2020 was a really strange year in more ways than I care to remember. With so much going on in the world, I barely had time to really think about painting and struggled with finding the inspiration or energy to really get busy in the way I normally would. I guess it was time to explore some ways I wasn’t so familiar. I picked up an Oculus Quest VR headset a few months back and was browsing the app store one day and came across KingSpray by the awesome teams of developers at Infectious Ape. I was totally blown away by how well executed the experience is. They did a great job of recreating a real life graffiti simulation in virtual reality. From the way can control is pressure sensitive to how the paint goes on wet and dries quickly, it all feels very realistic. They have real world fat and skinny caps, and they even have a whole library of real colors by Ironlak. And the environments are really cool too. They have subway stations and freight yards, and alleyways and rooftops and more. All designed in great detail and with interactive tools like ladders and buckets to stand on.
Another really cool factor is that it has an online mode where you can “paint” virtually with up to four people from anywhere around the world. I’ve had a chance to paint with writers from Montreal, New Mexico, LA, China and even as far as Australia! I look forward to continue working on more walls with cool writers in the future. I would even go as far as saying this platform is a great way to practice and experiment in VR and that it could absolutely translate to better executing in real life. I could even see it as a great way to give graffiti lessons virtually.
Here are some pics of a few walls I’ve worked on recently…
