sightlines.usitt.org: Not too many years ago, fledgling painters assailed lettering and signage with hours of layout utilizing drafting tools. Then along came large format printers, which gave an easy pounce in any font imaginable or make the sign. A time-saving device so ubiquitous, the printers have virtually made sign-painting skills extinct. Except for when there is no large format printer, it's out of ink, or it would just be easy to whip out a quick little sign that has to be painted on corrugated steel. Do printers work on corrugated steel?
15 comments:
Ah, sign painting. I have so many memories of painting signs, back in the middle school production/ art class days! Or even for a yard sale. Theres a lot of work that goes into making signs by painting, drawing, etc, but also a lot of fun. Its a skill that takes a lot of practice, labor, but has so much reward. I guess the tedious nature/ simple need for time has made sign printing much more reasonable. I feel that this printing, lack of hand sign painting is a "sign" (pun intended) that we are growing so reliant on computers to get things done more efficiently, as technology marches on. Supposedly in some places schools are not teaching script in cursive classes! The times are changing, its unfortunate in a lot of ways, but I am happy to see that workshops like these are preserving the fun art form of sign painting!
I never thought about this before reading this article. Sign painting really HAS developed - or, rather, we've taken it with us. In preschool we used markers, fingerpaints, whatever we could find. This is where it began. We recognized this as a way to have our cause be noticed. As we became more adept at writing and processing information, these signs become more refined. Eventually we moved to computers, and as both we and technology progress in tandem, to entirely new frontiers. This article presented the development of both a certain generation as well as technology in a very interesting light. Showing this large progression through something so simple as sign painting is a brilliant way to create an understanding of something which is occurring in our modern day.
Printing a sign on corrugated steel - just one of the random obstacles one never thinks of until running headlong into them. I have never imagined someone bent over a sign with their T-square and triangles before, but now the image reminds me way too much of the late-night drafting that happens in our studio every week. It's amazing what a variety of things drafting skills can do for you, and the random tasks that technology is not yet up for. This is yet more evidence of why society needs to stop relying so heavily on technology to solve all its problems; technology is not perfect and doesn't cover all the bases yet, so we need to stay ready to fend for ourselves should it not be prepared to do what we require to be done.
I never realized sign painting could be a profession. Of coarse I've painted my fair share of signs but most consisted of middle school level work. that sounds like a really neat class to take though. I would be interested to see the methods and aspects that set sign painting apart from regular painting and what things that were taught in the class could be brought over to any sort of painting.
I never thought that people would have drafted out signs before painting them, but now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. At my high school people would create the designs on a computer and the project them on to whatever material was going to be painted.
I agree that it is important that we dont loose touch with the more "old fashion" way of doing things, especially art, because there are so many things that could go wrong while leaning so heavily on technology.
I also think it's pretty interesting that sign-making is a profession in itself. I agree with others in saying that technology should not fully replace pure artistic skill and craftsmanship when it comes to making signs by hand. I think we take manufactured, molded, and printed signs for granted as the default construction method used in sign-making. As part of a summer job, I was cleaning out a house and came across around 6 huge hand-painted signs for events at a nearby bar.
I think that sing making is a beautiful art form. I love seeing hand painted text on business signs and sidewalk signs. I am from a cute small town that is filled with hand painted and hand carved signs. I think signs like these add immense character and charm to a town. I think its very sad that because we now have the capability to do large signs digitally that we have stopped using the art of hand painting them. Printing is certainly more efficient, but there is just such beauty to hand painting a sign...
I think its absolutely awesome that a workshop is being offered. As technology grows it is evident that certain practices just aren't as common and being particularly interested in scene painting, it saddens me to this happening alot in the artistry department. So I'm glad to see some still trying to preserve a dying art. Signs were always something I thought I could paint up quickly and be done with but I was always surprised by how much time and precision they actually take. I'd love to attend the workshop and learn some hand-lettering skills.
I don't know a great deal about sign painting, but I've painted a thing or two over the past years and being able to loft or layout designs by hand, small and large scale is extremely valuable. (warning a statement is about to be made that some people loathe...) During my undergraduate career my scenic design professor was fairly adamant that we know how to work both by hand and digitally, partially because, let's be honest, sometimes working by hand is faster, cleaner, and truer to the desired effect. But also, there is a certain amount of understanding built by knowing the long-form approach to a project that often aids the individual later as the progress towards more technically advanced approaches.
Digital skills and hand crafting are two items that should go together. We shouldnt allow ourselves to be categorized as an individual who only posses one skill or the other. As Joe pointed out, different effects can come of the two processes and even a hybrid can have a new look effect. Its good to see that USITT is offering a course to allow people to go back and refresh or learn the skills they are lacking in hand painting signs. Its good for everyone to brush up or learn a new technique here and there.
There is a facebook employee whose main job is to create in-company signs. He screen prints them instead of using a printer. (This was either a green page article, or a different green page article led me to it; I can't remember). I thought it was really cool that he did his own screen printing, it connected him to the art. He also help workshops for the engineers to get their hands dirty with the creative process. Sign painting has developed, which is cool, but the creative process behind the art, which I think is really important, remains the same.
I think lettering is one of the hardest things to draw, and an even harder thing to learn. I always try and doodle different words that I've seen and i can never manage to do it justice. So people that can i think are a very rare and talented commodity. not only are they better and in a way more reliable than printed txt but you can get more custom and detailed result if someone draws it for you.
I think sign painting is charming. I remember watching movies where you see sign painters painting names on doors (Elf is the first that comes to mind). I was always fascinated how the letters were so precise and sharp. It's like a HUGE Ames lettering guide for doors! I am sad to see this art form disappear, but I can understand. The world has become so technologically advanced that everything must be done faster and cheaper in order to be reasonable. I didn't know that sign painting was a full-time professional job, but I can definitely see these people as scenic painters.
I never really realized just how heavily we rely on technology to do tasks within painting signs and such. I think giving classes like this really would help when faced with problems like a broken printer or outage of ink. Not to mention just having these skills in general would be great to own for any situation you come across. I would love to see what techniques are offered and see how they can be implemented on each of the different mediums that need to be painted on.
I think is so much fun! Its so true and a problem i run into often because of my lack of skills in freehand art that there is a material that cannot be printed. I would love to take a class like this to not only improve on some very useful skills but also because it just seems like a fun time. Alos i think this is a way of getting away from all the technology and going back to something innate and primal at least more primal than a computer.
I've always liked painting signs. I know that it isn't exactly time efficient but there's something about a painted sign that i like better than a printed sign. i also am just extremely inept at drawing on the computer, but that's completely beside the point. As long as technology gets better and people can do so much with printing, the designs for signs can become more and more intricate but I don't think that people should forget about painting them. Aside from it being an incredible art, what happens when the zombie apocalypse happens and we have to cut all the power and the internet because the zombie infection started from radiation due to too much computer use? what will we do then? how will we ever paint the "Zombie Hide Out This Way ->" signs?
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