Sign Painters

[Erik Sine]

I've seen several threads around different forums and I'm coming to the conclusion that the Sign Painter is going the way of the dodo. You have to be a real artist to be a sign painter, it's not something everyone has a talent and a eye for. But now with vinyl cutters and the newer cheaper and easier format printing where accuracy and quantity is easier and faster, I just see the painter as having to adapt to the new industry. But they seem stubborn and resilient to change over and I'm wonderering if it's "fear", fear to learn something new after mastering a way for so long.

I hear the cons to vinyl such as, you can't letter on unstable surfaces like stone or stucco. Well in turn I would think that's where a dimensional letter would come into place. They say any dummy can go on a computer and design a sign and you have to be a true artist. I think it's true, a computer can aid a non artistic individual but I'm thinking a sign painter could do wonders with one especially with the talent and eye for art. So give up the brush?

Vinyl one day soon will be lost as well as format printing technology gets better and less expensive with more aggressive inks and solvents. Why spend the time to color seperate when you can do it all in one shot.

You can say also that "Sign Painters" are a breed all their own too. These are the same people who paint scenic murals and have a gift to capture images and display them on canvas. So is a "Sign Painter" really a wayward artist who choses to do advertising instead of selling his work at a gallery?

IMHO, sign paint work is inaccrurate and doesn't compare to the brilliance and accuracy of format printing. But to get damn near close to one is truely a talent. I know if I had a choice as a business owner I would want an accurate depicted sign rather than paint. On the other hand if I was fortunate enough to own a classic car I would want a painter with talent to spray and airbrush a nice set of flames to flow with the metal paint than have a post surface, or to have a artist paint a mural inside my resturant to depict a setting according to my theme. Let's not forget Re-creation of classic setting and theme parks.

My conclusion would be to adapt in other areas or change.

[B.O.P.]

Interesting you should bring this up. My father was a sign painter. Even according to his competition he was one of the best, but I don't know how he would have been able to compete with all the new stuff there is today. And I'm curious why Sign Business Magazine is currently running a series of how-to articles on "A guide to hand lettering". Perhaps there is still a need for such artists and they are considerably fewer of them?

[Erik Sine]

heh, no sooner did I read your post and what do I find in my mailbox, the new issue "Sign Business".

After reading it does make for a good "how to" article.

but then the next article has to do with format printing

[Travis]

You guys are exactly right. As a sign painter you can adapt with the times or close your doors to the young punk down the block who has no skill but knows how to work a computer(dont get me wrong I know the computer takes skill too). But the sign painter that has accepted the computer gets to keep working when the power goes out or the computer hard drive takes a dump or the plotter freaks out.

My dad was a sign painter that got to see vinyl come and take over the world. He would tell me how happy he was that I wanted to learn his trade but to keep an open mind to new things. Thats why today I can sell, do vinyl, design, paint, hand letter, fabricate, install, make neon, survey, etc. I have made it a point to learn as many aspects to the business as I can to keep me working. But I never forget what I knew first because sure enough someone will ask me if I know someone. I get to say 'well sure I know someone'.

[oldsignpainter]

Well I for one am still able to hand letter signs of all types, although I prefer to apply vinyl when needed. My father, grandfather and granduncle were all sign painters before me and I'm very grateful to have been able to have been tutored with their patient care. I have been in business on my own since the age of 20, back in '74, and still hand letter various billboard faces (when brought to me), semi-trailers and box vans, especially the ribbed and riveted versions, mesh faced tennis court screens, block walls and any other surface that cannot have applied vinyl onto it. Having this learned trade enables me to continue to perform my tasks regardless of location or electrical power and it's a profession which can be relocated to any part of the country. My father, too, got to be a witness to the vinyl producing computer generated graphics machines taking over our field of expertise and he never quite mastered the one-eyed monster sitting squarly in my sign shop once he retired and moved in with me. Now that I have become quite able with the computer and its various components, I am witnessing the influx of digitally printed, instant signage that, I fear, will someday usurp us all unless we jump onto THAT bandwagon as well. I currently have clients who, for a fee, hire me to apply their 4x8' sized print onto MDO for them and as hungry as I am for an easy buck, I comply. Easy money. I have since "farmed out" other digital print jobs and find that I too can be an all-around technical shop without the added expense of purchasing or leasing the needed equipment However, I still am proud to be a part of this brotherhood of hand letterers and will continue for as long as possible.

[Erik Sine]

Nice for you to check in here OSP I see a few of your posts out on the web. Nice to have an actual sign painter throw in his two cents :D

A good friend Cady Macasa who was a sign painter recently passed away and I wish I would have paid attention to him more on his techniques than I did. He did phenominal work, he started out in the Philipines as an artist then doing painted signs for the Navy. He came over here to the US and started peinting the Billboards, I saw his pics he had in a portfolio and I was like :o Amazing man he was, nice caring and full of adventure you would think he was still 20. People from all over the US would fly him to paint murals and signs. I've been wanting to post a page about him, maybe some know him. His list of works go on and on, the small things I thought would be complicated he would just do up right there and then.

Anyway welcome OSP to the "raft", hope you can share some of your work pics sometime. My appreciation for sign painters has been higher than ever as I've started going more and more into non-illuminated signs

:beer: