So how do you learn to letter by hand?

[signswi]

A lot of good in this, but actually, I think design schools do not teach good technique for even proper typesetting. We have the software to make type be as good as ever, yet the eye of the person setting the type is lazier than ever. Ever see nice hi end print jobs where there are no hyphens, yet there are staggering space gaps to avoid this? It is stupid!

I know some well paid, senior designers that never use the justification pane in InDesign or do things like use tracking as a substitute for kerning. I'm seeing a bit of red just thinking about it.

Great thread, thanks for the resources everyone. Going to have to try my hand at this simply because I've never done it.

 

[Thwizzit]

I think this is a very helpful thread as well, thanks for posting the question. I'm looking to learn some skills as well if only at a hobbyist level and have jotted down most all of the suggestions, thanks for taking the time to contribute your thoughts to this thread.

Not to beat a dead horse, but one of my first thoughts on the question "What can you offer that can't be done digitally?" was "Restoration". All the computers and vinyl in the world aren't going to help you restore lettering. Besides, when you hand letter something you end up with an original work of art and the incomparable feeling of having created something by hand not just a pile of plastic lettering that can be mass produced at the push of a button.

 

[Brandon708]

So where can I get some good brushes at? Michael's or Joann's? ANy type I should be looking for?

 

[bob]

...
Not to beat a dead horse, but one of my first thoughts on the question "What can you offer that can't be done digitally?...

The answer to this is much the same as the answer Louis Armstrong delivered when someone asked "What's jazz?". Armstrong replied "If you have to ask you're never going to know."

If you can't see the difference in layout, execution, and resulting elegance between something cranked out on a computer and work by a journeyman sign writer, you have no business being in this business.

 

[Pat Whatley]

"Elegance" is a good way to put it. I've lettered hundreds of windows in vinyl. If somebody happens to be walking in the business they might say something, usually something stupid.

When I've painted window splashes, however, people have literally sat and watched for an hour with an almost "dumbfounded" look on their faces.

I'm sure if I ever get proficient enough to hand letter in public I'm going to have to stab the first genius that comes up and says "you need to get you one of them sticker cutting machines".

 

[Rodi]

"Elegance" is a good way to put it. I've lettered hundreds of windows in vinyl. If somebody happens to be walking in the business they might say something, usually something stupid.

When I've painted window splashes, however, people have literally sat and watched for an hour with an almost "dumbfounded" look on their faces.

I'm sure if I ever get proficient enough to hand letter in public I'm going to have to stab the first genius that comes up and says "you need to get you one of them sticker cutting machines".

Just get it on video for the rest of us to sit back and enjoy.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Brandon 708.... Chicago should be filled with sign supply stores and with sign brushes there is a famous sign school there also.

If you are still stumped Google Mack brushes ...but only buy what ya need at 1st like 1 to 3 brushes start small a # 3 #6 & # 8 is normal practice brush great for about 3"-5" letters.. be glad to help further

 

[Perks]

This paint store in Waltham, Ma may still sell lettering brushes... sales@nickersonandhills.comcastbiz.net

 

[all_things_art]

When practicing try words that have 2 or more of the same letter in them,like NO TRESPASSING,to get good letter consistency. The first letter style I was taught was a speed letter so i could go with my mentor to letter windshields at car lots, the second was a speed script then a straight block letter later on.I found learning those letter styles in that order is easier because you can start out loose ,then tighten up your skill as you move on to each letter style. I also had to learn my straight letter without using any tape on top and bottom,I was told all that tape would do is "handicap me" . Once i learned without using tape ,I was allow use it.The whole handicap thing went along with using a mahl stick too, I had to learn to use my other arm as a mahl stick.
Another thing was, I wasn't allowed lettering signs that were laying flat .I was told having to deal with the weight of your body can cause problems when pulling lines ,everything was lettered straight up and down with a slight angle
I mainly use blue handled Luco brushes.My favorites are #6,7,8,10,12 .Some people pallet their paint on a magazine I pallet mine right in a cup and on the edge of the rim,I clean my brushes in paint thinner and soak them in motor oil.When mixing my paints I add a few drops of kerosene or a chemical called SMOOTHIE (creates better flow) I thin my paint with paint thinner or BBQ starter .I use a popsicle stick and after a while you get use to feeling the right consistency of the paint by the way it stirrs and flows off the popsicle stick.So once you get a good flow of paint for yourself...stir it around to see how it feels in the cup.
Everybody was taught to sign paint differently these are some of the ways i do

 

[Brandon708]

Brandon 708.... Chicago should be filled with sign supply stores and with sign brushes there is a famous sign school there also.

If you are still stumped Google Mack brushes ...but only buy what ya need at 1st like 1 to 3 brushes start small a # 3 #6 & # 8 is normal practice brush great for about 3"-5" letters.. be glad to help further

Thanks!

What school are you referring too?

 

[Freehandan]

I agree on the aspects of hand lettering being the ultimate. Just living in life I know that the electric will die out sometime and I will save the day like in every hurricane season.
When you cant feed and get water for your family because you cant let folks know you need help because your computer needs electric to make signs and the dampness destroyed your vinyl, I can paint a sign for you. It will cost you though, as you are one who knows not of the true roots of the world and has respect for what is Better than you who has digital tech. John Henry all the way , Son! Only I will die from paint but the computer people will die of fat and cholesterol and radiation and bad eyes!!
I learned and went to school for advertising and when I graduated in '94, the world went digital and I had a 26,000$ useless degree. I tried to go on that digital ride, but I like to be free, outside. Painting while the squirells play and the bums tell there life story.
Passersby greet me from all ages with courtesy and homage for being real. Iv'e made one person happy for thousands of dollars, and made thousands happy for no dollars. With brush in hand, I am a part of this land, while your machine head is in the sand.
Bottom line...I'm still paintin' when the power goes out. You are not. You will starve and your family will find security in the likes of somebody like me. Rendering you, inadequate to not know how to perform the basic skills needed to complete your tasks in the way they were rooted and free. So here is to you, you digital sign person. As I drive off in my points and carburetor equipped car, passing up ignorant you and your unfortunate family once again.
I was listening to Rossini-Prelude Inofencie while I wrote this response. This is also great music for lettering.
Freehandan

 

[Freehandan]

I am 37 and love to paint. Many years did I try to humble the demand for digital products. Always would I be cut down for the likes of not having to learn and spend time learning hand lettering skills. Computer facilitated sign people have always treated me bad and undercut me. There was a time where everyone seemed against people like me. Even the inkjet affected my mural market but now most consumers know better. Plastic signs need permits as well because of the substrates and all. The city even became against painted signs because they lose money and engineers do as well and they are all affiliated. The computer people started it. I am not old or young. The things I do make me timeless and of this conscious earth.
Be warned though, if the computer could read minds and liked big minds, the creatives like myself would attract the likes of your said computer. You just use it. We live it.

 

[Freehandan]

I do appologize to the seriouse members posting here. People like that hater really irk me. I usually paint a big black penis on the walls of those peoples business. Anyway...
...BEST advise I can give as to learning ... Start big- with water on cardboard. Try to see which letters you can do the quickest and most consistant. They can be transformed by using the same types of strokes in other letters so you will adapt to aquire the rest of the alphabet. SALE is a universal and important word in signs. You'll figuer out what kind of 'A' you like to use. In script as well. Ace that one quick, and move on to other words. The next obstacle is the paint mix. Versus brush type. That is why a crappy chip brush, trimmed lightly, with water on newspaper or cardboard is the best practice tool. You do not desearve to think about colors untill you don't have to think about letters. Save your health and cash until then.

 

[Jillbeans]

I have painted a few penises myself.
Not live in the flesh ones!
But very small ones hidden subtly in designs.
Nobody likes a small penis.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Thanks Jill, way to kill my self-confidence.

 

[AUTO-FX]

:ROFLMAO:

my wife wants to know what i'm laughing at !

jill, i heard once you paint a black one, you never go back ?

 

[OldPaint]

WHERE in south florida are you??? i lived in SARASOTA till 1998, have we met?

 

[Freehandan]

Fort Lauderdale........

 

[k.a.s.]

I agree on the aspects of hand lettering being the ultimate. Just living in life I know that the electric will die out sometime and I will save the day like in every hurricane season.

Bottom line...I'm still paintin' when the power goes out. You are not. You will starve and your family will find security in the likes of somebody like me.

Just a question.....If we have an energy crisis and we would all lose power for an extended period of time, what business owner will be buying signs to invite people somewhere that HAS NO POWER!!!!

Maybe you can letter resturant windows so people can eat in the dark, maybe the local store owner needs a sign so people know that he is open for "shopping in the dark". And yet all these people could'nt open the cash register or take a debit card. And if you wanted to give them cash, you could'nt get it out of the bank b/c they can't open the vault.

The point is that your argument is ubsurd, if we all lost power there would be about 100,000 things more important than weather or not I can have a sign made. And in the case that a sign does not to be made for an emergency, I'm sure spray paint and OSB would do fine, I doubt most people in that situation care weather of not the lettering is kerned correctly.

Step back and listen to yourself you sound silly.

Kevin

 

[Gino]

No, he doesn't sound silly. There's much truth in what he says.

There could very possibly be a day coming when like in other parts of the world..... your city or town could be divided in half with the the one side getting power for maybe 6 or 10 hour intervals while the other side goes without except for emergency features. In these time periods people such as Freeh may have some additional work on hand, but I highly doubt he'll get his price. People will quickly adapt to this and make things work from another approach.

His only problem will be he has to work in candlelight and won't have any airbrush, projectors, electric pounces or any other electrical devices at his disposal. It would be very hard for someone not well versed in candlelight usage such as they did back in the 11th and 12th centuries to work full time when you're not used to it.

Can you imagine not having anything at all at your fingertips that you've grown up with to suddenly be taken away ??

 

[Brandon708]

Just a question.....If we have an energy crisis and we would all lose power for an extended period of time, what business owner will be buying signs to invite people somewhere that HAS NO POWER!!!!

Maybe you can letter resturant windows so people can eat in the dark, maybe the local store owner needs a sign so people know that he is open for "shopping in the dark". And yet all these people could'nt open the cash register or take a debit card. And if you wanted to give them cash, you could'nt get it out of the bank b/c they can't open the vault.

The point is that your argument is ubsurd, if we all lost power there would be about 100,000 things more important than weather or not I can have a sign made. And in the case that a sign does not to be made for an emergency, I'm sure spray paint and OSB would do fine, I doubt most people in that situation care weather of not the lettering is kerned correctly.

Step back and listen to yourself you sound silly.

Kevin

exactly what I was thinking.

He clearly has something against the modern sign maker. He also assumes that we all don't have an artistic background which is ridiculous.

If he hates technology so much he should get off the damn computer and do it the old fashion way and send us hand written letters in the mail.