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Hand painted sign

Vinyldog

New Member
So I've been doing lick and stick graphics for twenty something years now and decided it was time to try my hand at hand painting on a personal project. The plan is to mix the darker blue on the bottom of the bottom line 50/50 with white and finish the top of the bottom line and bottom of the top line with that color, creating three color text but have also thought about doing three color on each line. The white petals are not showing up on the yellow background but I don't really care for the green outline I did on the one petal. Maybe black with a sharpie?
The paint is rattle-can, latex house paint and one-shot.
Feel free to trash it. I'm doing this for the experience.
 

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Nikole

New Member
Try dry brushing the letters for a gradient. i use dinner plates and mix different hues on it. you should probably mask all the letters beforehand. be careful when pulling the tape up. don't let the paint dry too much or the tape will rip it up. the white looks like it needs more coats. And you are right, the white does need an outline. Try the same dark green if black is not anywhere else in the painting.

And have fun!
 

Z SIGNS

New Member
You want to use a mop

Your strokes look a little shaky.
Maybe you were after that look.

Do this over and over and over and over.
When you have done this repeat the above
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Sidney

New Member
Hand Painted Suggestions..

I agree, the green stroke around the pedals are too stark and for the stem try med-dark interior green with a brighter green outline. Try using a Yellow Ocre for a stroke around the pedals. It will allow the flower to have a more natural and finer look and it will keep the flower secondary to the lettering. When it comes to hand painted signs the the artwork should grab your attention but the lettering should be the star:)
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Being able to hand paint is a very rewarding feeling. Much more so, then making a vinyl or digital printed sign. Many here say there is only one way to hand letter. It's like just about anything else in life, if you find a technique or method that works and go for it. The sign you made is terrible for many reasons, first one being, you bit off more than you can chew. People will also say, ya hafta start somewhere. While that's true, you don't jump into the deep end of the pool to learn how to swim. You learn how to move your arms and legs, how to breath, how to cup your hands, arch your back. Basically, you learn the fundemantels. This is the same, like shown earlier, you learn to make the strokes, build letters and execute in definite movements. Once you can swim/paint.... you go for fancier stuff. Don't worry about outlines or effects, until you can do the basics. Either you make patterns on your computer and fill in like a coloring book or you paint off the brush and just know your hand/eye coordination. That will take time and practice.
Good luck............:rock-n-roll:
 

OldPaint

New Member
iam with gino.........your in over your head!!! hand lettering is not just pickin up a brush and slapping some paint down))))
QUESTIONS need answered:
HOW AND WHERE DID YOU GET THE LETTERING?
1. POUNCE PATTERN........created from a plotter?
2. FREEHAND DRAWN?
3. THE DAISY LEAVES/STEM ......LOOKS LIKE A DYING CACTUS))))))
4.WHY ......THOSE COLOR CHOICES.....
5. HAVE YOU EVER..... blended one color to another before??
6. WHAT BRUSHES are you painting this with???? YOU NEED THESE!!!

7. DO YOU KNOW..... how much turps to add so paint is fluid but not so much it runs???
Z SIGNS............. gave you the best advice.............
as for the sign........it has some good points......i assume your trying to make it look flag like?
you need to go back what Z SIGNS told you.......THEN.......when you got little practice......try making the flag like sign....
 

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Jillbeans

New Member
The layout is busy and breaks a few rules...no all-caps in a display typeface and too much distortion.
I would try again with a plainer font. Don't go caps and lower case if you are going to arch lettering, though.
I'm glad you added a border, it helps to add a finished look.
When I do a blend, I do it this way:
I bring the top and the bottom together so they are almost touching, and then a take a clean dry brush while both colors are still wet, and drag it across the letter to blend.
(if you do it this way outline the letter to clean up the edges)
You'd probably have to do this one letter at a time, and it can get tedious.
Kudos to you for trying a traditional method.
It can be very rewarding and satisfying.
I'm not going to scold you with a bunch of all caps gibberish.
But I would suggest using all one type of paint. I use Ronan lettering enamels.
Love....Jill
PS
Here are some freehand painted panels I've done at car shows.
One has flowers, (and maybe too decorative for all-caps lettering) the other has my favorite layout style of a script with a serif style beneath it.
 

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Vinyldog

New Member
Lot's off great information there, thank all of you for taking the time to advise me with this. Like a lot of people, I have a huge stack of paint cans in my garage that I have collected over the years and I decided when I started this that I was only going to use the paint I had on-hand. That explains the mix of weird colors and paint types. But that's not a firm rule now that I'm getting into it a little bit.
The Robin egg Blue layer is Exciters brand rattle-can that was marketed to paint vinyl before cutting, if anyone remembers that.
I have a rattle-can of One-shot clear that I was thinking about using to clear-coat it with.
Does anyone know if it is compatible with latex exterior house paint?

I also wanted to mention that I used a dremil to carve into the petals on the flower. Not sure if that was evident or not. Just trying some different things. And their will be a photo where the center of the flower is, so I am not totally abandoning my printer.
 
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Sidney

New Member
Hand Painted Suggestions..

There is a great advantage to hand painted signs...and that is " they're completely Non-Cookie Cutter Signs ". There are no real rules, just an understanding of color, composition, roles and effects. Continue practicing and look at YouTube for Hand Painted Techniques etc. I am going to enclose a project that you might enjoy:) Yes, this is freehand..NO STENCILS. :) To get to this point it took practice, practice, practice :)
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Jillbeans

New Member
If you painted anything with regular 1 Shot lettering enamel, it will crinkle when you clear it with the aerosol clear 1 Shot.
 

Sidney

New Member
One shot

One shot is a great product and I agree Jillbeans...clear is not needed. Oil paint does not do well with a clear, it will give it a slight yellow tint that gets worse with time.
 

Marlene

New Member
I think you should sand it off and start over using some of the tips you've gotten from the painting pros. why clear coat and keep soemthing that is under par and not really good. the idea of it isn't bad. the shape of the sign is nice. the colors aren't horrid so it wouldn't take a lot to make it look a lot better. I commend you for at least trying and for getting as far as you did
 
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