Plum House
New Member
Haha, got your attention, didn't I? :ROFLMAO:
Hello Everyone,
I am a self-taught artist wanting to learn how to properly design and paint signs. My interest presently with signs is handmade with hand lettering and some embellishments at times to add dimension.
A few years ago (almost 4 now!), I made a rash of signs to cover the side of my shed. Towards the end of that period, I found Signs101 and tried to implement some of things I read here. I bought Mike Stevens "Mastering Layout", "The colorization of the Atkinson Plates" (oooh, la la, just pure eye candy!) and somewhere along the way picked up "Lettering Design" by Michael Harvey.
I loved making those signs but I found myself very frustrated with my lack of knowledge, the limitations of the software I had at the time and was too afraid to post and ask for help. I looked into expensive vinyl cutters but luckily realized that wasn't going to make my signs awesome. Other than very simple centering of words on a board, I stopped trying, basically giving up. Some of you will be happy to hear, I have never sold a sign. I do give them away as gifts sometimes.
This past spring, I volunteered to create a display of Linoleum pieces from the renovated farm house at our local Nature Center. The design they chose, somewhat resembles an old poster and I also thought it looked like a sign too because it has the word linoleum on it. I had wanted to add a paragraph to it, but I knew I could not do that much lettering on it and be happy with it. (Yeah, hindsight, I should have had someone do vinyl letters, but I really wanted them painted.) My lettering isn't perfect and it has a "too much space" issue. After I realized the space problem, I was terrible unhappy and we ended up also donating the cost of materials. (I say we, because my husband did all the metal work for me.)
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I made a simple sign for my MIL to hang in the house and started rolling around ideas for someone else for a Christmas gift. Then last week, without any prompting, three different people asked me about making a sign, all in the same day. I was floored and somewhat saddened when that last person mentioned it. (It's a business sign.) It was like someone hitting me over the head, saying "here's your sign", get busy and start learning how to do it, you know you want to.
So here I am, ready to learn and not scared to post anymore. :>)
Suzie
PS Plum House - I have a purple outhouse, lol, yes, I really do!
Hello Everyone,
I am a self-taught artist wanting to learn how to properly design and paint signs. My interest presently with signs is handmade with hand lettering and some embellishments at times to add dimension.
A few years ago (almost 4 now!), I made a rash of signs to cover the side of my shed. Towards the end of that period, I found Signs101 and tried to implement some of things I read here. I bought Mike Stevens "Mastering Layout", "The colorization of the Atkinson Plates" (oooh, la la, just pure eye candy!) and somewhere along the way picked up "Lettering Design" by Michael Harvey.
I loved making those signs but I found myself very frustrated with my lack of knowledge, the limitations of the software I had at the time and was too afraid to post and ask for help. I looked into expensive vinyl cutters but luckily realized that wasn't going to make my signs awesome. Other than very simple centering of words on a board, I stopped trying, basically giving up. Some of you will be happy to hear, I have never sold a sign. I do give them away as gifts sometimes.
This past spring, I volunteered to create a display of Linoleum pieces from the renovated farm house at our local Nature Center. The design they chose, somewhat resembles an old poster and I also thought it looked like a sign too because it has the word linoleum on it. I had wanted to add a paragraph to it, but I knew I could not do that much lettering on it and be happy with it. (Yeah, hindsight, I should have had someone do vinyl letters, but I really wanted them painted.) My lettering isn't perfect and it has a "too much space" issue. After I realized the space problem, I was terrible unhappy and we ended up also donating the cost of materials. (I say we, because my husband did all the metal work for me.)
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I made a simple sign for my MIL to hang in the house and started rolling around ideas for someone else for a Christmas gift. Then last week, without any prompting, three different people asked me about making a sign, all in the same day. I was floored and somewhat saddened when that last person mentioned it. (It's a business sign.) It was like someone hitting me over the head, saying "here's your sign", get busy and start learning how to do it, you know you want to.
So here I am, ready to learn and not scared to post anymore. :>)
Suzie
PS Plum House - I have a purple outhouse, lol, yes, I really do!
