Roll your calendar back to 1975

[WildWestDesigns]

I have to say that I personally think that hand/eye coordination are just as important as ever and that talent is talent regardless of your tool/medium of choice. I consider printers/computers just another tool (operated with our hands and minds by the way) no different than a brush or tape measure.

I agree with this.

Unless someone is making their own paints and brushes (or using their hands/fingers as a "brush"), people are using tech (maybe low tech, but tech is tech).

I know that there are some on here (or at least were on here, don't know if they still are) that think that the software developers show more creativity with developing the software then those that use said software compared to those that do things the traditional method. I hate to break it to those that think that, but if "you" think that and use a commercially made paint/brush etc, the same thing could be applied to that commercially developed tool/consumable.

There were 2 things that I learned to do the more traditional way, embroidery (which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone) and frame by frame animation (by extension that would also mean that I can draw traditionally as well). To really be proficient in either one, the same level of knowledge goes into both of those regardless if one is using software or not. Even if one learned to do things on the computer first, doesn't mean that they may not possess that same knowledge.

 

[equippaint]

Imo talent is not the same as skill. I just dont see work on a computer as talent....its a skill..... sorry. Not all sign painters were talented either and if this forum went back to 1975, there would be proof of this.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Imo talent is not the same as skill. I just dont see work on a computer as talent....its a skill..... sorry. Not all sign painters were talented either and if this forum went back to 1975, there would be proof of this.

Same as using a brush is a skill.

Talent is where people start off the first time they do something.

The tool of choice (brush, computer stylus) doesn't in of itself obfuscate the initial talent of an individual as some claim or the legitimacy of the resultant skill after "apprenticeship" . That's the main point of contention that I have.

 

[Gino]

I know many people who can paint a bowl of fruit or a ship on the ocean, but can't letter a thing worth a sh!t. Eye/hand coordination is not the same regardless of your medium or tools. What you are born with most likely needs to be honed. The same difference between learning to play an instrument by ear vs book learning. The person playing by ear, has a natural talent, but in almost all cases, needs to be taught how to use that talent properly or why/how. That's why in art, music and just about any other thing you wanna do there is theory, harmony and understanding what to do with these talents. You turn them into a skill.

Don't get me wrong, I never said using a computer, a brush or welder is not using a tool properly and it certainly doesn't separate the talent pools. But it does help to know WHY you are doing something rather than guessing, which the person doing it by artificial means was completely taught and doesn't necessarily have any God-Given talents, other than the ability to learn.

I knew a diving instructor when I was young who could barely swim, let alone dive, but he was a marvelous coach. He knew all the mechanics, but couldn't perform them himself. Never could and never did. He just studied form and physics and had a way of getting his point(s) across to his students. In my opinion, he coulda taught anything, he was a natural teacher and he honed that ability.

 

[Johnny Best]

I do not see any difference from 1975 till now. Except I don't remember anyone using the word "obfuscate" back then.
Sign of the Times was in publication so it must have been an industry. Questions were not answered as freely as they are now, you could go off on somebody and not be banned or called a bully. No braille signage. No communication as there is now, if you lived in Guam, you were not going to use the telephone because the charges would be pretty high, No CNN or HBO and no YouTube to see how things are accomplished. But overall the same kind of people.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I do not see any difference from 1975 till now. Except I don't remember anyone using the word "obfuscate" back then.

Technically speaking, that still holds true.

 

[equippaint]

How did the weekly safety meetings go back then? I imagine it went something like, Fall protection - hold on tight. Lead paint safety - dont drink it?

 

[Gino]

Most of 'em took place Saturday mornings at the union building. Lasted about 15 minutesw, then it was a free-for-all over to the pub to celebrate another week gone by without anyone dying. Many of us worked on Saturdays to get some extra gas money. Rememebr it was over .50 a gallon. Pack of smokes was about .45. My cancer sticks were Luckies....... LSMFT

Let's really compare today to yesteryear.

 

[Billct2]

That's when I was getting started, went to sign school in '74 and got my first full time job in '75. I remember debates about whether using tape was cheating or made you less of a real sign painter, how to keep paint from drying in the can, ways to avoid having to double coat white on a dark background (add a little imitation silver, and even about whether using patterns for one off jobs was for beginners...I made patterns for just about everything at first, I'd rework them so much I'd lose track of what was my last line so had different colored markers to keep track.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Humm, can't add anything to this thread... my parents were still children in 1975. Good read though, I'll keep your stories alive when you are all gone and I'm GAC5's age... Maybe flexiable LCD signs that weight 10 lbs. will get hung by Amazon drones and the sign guy never leaves his self-driving uber that gets him there.

I was painting a sign frame with black oil-based paint and some poor grasshopper jumped on the brush and jumped off half black...then he could barley move after that. I felt so bad.

 

[Johnny Best]

Well Grasshopper, you are going to end up the same if you keep making fun of us old guys!
Karmas a bitch.

 

[netsol]

I do not see any difference from 1975 till now. Except I don't remember anyone using the word "obfuscate" back then.
Sign of the Times was in publication so it must have been an industry. Questions were not answered as freely as they are now, you could go off on somebody and not be banned or called a bully. No braille signage. No communication as there is now, if you lived in Guam, you were not going to use the telephone because the charges would be pretty high, No CNN or HBO and no YouTube to see how things are accomplished. But overall the same kind of people.

johnny,
there was HBO in 1975. it started in 1972. cable tv exploded in 1976. every one got it, at least on east coast. no satellites. HBO mailed 3/4" commercial video tapes to the cable companies, with the movies on them. we were servicing/installing that type of equipment until 1987. (that's when i became a computer consultant). bought a gerber smc 4a from a bancruptcy auction in 1994, seemed like a really great toy (i write & draw like a 3 yr old!).

got a whole bunch of sign shop clients, some one had to service this stuff

 

[Jeff grossman]

the days of silk screened signs , protractors, compass, razor knife and rubilyth.
I remember the big PA road sign book we used for reference.
We saw our first computer cut letters and numbers in 78-79 when doing an install for u haul , someone else cut them we had to heat treat to activate adhesive after masking then install - $15000. For just a computer,software, and basic plotter he would tell us back then ........

 

[Gino]

French curves and shamy rags.

 

[Johnny Best]

Well it is 2019 and I still do not have HBO. I do remember a few years before 1975 where a silk screen guy had used vinyl where he silk screen a blue background with white copy on 2"x4" vinyl and we installed those on directional for a bank name change. We would take soapy water mix with spray bottle to adhere to existing panels. It was a real eye opener to do that sort of thing at the time. It was 3M vinyl.

 

[Billct2]

Pantograph?

 

[Billct2]

The first Gerber I saw was about 1908, my boss bought it on sight. Shortly after the warehouse next to us became home to the gypsy crews installing cable lines in the county. Every truck that showed up got a set of mags from that 4B. Then Crazy Eddie expanded into our area and we lettered around the whole inside of the store with the brand names they carried. Those two client paid for the machine in a couple months.

 

[Johnny Best]

That guy has an outtake fan behind him, he would be over 100 years old by now. That bought back memories of having to spray white inside of all the channel letters for better reflection of light from neon.
Great find of those pics, beautiful signwork.

 

[Johnny Best]

The first Gerber I saw was about 1908, my boss bought it on sight. Shortly after the warehouse next to us became home to the gypsy crews installing cable lines in the county. Every truck that showed up got a set of mags from that 4B. Then Crazy Eddie expanded into our area and we lettered around the whole inside of the store with the brand names they carried. Those two client paid for the machine in a couple months.

1908, you are one old Dude!

 

[Gino]

I thought they only came out around 1983 or so..............