How did you get into the signs business?

[511graphix]

I want to know how you got into the sign business. for me I was always a art loving person. I went to college to become a High school band Director. but the art pulled me in. the main reason I bought a vinyl cutter. was to help out in cutting the price down for our family race team. and also so we didnt have to wait forever to get our work or to get something that looked like crap. so after going through the computer graphic classes and having the color foundation ect. I know my skills are allot better then the locals area shops. so it pretty much. led to were I am now.. so How did you get sucked in? LOL

[GregT]

It's what I did after high school working for a friend. Tried other fields and kept coming back. Tired of working for someone else. Started my own shop. Loving every minute of it for the past 10 years.

[mark in tx]

Because it is so easy, just put vinyl in the machine, load some clip-art, press a button and get paid!


Just kidding y'all.

[Pat Whatley]

Quit work at an ad agency. Started in the sign shop as a temporary gig until I could find another agency job. Realized that the biggest difference between ad agency work and sign shops is the power tools.

14 years later I bought the shop.

[signpro]

i quit McDonalds when i was 17 becuase they didn't give me off the weekend i requested off for (4th of July). before i went out of town with friends that weekend, i applied at a sign shop. my mom called me while i was upnorth with friends, saying i had an interview monday when i got back. i started tuesday! only lost 3 days of work, not including weekend! i've been on/off at the sign shop through college and part time for a few years while i managed a car audio shop, but still did the design/installs at the sign shop. then almost 3 years ago, my family & i bought this sign shop, now i'm full time. i'm 29 now, so over 11years.

sorry for the long explaination.

[TheProfessor]

After college I was working as a marketing, advertising and event coordinator for Harley of Annapolis. I used to have all my stuff printed at the local signs by tomorrow. Harley is an awesome company but the pay isnt wonderful... so I moved over to the sign shop and worked there for a year and a half. I then moved to the company I am at now, Severn Graphics, which is a nice step up. I make 200% less "For Sale" signs than I used to, and I get to do some real design work again. I do miss the small set-up of our signs by tomorrow. I learned how to do a bit of everything: design, print, plot, weed, apply, remove, laminate... and my favorite... the blowtorch :)

[SignManiac]

Thirty five years ago I volunteered to paint a few ABC's...The rest is history.

[Mikeifg]

Worked in Indy cars for years. Then got into Alot of Fleet work nationally, saved up some money and here I am.

[mrchips]

I was a shop teacher for ten years and was eligible for food stamps.....so I got a real job. Thirty+ years later.........................................

Joe,

Makin Chips and Havin Fun!

[T3]

I've been in the printing industry for almost 30 years now. 10 years ago I went in with a co-worker and purchased this business (Kwik Kopy Design & Print Centre) from the retiring owner. We've added many new technologies, especially as the digital era took off. Our offset printing business is slowly dying to digital applications, so I needed something to replace the revenue lost in that area. I started into wide format printing a few years ago with a pigment based printer (Epson 9800), and have been doing a ton of banners, signs and posters. I decided to take it one step further and get into solvent printing, purchasing a Roland SP-540V. My goal is to completely remove my offset print department within the next 5 years and go completely digital including a complete service sign department!:peace!:

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

After high school, I started waiting tables, but my hobby was customizing trucks. I fell in with a bunch of other guys with trucks while hanging out at the local tint shop, and and we decided to for a truck club, and I went in buying vinyl for the club and the owner of the tint shop. I would apply all the graphics for every one.

Way back in '91 I walked in to the trophy / sign shop to order another logo ( the night after I quit my job no less), and he said that he had seen all the trucks with the logos in town, and checked a couple of them out, and wanted me to start working for him. I would do the signs, and the lady that worked there would do the trophies. I learned layout & design, colors, how to apply proficiently...

From there, I went on to another sign shop (because the lady there offered to train me to become a manager of a 2nd location that never happened). There I learned how to work on electrical signs, and got my CDLs while driving and opperating a 100' Skyhook.

From there, I went to a sign / billboard manufacturer, where I learned sheetmetal work, CNC work, and eventually became the engineer that drafted and design the signs and billboards.

A couple of more shops after that, here I am owning my own shop.

This July it will be 18 years in the sign biz...

[petepaz]

went to votech (graphic art)
then night school (graphics art)
worked in a carpet store for 5 years and found an ad in the paper graphic artist wanted
will train and so it began the company was just a screen printing comp. at the time did decals, nameplates.... and as the digital stuff cam in to play so started the sign business

[high impact]

fell in on accident, oops...DANG IT! Now stuck. lol

Seriously, bought out a local bankrupt sign business who had done all my signs for another business I had previously owned and the rest is history...

[WILLIAMS]

got into it because i thought that's where the money was... haha

i always had an interest in art... have a b.s. in graphic design. focused on print design for a few years after college. got bored. started getting sign work. agree with Pat with the difference being power tools.

[weaselboogie]

I started hand lettered signs in 8th grade. In highschool, I started working for Consolidated Stores AKA Big Lots as the local store ad maker. These were weekly ads that hung in the window advertising a specific item. Within a year, I was traveling to other stores, throughout ohio, Pa and west virginia doing posters and banners for store openings, and revamping existing store signage. I even was at HQ doing sign work for National managers meetings. The only place that was big enough table to do the signs was their 20ft conference table. All this when I was 19yr old. These were ALL done by hand with huge markers.
Signs were a obvious step.

[wes70]

1990 - 1992 went to college and received Architectural Drafting diploma... feelanced with some architects. Work was scarce at the time with the recession and all. Decided to go back to college to get my diploma in graphic arts. Worked in a printing department for Pearson International Peacekeeping Centre. In 1997, took out small loan and purchased a roland print/cut (pc50) and the rest is history.

[Billct2]

Got to know the local sign painter/carver in high school.
He talked me into going to Butera School of Art/Sign Program.
That was in '74, been at it ever since.

[sarge]

after i retired from the US Army in 91 .. I had been doing circuit board schematics for boeing and doing allen brady code for robotic application .. the schematics were done on autocad and printed using a plotter .. then someone gave me their corel draw .. got cancer .. during recovery i taught myself corel draw .. anyway .. i started making stickers, then signs .. i suppose i did my first sign in 98 .. never planed on it .. i have some good gigs doing decals for the military and some arms, and ammunition companies .. so it was a natural progression

[signpro]

got into it because i thought that's where the money was... haha
:banghead: same here :banghead:

[Craig Sjoquist]

did my own sign ..cause the sign inspector thats the only way without a permit

then next doors then several others over a year

then went to school ...cause the last job I did looked like crap ... lots of copy ..end to end top to bottom ...egad it was bad

when at school realized this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my earth time...34 years ago

[competition graphics]

Started hand lettering some race cars when I was younger, and got into painting helmets. Worked at a couple different semi-truck and trailer service centers and graduated to Body Shop mgr for 7 years in the 90's. Had race cars of my own and installed all my own vinyl on the cars and at work in the body shop on customers trucks. Got sick of the front office at work and thought I might make a run at buying my own cutter and some vinyl and maybe have a neat little sideline sign deal and make some cash for the racecar. Twelve years later that cool little sideline deal turned out to be a 50+ hour a week job that still doesn't feel like a job and I get to come and go when I want and it's been a blast every day. Just this summer I replaced the racecars with a 56 chevy hotrod and the wife and I cruise every chance we get.

[TonyHoles]

I found a stick figure disc and a collection of pre-designed word art (life, love, family, etc.) and thought what the heck it can't be that hard, right? :thumb:

[WILLIAMS]

I started hand lettered signs in 8th grade. In highschool,
sweet work... i love this style.

i was just talking about this last night with a friend. we did a couple of signs for a dinner & movie promotion for outback & amc back in highschool. our first "real" gig. the signs had interchangable inserts for the candy name you had to buy to enter. we created it on a transparent sheet and used an overhead projector to transfer it to the sign and inked them up. guilty of using brush script for the heading too. we netted like $600- pretty sweet when you're young.

same here
not to mention at the time it seemed pretty pathetic to spend $100k on college to earn $35k for an entry level graphic design job.

[Joe Diaz]

Looking good Weasel!

I grew up in the industry. My parents would bring my brothers and I to work during the summer so they could keep track of us. They would pay us $1 an hour to basically follow my dad around cleaning up after him. We would mow the lawn, sweep the shop, and help my mother file work orders and invoices. I learned most of what I know about the industry by following them around. I would tag along at the letterhead meets and was at the very first walldog meet. I learned even more from watching those folks. The letterheads are like my second family.

After high school, I got a job at a larger sign shop by campus to help pay for college. That shop specialized in the large pylon and other lighted signs. Mainly an install shop. At first I worked in the production department, then later they put me in the design department and I became the resident tech guy. After I graduated I worked there for about a year then moved back to work with my parents. Been working here ever since.

[TonyHoles]

OK a serious answer....I have been in to art my entire life. Growing up as an only child for the first 13 years of my life made for lots of alone drawing time. Anyway that lead me to computer graphics and I grew up messing with pretty much any and every art program around and eventually settling with and loving Adobe products.

I have been around streetbike clubs and racers and ride myself so changing my decals was something I like to do often and I got so busy doing decals for friends and referrals I started researching signs. I gradually became a full fledged sign making machine.

I have been at it for 5 or 6 years and I love every minute of it...because I get to do what I love and would probably do even if I didn't get paid for it. Getting paid for it is much more fun.

[k.a.s.]

I was PO'd cause the local sign wanted a forture to make my farm sign and then he would'nt give me vector file of my logo so I bought a plotter.......j/k lol.

Actully my mom was an art teacher till she quit to help my dad on the farm, when we sold most of our cattle in 1995 she started painting signs in our basement. In 1997 I was still in high school and we bought a 24" Graphtec plotter (which still cuts everyday BTW) I started doing graphics and racing stripes for my friends and helping my mom make signs. I graduated in 1999 and have been here ever since, added a MultiCam router in about 2000 and a JV33 last year.

Kevin

[coyote]

When I was in high school I was on the sign committee-we did all the posters and such for events, school elections, etc. Also, painted a 2 x 3 hanging plywood panel for the local town Christmas display and won $125. (back in 1970, this was big bucks). I was on the scenery painting crew for our school productions. We got our flats from Broadway shows that were upgrading, so this was really professional stuff and huge fun.

Got a degree in art education, substitute taught and starved and finally went with my roots and got a job with a sign shop-woodworking, sandblasting, gold leafing, painting pictorials (my fave), screen printing, and finally vinyl (not my fave). Back when I started, sign painting paid much better-it's amazing how cheap everything has become. I saw the future when I went to a local sign franchise that was opening in town and was told I was too skilled (too expensive).
c

[amp267]

ive always been in to lettering, i use to do all the illegal party flyers for our party crew (sounds funny saying it now). from there i took a production printing class in high school. a few years later i was working in a shop that did t-shirt printing, and signs. i was there about a year or so. i left in 98 and worked various jobs. i purchase coreldraw in 05 just because i wanted to do some design work on the side. from there i decided to purchase a screen printing set-up for a little extra cash. went to a few shows then i picked up a plotter and heat press. i have to admit i really didnt use the plotter for the first year, it was meant to only be used for heat transfer material. then i realized i should be using it for signs stuff, i already knew how, i had worked doing it for a while. a versacamm later and ive been full time for the last 5 months.

i left a pretty good paying job, in a bad econmy, that was about as easy of a job as you could ask for. so far so good.

[hoppers]

Interesting stories by everyone....I'm only 1 year in this vast wide sign world, but always been neck deep into art and photography. Wanted to expand my wide format photo printing into a side biz and it has expanded even further once I found out what this Versacamm can fully do! :)

I'm still small taters, but hoping 2009 is the year for my side biz to get fully off the ground. Working on the website, biz plan and accounting right now.

Weasel - the skeleton and dino drawings are too funny and cracked me up...nice work.

[3dsignco]

Counterfeiting was illegal.

[synergy_jim]

In 2000 I went to work for a store fixture manufacturer doing 3D walk through presentations and ended up as their creative director/ head designer 3 years later.

While I was there we invested in some sign making equipment so we could do all of our fixture signage in house.

When the place headed south, I bought the sign equipment and moved into my basement.

5 years later.... here we are....
:cool1:

[jiarby]

I got laid off in my job at the race track so I bought a bunch of clipart dvd's on eBay and a $400 vinyl cutter on Craigslist. We set them up in the livingroom and on weekends went to the flea market selling stick familys, word art (Live, Love, Laugh), and peeing calvins. Made great foldin' jack doing that (sometimes $20-25 for 4 or 5 decals)

Now that we got that all figured out we now want to get a printer and start doing MX bike kits and dirt track cars. (Do you guys know where we can get free templates for those??). I have a few racing buddies that said they would let me advertise on their race cars if we letter them up. We are changing the business name from GraffiXxXtreme to WrapMasta's. I think the future is in wraps (why I want a printer and templates). How much should we charge for a wrap??



haha!

just kidding!

[jbennett]

I HAD a wife that didnt want to work and a friend with little computer knowledge. He was frustrated and sold me his stuff for pennies on the dollar. It was another one of those promises from her that "It is really what I want to do!". She probably made less than $100 with it, and with my being a computer oriented person with a thirst for creativity (no design talent though). I have endured for 6 years now and made some good money and feel like I have came a long way since the beginning. It has helped me through some hard times in more ways than one.

jbennett

[CES020]

Lost a bet :doh:

[fenris242]

i wanted a job in high school, and working for my aunt at her sign shop was the only job my mom would allow.....here i am, almost ten years later...

[wrapman jamz]

I fell and hit my head. When I woke up with no memory, someone told me I painted signs for a living. I have been banging my head for over 25 years now...but can't seem too loose the memory again.

[imagep]

I had just bought a screen print shop to merge into our offset shop. People just started coming in wanting vinyl graphics. They guy I bought the screen shop from was supposed to do the vinyl for us, but he seemed to never get around to doing it. Then the sign guy that we had done business with for 15+ years just didn't seem to get around to our new sign for our new location.

I checked with another sign company, they wanted $2,000 just to print and mount vinyl on the alluminum that we had already purchased. So I checked out vinyl cutters on ebay, found that I could buy one of those fantastic Mastercutters for less than what I would have to spend with a signmaker, did the sign myself, and it just grew from there.

We still have that Mastercutter, along with a Graphtec cutter and a ecosolve printer and a couple laminators.

And the signmaker that I had done business with for so long? He now farms out printed vinyl to us.

[Deaton Design]

Was setting on my dads porch one day, and this guy, a young guy with good hand lettering skills, was doing some lettering on a block building. Fascinated me. I was also already taking the Art Instruction Schools courses through the mail. While I was doing that, I started trying to find out about signmaking as much as I could and it was very hard. Back then , no one would tell me much. Eventually I found out some info, found signcraft, and started trying to do signs. Lettering is much harder than drawing. Drawing for me comes easy, lettering didnt. Took awhile and alot of crappy signs, but finally got it down and hand lettered everything for about 15 years, then went to vinyl. Still handletter some, but mostly vinyl. I love the design part of the work. I think Im burned out on the fabrication side of it. My dream was to become a syndicated comic strip artist, but I had to make a living and signs provided that pretty good for quite a few years. Havent given up on being syndicated though. Still working on it.

[Jillbeans]

This has been asked before but I'll answer again.
In Kindergarten kids used to get me to draw pictures. By 4th grade I won a scholarship to art classes at the Carnegie. In Middle School I had my first drawing published in a magazine.
In high school I did lots of murals and also window painting for businesses.
Went to AIP for 2 quarters, but hated it even tho I got straight As.
(didn't matter whether you could draw or not, if you had the $$ the teachers would push you through)
Got married. Had a kid. Cousin needed some painting done for his store, from there I started doing painting for him and his friends. He kept getting me jobs. Had another kid.
Got divorced, made more $$ from signs than a real job.
Got married again. Had another kid.
Discovered the Letterheads in 1993 and shortly thereafter the Mike Stevens book.
Got a plotter in 1998. Got divorced. Started hosting meets in 2000.
Learned Corel in 2005 to impress Stevo.
Started getting more into designing and here I am, 24 years later still painting, gilding, vynulling, and other stuff. Still learning.
Love....Jill

[Gino]

I always admired Vanna White's letters and she's got nice ones.... so I thought I'd try my luck at some letters too.

[Dave Drane]

This has been asked before but I'll answer again.
In Kindergarten kids used to get me to draw pictures. By 4th grade I won a scholarship to art classes at the Carnegie. In Middle School I had my first drawing published in a magazine.
In high school I did lots of murals and also window painting for businesses.
Went to AIP for 2 quarters, but hated it even tho I got straight As.
(didn't matter whether you could draw or not, if you had the $$ the teachers would push you through)
Got married. Had a kid. Cousin needed some painting done for his store, from there I started doing painting for him and his friends. He kept getting me jobs. Had another kid.
Got divorced, made more $$ from signs than a real job.
Got married again. Had another kid.
Discovered the Letterheads in 1993 and shortly thereafter the Mike Stevens book.
Got a plotter in 1998. Got divorced. Started hosting meets in 2000.
Learned Corel in 2005 to impress Stevo.
Started getting more into designing and here I am, 24 years later still painting, gilding, vynulling, and other stuff. Still learning.
Love....Jill

So are you having another kid, Jill???:doh::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

[Jillbeans]

...not in this lifetime!

[THATgirl]

I was doing a search and got a chuckle out of these old posts. I guess I was being lazy and didn't want to retype again.


http://signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2367&highlight=start+making+signs


http://signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2367&highlight=years+sign+business

http://signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23082&highlight=long+business&page=2

[OldPaint]

iam old, so you got to understand what the world was before indoor plumbing, running hot water, and electric stove instead of a coal stove. no computers, and most had never seen a TV. ok??
now i can say how i came to wind up here.
i was 4-5 and we had a grocery store, so people came in and out. had this one boy(18-20ish)was what was then called deaf & dumb, and was black. he didnt hear or speak, and always hada pad/pencil to convey what he wanted. i think he also didnt read or write so he DREW PICTURES....of what he was tryin to say. I WAS AMAZED.....he was freindly and i found out if i pointed at something, and made like i was drawing with my hands he would look at what i pointed at and DRAW IT, in a flash and it looked good. from then i was hooked. crayons, pencils coloring books and blank paper.
in 1st grade the teacher told my parents they had an artist on their hands, as i was doing, 4th-5th grade art work already. a local guy who was very talented was doin signs, had me help him do some pounce patterns and then it was summer time and he took me with him to paint several billboards. he did the cutin work and had me doin fill. and i was 10-12 by that time. then WIZARD Haynes came into my world. old shakey jake, livin in his car SIGN PAINTER.now the grocery store had been turned into a bar.........and wizard couldnt paint without a drink 1st. he seen i had an interest in what he did and would take me out on jobs and show mw what he was doin and how to..he also gave me my 1st set of quills.
they found him dead in his car in stebenville oh...
i did a lot of drawing and painting thru high school, then wound up in school for DRAFTING.
when we got to perspective/isometric i freehanded most of it, then instructor would check with instruments, and it was right on.
i did the "job" thing from 18-42, got feed up with the fact most people i worked for ...was dummer then me.)))))) since then i been a sign painter/vinyl guy.

[copythat]

30 yrs of printing background. Signs were always requested from clients. Last Jan picked up Mutoh 1204 and never looked back. We outsourced for over 2 yrs before bringing it in. After paying vendors well over $1500 a month it was a no brainer. Love it!

[Digitall]

Counterfeiting was illegal.


With all those prisons in Canon City, at least it would be close for people to visit. My son managed the St. Cloud Hotel.

[zigns62]

Started 20 yrs ago as a warehouse manager, volunteer to run the new Gerber program with plotter. first job was to plot the lee jeans logo 48"x48', I think it took me 1 1/2 days to figure it out. After a few years of that I move around a bit as warehouse manager, after a few jobs of doing that, the last warehouse job that I had they also purchase a Gerber program with plotter. They new I used this program before. After three yrs with this company they closed there doors. I bought the machine and comp for 2 bills and put it in the garage. I stared to make stickers and lettering, I have up upgraded now to the VP after a few different printers/cutters the rest will be history as long as some one needs to advertise. I still have the old Gerber under wraps, once in a while I hook it up and run some power to it just to remember what it got me into. :{

[Alphonse43]

I stared from being in the film industry as a set construction carpenter. A lot of set building is done overnight, with lots of last minute changes needed before the the crew arrived to shoot in the morning. It wasn't a great feeling when a director would walk in an hour or so before the shoot to check his set, and say "Wouldn't this look great if we had some signage here". It was then a panic to paint something. It was those last minute changes that steered me away from set building and into film lighting. I still did the odd set part time. I purchased a Roland CAMM 1 and offered an over night service cutting their last minute signage at a very inflated price, it was only part-time, but it was a good earner. I went on to full time lighting both here and overseas for quit a few years, then for a career change, I set up small sign business servicing the film industry. The first job was for a TV game show that kept me in constant work for 3 or 4 months.
I'm now retired and just do the odd signage job when I need too.
Alphonse43

[BobM]

After 35 years in the truck body and equipment business (20 as an owner)I bought my first software and cutter and for 5 years did a few truck lettering jobs a month. I closed my truck equipment business, got rid of all the help and overhead and opened a one man sign shop and am loving it. Still lots and lots to learn, but I love the challenge and look forward to every new experiance.

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

Counterfeiting was illegal.

You mean its not anymore, SWEET! ! !:ROFLMAO:

[k2ds]

Natural Progression of a Graphic Design small business owner ... I guess. There are several reasons this progression takes place, but in the end, it's just growth.

The worst fear of guys that own companies like mine is the fact we are mainly service companies and simply design "stuff" for our clients and send off to get printed or made. I design your logo, your brochure, your advertsing campaign, your posters, your flyers, your business cards, your signage, your homes guide, etc ... then I export and ship to a print house.

Most of the time it goes good. The quality is good and the turnaround is ok. But not always. If I outsource to a sign guy and he recreates a client's logo because he couldn't open my AI document and used Brush Script instead of Buffet Script, the client blames me, not him.

And there is always the case of "stolen files". This year alone (2008) I probably lost $20k to some jerkoff printer who "stole" the files I sent them for production and then contacted my clients for those updates/changes/maintenence/new jobs at a lower cost. I charge a lot because I spend time and research concptualizing. They didn't have to conceptualize jack. Just change some crap. Now we can all tell ourselves that if we are good to our clients and give them great customer service, cost doesn't matter - bull crap. It's the bottom line almost every time.

So over the past few months I've been outsourcing to commercial and franchise printers WAY out of town. Ones who accept Press-Ready PDFs that I can "protect". No more Quark files to send off!! WooHoo!

I've had a vinyl plotter less than 6 weeks. I don't consider myself a sign maker (yet) and barely know the lingo or where to get supplies at a good cost for a good quality. But I LOVE it! The shear enjoyment of taking some crap raster jpg, someone prolly stole off Google Images, vectorizing it, and seeing it on a six-foot piece of lucobond feels great! I mean, I'm already looking at CNC Routers and How-To videos on sandblasting and looking into a printer/plotter combo.

That's why I got into the "biz".

[Rick]

Natural Progression of a Graphic Design small business owner ... I guess. There are several reasons this progression takes place, but in the end, it's just growth.

The worst fear of guys that own companies like mine is the fact we are mainly service companies and simply design "stuff" for our clients and send off to get printed or made. I design your logo, your brochure, your advertsing campaign, your posters, your flyers, your business cards, your signage, your homes guide, etc ... then I export and ship to a print house.


Most of the time it goes good. The quality is good and the turnaround is ok. But not always. If I outsource to a sign guy and he recreates a client's logo because he couldn't open my AI document and used Brush Script instead of Buffet Script, the client blames me, not him.

Always....ALWAYS require proofs prior to printing/manufacturing...Did I mention always?

And there is always the case of "stolen files". This year alone (2008) I probably lost $20k to some jerkoff printer who "stole" the files I sent them for production and then contacted my clients for those updates/changes/maintenence/new jobs at a lower cost. I charge a lot because I spend time and research concptualizing. They didn't have to conceptualize jack. Just change some crap. Now we can all tell ourselves that if we are good to our clients and give them great customer service, cost doesn't matter - bull crap. It's the bottom line almost every time.

Always...ALWAYS require a vendor to sign a non-disclosure/non-compete when subbing work.

So over the past few months I've been outsourcing to commercial and franchise printers WAY out of town. Ones who accept Press-Ready PDFs that I can "protect". No more Quark files to send off!! WooHoo!

You need to cover your butt no matter what... oh, that rhymed.

I've had a vinyl plotter less than 6 weeks. I don't consider myself a sign maker (yet) and barely know the lingo or where to get supplies at a good cost for a good quality. But I LOVE it! The shear enjoyment of taking some crap raster jpg, someone prolly stole off Google Images, vectorizing it, and seeing it on a six-foot piece of lucobond feels great! I mean, I'm already looking at CNC Routers and How-To videos on sandblasting and looking into a printer/plotter combo.

The sign business may not be what you think it is, many shops suffer from this. Explore all the options before getting any more equipment. There are a lot of mom and pop sign shops. But if you are a good designer you can design and send it out to bid similar to EGD design firms without having to get a shop and hire out... you just need to find the right vendors.

[Rick]

My parents pushed me and someone took interest in my drawing skills and took me under their wing, I also had a neighbor who was a sign painter that worked with the guy I knew and I picked up a few things. Went into car club window splashes, lettering, flyers for bands, t-shirts. Worked for a while drawing architectural renderings for an interior designer. Went to school and dropped out. Then went into construction (my dads trade) because it paid way better than graphic design but still did design work off and on. When I started having back problems I decided to leave construction and took a job as a grunt at a vehicle graphics shop where they had computers, he fired me, and went from shop to shop learning or doing vehicle wraps, architectural, ADA and all the tools it took to do it till I started getting design positions then went into environmental graphic design/print design... now I am on my own designing sign systems, identity and environments and the occasional poster, flyer and t-shirt.

[crazy_jay_25]

I am slowly becoming a sign guy, kinda by accident. I sell car accessories and graphics which were coming from some country I couldn't even spell. After a few terrible quality shipments I bought my first cutter and Signblazer. A year later I'm onto a better cutter, Coreldraw and doing banners, coroplast and other "temporary" sign. Things just keep gradually expanding and so far so good. Good enough that I hardly stock any car accessories anymore. Ask me in a year if I'm a sign guy and maybe by then I'll have an answer

[k2ds]

WOW! I feel priveledge that Rick quote my entire post and commented on it! You are right. All of it. No rebutle. Especially about the parts of subbing out print jobs with a non-compete contract ... but in this small (13,000-population) town, it's so hard to "make" the locals realize that there are rules and regulations to design. Heck, printers LOVE to get my clients to just call me and ask for non-putlined AI files, PSDs and Quark files. I used to, but now I tell my clients if the printer can't use what I sent them, they just "must not be equipped with the right technology" and ask my client to tell the printer that the designer has found someone else who can use those files. They ALWAYS somehow seem to find a way to make the pdf work .... hmmm.

I was tainted at 22 years old working for FLW Outdoors. They are based 10 minutes from my hometown. We did things so differently. None of the smalltown crap I now deal with. I never built any design without an eps or an ai file or with an image less than 350 dpi. And the only competitor was B.A.S.S. Ha ha!

Anywya, thanks for the comments, Rick!

[Rick]

WOW! I feel priveledge that Rick quote my entire post and commented on it! You are right. All of it. No rebutle. Especially about the parts of subbing out print jobs with a non-compete contract ... but in this small (13,000-population) town, it's so hard to "make" the locals realize that there are rules and regulations to design. Heck, printers LOVE to get my clients to just call me and ask for non-putlined AI files, PSDs and Quark files. I used to, but now I tell my clients if the printer can't use what I sent them, they just "must not be equipped with the right technology" and ask my client to tell the printer that the designer has found someone else who can use those files. They ALWAYS somehow seem to find a way to make the pdf work .... hmmm.

I was tainted at 22 years old working for FLW Outdoors. They are based 10 minutes from my hometown. We did things so differently. None of the smalltown crap I now deal with. I never built any design without an eps or an ai file or with an image less than 350 dpi. And the only competitor was B.A.S.S. Ha ha!

Anywya, thanks for the comments, Rick!

ooops, I actually thought this was another thread about a vendor issue from a while back, thats what i get for having multiple threads open...

[Fuzzbuster]

I wanted to letter my own race car because the local sign guy wouldn`t sponsor my car :Oops: :ROFLMAO:

Istarted drawing in school picked up a brush and started painting

Thought i could make good money until i had to buy cutters and printers :peace!:

cheers:Big Laugh

[Graphics.Atl]

I bought a cutter to cut my own stencil mask for my custom shop and figured out I had a knack for it and it was profitable, the rest is history

[blackicefx]

I started drawing before kindergarden. I got a picture printed in a Family magazine when I was 6. I started focusing on art in middle and high school. In highschool I branched out from drawing comic books and classroom art to darkroom photography and clay sculpture. I got suspended for a week from school for doing a fully nude sculpture of a close female friend of mine from the thigh up. Apparently, everyone immediately could tell who it was... plus it was anatomically correct... Went on to graphic design in college and went crazy with basic welding and woodshop. I also used to street race and at the time, couldn't find any good graphics for my car. I found rolls of vinyl at our local artists shop and began handcutting all of my graphics... drafting out letters and handcutting is the worst thing ever... carpal tunnel anyone?
Eventually, people started offering me $$ for my stuff so I decided to start doing it on the side of my regular job. I did this for a few years but finally went full time a year and a half ago... and then the economy tanked. So now I do signs part time and have another job for now. But I hope to get back to the signs fulltime soon.

Matthew
BlackIceFX

[swellsigns]

I had been working in fast food while going to school and was fed up with it. I had always been creative and artistic so I thought this would be a good jump. It took 3 months to find a place that was hiring. Once I began working there I realized this was the job I was born to do! I continued my education and got a graphic design degree. Seven years with the first sign shop and the owner sold, leaving myself to train the new owner who was previously a baker. I decided to cut my losses and start working for myself. I've been running my own shop for 3 1/2 years now. I have a shop across the street from my house and cannot complain about the commute.

[Mosh]

I had always been good at art, I was plannig to be an engineer. In high school I worked for my dad's contracting company. We did some work for a local sign shop, and I told my old man I thought that would be a cool job. Well next thing I know I was working there.
Within one year I had my own shop (junior in high school) and 20 years later here I am.

[onesource]

Stole some brushes from OP then swiped some lettering and layout books from from someone else, hell might've been OP also. Undercut some locals and while they were pissed and not looking took a crane repainted it and put a bogus name on the door. I then went collected a bunch of deposits, skipped town sold the crane added that profit with the deposits and bought a bigger crane the honest way by paying for it. Drove to a local distributor and snagged a plotter then I was in business.
Really!. needed a job liked it and stuck with it.

[ncastrellon]

I was a typical production artist for 10 years. Two years ago I was hired as a production artist and large format operator for a commercial printer. I've never touched a large format printer but I was up to the task. We used a beat-up mimaki JV3 160-S. It was a piece of junk but I made many tweaks to make it print decently. My former boss was too cheap to hire a tech (he was just a very bad person overall), but I learned very quickly how the printer worked and I've been addicted to the large format world ever since. I am now opening a sign division for my new employer… how exciting is that?! Going to expos, making 'friends' with other sign shops, getting practical experience and constant research brought me to this point and I would never go back to just being a desk jockey designer. The sign industry is amazing and the market is saturated but I love the work. It's very rewarding to design, print, manufacture and finally see your final product and satisfying a client. That's why I'm staying in the business for a long time to come.

[redline graphics]

lol...after 15 years im still trying!!!!

[quicksigns]

Seems like just yesterday that I got laid-off from General Electric and went to work for my brother who was making more on a weekend then I did in one month making "pissing on decals". He had a regular sign shop, but on the weekend, he had a rented booth at a flee market that was making a killing off those decals. After a month of helping him, GE refered me to a different company and I went back to work for a week and decided that sign business was what I wanted to do. Its been a lil over 10 years now.

[David Wright]

How do you get out?

[pointjockey]

I simply needed the money

[astro8]

I was born into it as was my grandfather, father, 2 uncles, 2 brothers and now 2 nephews and probably my son who's still at school.