Pondering the old sign “painter” days…

[Craig Sjoquist]

Just recently did a before & after sign on a laundromat, the before was done by Gene Tomberlin I knew this because after working with him for 2-1/2 years before he got the Gerber Sprint 6 months later I was gone.

I can recognize his ability by how perfect everything was, every letter was near perfect & very free form layout on this, but yet formal looking, no matter what it was everything was near perfect.

• Remember one day we both went to Sea Ray Boats I was to letter a boat while he lettered Sea Ray's pick up bed, a very long line of copy with a logo in middle, watching him work as I lettered he made the top & bottom lines & started lettering when done on 1st side noting that he did not measure or draw out letters to see how the copy would fit I asked if he measured to make sure it was centered, .. no.. so I did 1/8 inch off, my jaw dropped, 2nd side 1/16 inch off & of course it all looked like it was done in vinyl, no tape was used just a straight edge to pull Stabio & make lines.
• When working for Ed Dunn & Sons in Wichita working alongside Ed Dunn, he would just put ruler up to make a line it was always perfect never did I see him redo a line because wrong place or tilted more then a 1/8 of a inch.

 

[Jeff]

I have mentioned these names before. Roger Foss was and still is a major mentor of mine. I met him close to thirty years ago when I worked at Avery Sign Co. Roger and Glenn Avery worked together for another sign co. before each going out on their own. Roger and I remain very good friends and work together often.

Another name I have mentioned is Jack Heiman. Jack was / is considered the best of the best anywhere around here. He was actually known well nationally back in the day. In the 60’-70’s he lettered for many nascar, usac, indy, and such teams. He even crewed for a few.

For most of my lettering carrier Jack has been the top of the bar that I have strived to reach in terms of lettering skills…I’ll never get there…but I keep trying.

For as long as I can remember and no matter whom I spoke with Jack was untouchable, meaning he kept to himself. Seams Jack rarely, if ever communicated with other sign people. Sparing the details, a few years ago I approached Jack and we have been communicating ever since.

The “careful what you wish for” comes into play now. I have been hired a few times now to do some vinyl work for Jack. It is very intimidating to have to work for whom you have considered “God” of your trade.

For anyone interested, a few years ago I started a Facebook page to showcase the championship stock cars at our fairly famous local track. There are quite a few samples of both Roger’s and Jack’s work…and a few of yours truly along with others. Many of the photos are marked with who lettered them.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockford-Speedway-Track-Champions/293322084027583?sk=photos_stream

I know there is more to lettering than race cars, but this is the best I have to show of Roger’s and Jack’s work.

Again just sharing memories while I can…

 

[TimToad]

i posted this pic here on another thread.....but since we are doing "old school" in this pic.....the windows on the bar are the work of the guy who got me started in this ....i was 10-12 years old when he painted them. the pic is later then 65...as the car is a 1965 chrysler 300)))) the letting was done late 50's...

Many a bar in Chicago had these beautifully decorated windows with all sorts of solid color borders, flourishes, impeccably rendered logos of whichever big beer company was "sponsoring" that establishment. You couldn't help but notice them and they must have been a helluva of a contract for shops to get.

 

[OldPaint]

and then there ARE SIGNS........that only paint will work.....this is the dealership we bought our 1953 ford from))))

 

[Rick]

I must have had a different experience...

I'm not going to name my mentors but, being
that they were very good at what they did, they still
mostly did bread and butter sign work... replicating logos,
slapping them on the sides of buildings and trucks.

Once the excitement of doing the work worn off. The
occasional 4 x 8 layout or logo design ended up...
to me at the time, looking to "sign shoppy". By that time
I already started going to school for design I was also
interested in print design and had to learn traditional
press production.

Logo design in the late 70's/early 80's was also pretty
boring so it wasn't that sign shops were the issue. At least
sign shops got more design work in, but the speed in which
we had to work did not allow for well thought out design...
Again, my mentors were in trade magazines and wrote articles
but having been exposed to traditional graphic design, I
sometimes thought we did not give design enough thought.

One thing I can say about "those days"... of all the traditional
skills I learned, hand lettering was the only skill worth knowing.
I quit working in signs and graphics because my dislike for
computers... and had to face that my production skills were now
worthless.

Hand lettering was great, but it was still the same as we do today...
slapping logos on things...

 

[SignManiac]

Lettering was but just one facet of the sign business, and for me it was branching out into other parts like painting pictorials and then airbrushing, gold leaf, pin striping and anything else I could learn to keep me from getting burned out. As a whole, it remained fun, but only lettering would have gotten old fast. No different today, if all I had to do was cut out vinyl letters and stick them on a board, I would have quit a long time ago and found another profession.

 

[qmr55]

and then there ARE SIGNS........that only paint will work.....this is the dealership we bought our 1953 ford from))))

...or you could use vinyl lol

 

[OldPaint]

...or you could use vinyl lol

sure.........BUT AT WHAT COST??? and loss of profit))))) and this building photo was taken later in the 70's.....dont think vinyl woulda been around 20 somethin years))))

 

[petrosgraphics]

we had 3 old old timers and 2 new old timers back in the 60s and 70s.
you could always tell, even to this day, who lettered what. *from paper signs
showcard signs to plexi faces each person had their own subtle style..

*Mr Murphy was an old billboard painter from fla. learned a lot from him...*
always used graft paper for his large panel layouts, God Bless Mr Murphy
where ever he may be....