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How to Create Your Own Graffiti Background

Graffiti is a controversial art form. So controversial that many don't consider it art at all, but vandalism -- and in most places it is illegal. Graffiti artists however use bright colors, aggressive shapes and often-humorous words or imagery, in hopes their works receive notice. This often makes the art visually appealing and graffiti photos make computer desktop backgrounds with a hip, urban feel. They are easy to prepare from your own photos or photos found online, adding a touch of style to your desktop.

Things You'll Need

  • Photo of graffiti
  • Image editing software
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Instructions

    • 1

      Save the image of the graffiti that you'd like to use onto your desktop. Use your digital camera to take a picture of a favored piece of graffiti artwork, or find great photos of graffiti online. Choose an image 1024-by-768 pixels or larger, otherwise it might get blurry when you set it as your desktop (see Resources).

    • 2

      Open the image in the photo-editing software of choice. Almost any photo editor will have the features you need, though found on different menus.

    • 3

      Select the crop tool found on the "Edit" or "Image" menu. Set the proportion of the crop to 4-by-3 if your monitor is standard size, or 16-by-9 for wide-screen. A crop box appears on the photo.

    • 4

      Size the crop box with the anchor points on the corners and sides, and move it until the crop box surrounds the part of the image you want to see on your desktop. Press "Enter" to finalize the crop.

    • 5

      Save the image.

    • 6

      Open up your computer's appearances settings. Find this in the "Control Panel" on a personal computer, or through the "System Preferences" options on the Apple menu on a Mac. Optionally, right click anywhere on a Windows desktop and click on "Properties," and then on the "Desktop" tab. Once in the menu, click the "Browse" button to find the saved image, "Select" the image title, hit "OK," and exit. The graffiti image should appear on the desktop background.

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