap pushed back like a hat A plain cylinder. Face in the top third, and leave the band below it blank for a tag.
  • Spray can in a bucket hat, nodding along to headphones The brim cuts across the top of the eyes. Headphone cups sit on the sides, wider than the can.
  • Spray can sprinting with a paint cloud behind it Lean the whole cylinder forward. One huge shoe in front, the other kicked up, the cloud in loose bumps.
  • Tired spray can sitting down, nearly empty Dent one side and droop the eyelids. One last drip hangs from the nozzle.
  • Two spray cans bumping fists The fists are the star: each as big as a can's face, three knuckles, a small burst where they meet.

Animals 16

  • Bear in a puffer jacket The jacket is a stack of rounded bands, like tyres. Small round ears, paws like mittens.
  • Bee with mitten fists and three stripes Three stripes, no more. The wings are two plain loops left unfilled.
  • Crow in high-top shoes The beak is one thick wedge. The legs are thin sticks, which makes the shoes look twice as big.
  • Frog with a grin as wide as its head The eyes sit on top like two domes, pupils looking sideways. The mouth line runs edge to edge.
  • Gecko stuck to the edge of the page Every toe ends in a round pad. The body bends in an S and the eyes are two big domes.
  • Hippo with its mouth open like a suitcase Open the jaws to a right angle and give them four square teeth. Tiny ears, nostrils on top of the muzzle.
  • Koi leaping out of a paint splash The body bends in a C. Scales only along the back; the splash is a ring of drops below.
  • Octopus with a marker in every arm Head first, then eight fat tubes that taper. Only the three nearest arms need suckers.
  • Owl with two thick rings for eyes The rings touch in the middle with a tiny beak below. The wings fold across the chest like crossed arms.
  • Rabbit with its ears tied in a knot Knot the ears halfway up and let the tips flop apart. The front teeth are one rounded square, split by a line.
  • Raccoon in a beanie with one paw raised The mask is one black band, so leave two white rings for the eyes. Each finger is a short sausage.
  • Rooster with a comb like three paint drips The comb is three fat drips on top of the head. Chest puffed out, one wing on its hip.
  • Snail with a swirl for a shell One spiral, drawn with the thickest line on the page. Each eye stalk ends in a round eye with a highlight.
  • Squirrel with a tail drawn as one big flame The tail is larger than the body and ends in three points. Cheeks puffed, one tooth showing.
  • Toucan with a beak in three bands of colour The beak is longer than the body. Split it into three bands and run one long highlight along the top.
  • Turtle with a star on its shell The shell is a dome of five or six plates. Neck stretched forward, eyelids half down.

Letters with eyes and hands 16

  • Exclamation mark jumping over its own dot The bar is the body, wide-eyed. The dot sits below it with two bounce lines.
  • Letter A standing in a pair of shoes Its two strokes are legs already. The crossbar becomes a belt and the face goes in the point.
  • Letter B with a chest, a belly and stubby arms The two bowls are chest and belly. The arms come out where the bowls meet.
  • Letter C taking a bite out of the next letter The opening of the C is the bite. Teeth along both tips, crumbs of the other letter beside it.
  • Letter E biting down with its three bars The outer bars are jaws and the middle one a tongue. One eye sits on the spine.
  • Letter K throwing a punch and a kick The upper stroke punches and the lower one kicks. A glove on one, a shoe on the other.
  • Letter O as a shouting face The hole of the O is the mouth. Eyes on the top curve, a tongue rising from the bottom.
  • Letter Q with its tail as a tongue The tail curls out past the outline and ends in a drip. Both eyes go inside the ring.
  • Letter R kicking its leg out The slanted leg ends in a big shoe, sole toward the viewer. The bowl holds one large eye.
  • Letter S coiled like a spring, about to jump Squash the S flat and fat. Two feet under the bottom curve, wide eyes on the top one.
  • Letter T flexing both arms The crossbar is two arms bent up at the ends. The face goes on the stem, just under the bar.
  • Letter Y cheering with both arms up The two upper strokes are arms with open hands. The face sits where the three strokes meet.
  • Lowercase i with its dot as a floating head The whole face fits on the dot. Leave a gap, then draw the body with two tiny arms.
  • Number 8 with hands on its hips Two rings: the face in the top one, the hands resting on the sides of the lower one.
  • Question mark scratching its head The hook is a hunched back. One eyebrow raised, one hand on the curve.
  • Your two initials slapping a high five Each letter leans in. The hands meet between them with a small burst, and both outlines stay whole.

Food and objects 16

  • Banana peeling itself Three flaps of peel hang down as arms and a coat. The face goes on the bare tip.
  • Burger sticking out a cheese tongue Stack it: bun, a frill of lettuce, patty, bun. Eyes on the top bun, a corner of cheese for the tongue.
  • Cactus in a pot, flexing Two arms bent up like a strongman. The spines are short ticks along the outline only.
  • Cassette tape with reels for eyes Each reel gets a small toothed ring inside. The label strip is the forehead.
  • Dice with a face on the front Draw the cube from a corner so three faces show. The front one gets the face, the others their dots.
  • Doughnut with a bite taken out The bite is three scallops in a row. The icing has a wavy lower edge and two drips.
  • Fire hydrant with its side caps as fists A dome on top like a helmet and a short chain off one side. Keep it squat: as wide as it is tall.
  • Ice pop with a bite gone, hopping on its stick A rounded slab. Take the bite from a top corner, hang one drip off the bottom, and make the stick its only leg.
  • Microphone with a cable for a tail A round mesh head in crossed lines, the handle as the body. The cable loops round behind into a tail.
  • Old television with antenna ears A rounded box with a thick frame. The screen is the whole face and the antenna is a V on top.
  • Paper cup with its lid worn as a flat cap The straw pokes through the lid like a feather in a cap. Face on the cup, one drip down the side.
  • Pizza slice with melted cheese for arms Two drips of cheese stretch into arms and hands. The crust is a thick roll across the top, like hair.
  • Street lamp bending down to look The post bends like a neck. One eye in the lamp head, and a cone of light for its stare.
  • Toaster with two slices popping up for ears A rounded box. The slices stick up as ears and the lever on the side is one tiny arm.
  • Trash can with its lid tipped back like a cap The lid tips back just far enough to show the eyes. One dent and one patch on the side give it a past.
  • Watermelon wedge with seeds for freckles A fat wedge. The rind is one thick band along the curve, with three seeds each side of the grin.

How it works

Sixty-four graffiti characters for the corner of a sketchbook page, sorted by what they are: paint tools with faces, animals, letters with eyes and hands, food and objects. All are for paper.

Read the full guide

Thick outline, big hands, big shoes

Block the body as one shape: a cylinder for a can, a bean for an animal, the letter as it stands. Draw the outline thicker than feels right, and the hands and shoes too big for the body. Finish with one highlight and one drop shadow on the same side. That is this list's recipe, not a law of the craft.

Draw one until it is yours

A signature character does the job of a tag: it is generally stylised, easy for its maker to repeat and easy to recognise as the same figure. So pick one and draw it five ways: front, side, running, sitting, shouting. Keep the eyes and the outline and change the rest.

  • Give every hand three fingers and a thumb. Four fat shapes survive a thick outline; five thin ones clog.
  • Fill the finished shape in solid black on a scrap. If the silhouette still reads, the character works.

Questions and answers

What is a character in graffiti?

A creature or persona that appears in a graffiti work, most often on stickers and in large painted pieces. Some are borrowed from cartoons and comics; others are invented by the writer as a signature. Every idea here is the invented kind.

What are cute graffiti characters to draw?

Choose Cute for 22, such as Frog with a grin as wide as its head, Doughnut with a bite taken out and Lowercase i with its dot as a floating head. To soften any other, enlarge the head and set the eyes low.

Which graffiti character is easiest to draw?

Letter O as a shouting face: the hole is the mouth, with two eyes above it. Watermelon wedge with seeds for freckles and Snail with a swirl for a shell come next. Each is one plain shape and a face.

How does a letter become a graffiti character?

Some characters begin as a face drawn inside a letter and grow from there, and a character can stand in for one letter of a word. Letters with eyes and hands holds 16, among them Letter T flexing both arms.

More tools

Show 6 more

Browse Drawing Ideas