So how do you learn to letter by hand?

[Pat Whatley]

I've got lettering brushes.
I've got lettering paint.
I've got paint materials.

Now I just need some basic instructions. Any books, videos, or websites you can suggest?

 

[Circleville Signs]

AWESOME thread. I'm in the same boat, Pat.

 

[mikey-Oh]

I've got lettering brushes.
I've got lettering paint.
I've got paint materials.

Now I just need some basic instructions. Any books, videos, or websites you can suggest?

+1

 

[mikey-Oh]

[URL="http://www.theletterheads.com/]the letterheads[/URL] has some basics, but i'm ready to repaint some typefaces thousands of times

 

[Pat Whatley]

I forgot about that site. It did have a basic lettering instruction page

 

[SignManiac]

This is how I taught myself.

http://www.amazon.com/Sign-Painting-Techniques-Beginner-Professional/dp/0911380299

 

[btropical.com]

goto the junk yard and get some old hoods from vehicles to practice on

 

[SignManiac]

I should add, and you'll probably find this tip elsewhere, practice your brush strokes on newspaper classified adds. Each column of adds is about 2"h. and you can use those for your top and bottom guidelines when you turn the page side ways. Then toss them in the garbage when you're done. Glass is another good lettering surface. Just scrape the paint off when you're done or wash away with thinner.

 

[Pat Whatley]

A grungy old hood runs $45. A new sheet of .032 aluminum runs $40. I think I'll stick with the aluminum. :ROFLMAO:

 

[signcrafters london]

We get .040 for $40 here. The .032 is $35. You're getting screwed.

 

[David Wright]

This is how I taught myself.

http://www.amazon.com/Sign-Painting-Techniques-Beginner-Professional/dp/0911380299

Me too, among others.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

the way i practiced when i was a young man was on a piece of glass. the old timers would start me out painting straight lines and then the halves of a circle and then eventually the alphabet. in the beginning i would literally trace over their letters by putting them on the backside of the glass and then when done scrape it off and do ti again and again and again and again and again....

but by all means if you can get someone to work side by side with you that knows the tricks of the trade it is much better than doing it alone (in my opinion)

 

[mikey-Oh]

This is how I taught myself.

http://www.amazon.com/Sign-Painting-Techniques-Beginner-Professional/dp/0911380299

used for $7? thank you thank you.

 

[Gino]

Get an old Calligrapher's book. It's basically the same. I was taught by standing a side of a master and watched and mimicked everything he did. Then I got a calligraphy book and fine tuned it.

It's all in the fingers and wrist movement and then getting the paint to the right consistency and getting the right snap to your paint and touch.

I started out with temperas and flats. As I got better I moved up to Northern Red Sables and then into Commercial or quill lettering. I also used the newspaper technique for a long-g-g-g time. I practiced all the time in the beginning.

Biggest hint is... go for accuracy and make your strokes perfect. Getting the paint down right is the first step. Speed will come automatically as you get better. Also, don't thin your paint. That's not cheating, but it will give you a false sense of how paint that has to last..... WON'T act. You can tell a beginner or totally self-taught person... if they are constantly thinning their paint. No pinhead or hand letterer will thin their paint much at all.

 

[btropical.com]

salvage price is way down you might get whole car for 50 dollars less radiator , cat convertor , motor and trans and battery

 

[ddarlak]

start with thinned down vinyl silkscreen ink filling in behind the real letterer on dozens of street banners.

when you stop drippin everywhere you can graduate to brushes. after you can whip out a street banner in half the time it took you from the first one, you can graduate to MDO....

that's how i learned 23 years ago anyway....

 

[SignManiac]

Here you go Pat. A $1,500 4'x8' painted sign on MDO done twenty years ago. Back when everyone said it was impossible to get more than $200 for a plywood sign. All hand lettered, airbrushed and hand spun 23k gold leaf. Totally flat sign done with 1-Shot lettering enamel.

A couple of weeks of practice and you should be able to knock one of these out in no time. Enjoy the brush and most of all, have fun!

 

[Jillbeans]

You can also print out a nice roman letterstyle from your computer, tape it onto a piece of glass, and try to replicate it.
That or pounce patterns are a good start.
I find the sans serif styles much harder to make look "right".
I just faked it till I made it and I still fake it here and there.
After a while you get so used to letter forms that you don't need a cheat sheet.
And you get a few basic alphabets in your head that you can crank out on autopilot.
The key is practice practice practice.
Turning your finished piece upside down helps the mistakes stand out like sore thumbs.
Also, remember that round letters are always bigger than straight ones or they just look wrong.
Remember that in a thick & thin letterstyle the ones with the thin strokes first are M A N.
I never thin my paint very much because it gets too drippy, and if I do thin it I use turpentine.
Those tips are probably not very helpful but they are what popped into my head.
Love....Jill

 

[weaselboogie]

Just cough up the money for the good brushes that are preloaded with designs.

 

[jdb]

Signmaniac, We were getting $350 - $600 for a 4x8 over 30 years ago. One like that would have been well over $800.