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What Is The Difference Between Hand Painted Signs And Large Format Printing?

M

melissa16diaz

New Member
Hey Guys,

I want to know the difference between Hand Painted Signs and Large Format Printing.. The benefits of both and where will these signs fit?
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
One is made by hand using brushes, paint and pounce patterns and can take a few minutes up to several hours depending on the complexity of the work, while the other is producing with inks and sometimes various vinyls or large flatbed printers.

Paints of today, might have a durability of life outside of maybe up to 5 years and the digital prints vary on which ink and laminates are used. I have no idea what "where will these signs fit" means.
 
R

Russell J. Bean

New Member
I think the "where will these fit in" is asking is one better than the other. And the answer is both fit in depending on the effect you want. For friends I paint, make it look more hand made. Or when I router a sign I use a gold to make it stand out more or a white wash. It really depends on what effect you want. Or what looks closer to the customers needs. I hope that helps
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
chester215 said:
Are you in the sign business or looking for info on purchasing a sign??
Click to expand...

Very good observation. When you look at her profile, it appears she wants to 'broker' signs, as she has no experience, equipment or software to do any kind of signs. Perhaps she knows something about design, but that would be a guess.

Some people just want to know things, regardless of what their abilities are..... or ever will be.
 
boxerbay

boxerbay

New Member
depends on the job. hand lettering could be more expensive but its the only solution if your doing a weathered logo on a wooden barn with uneven boards. LFP can have a lot more detail and photographic quality for less money but the surface needs to be smooth and clean. As much as I love some hand painted signs there are fewer and fewer people with the talent to do so.
 
papabud

papabud

Lone Wolf
i have a contract labor installer that started doing hand painted signs and still does a few. i could never do it myself.
 
papabud

papabud

Lone Wolf
in some situations a hand painted sign gives a much better look. but in others it looks horrible.
kind of like records vs cd's
a record has a special sound that a cd can not replicate. and most of the time you wont notice it or it will make the recording sound worst.
 
MikePro

MikePro

New Member
both can look great, assuming proper use of your bag of tricks (design, material selection, prep, & execution)
.....but it will always boil-down to your client's preference of quality, $$$, turnaround, & longevity.
 
T

Tfloraditch

New Member
Melissa,

Handpainted signs are a typically high quality, one of a kind creation and are purchased from highly skilled sign makers. They will have a certain handcrafted look that is hard to explain or duplicate by machine. You need to look at a few and compare them to really understand. The downside is it is not reproducible in the same way as wide format printing. If the sign maker retires or otherwise goes out of business you have to find someone else with the same skills to reproduce it.

Wide format printing is still good quality but lacks the handcrafted look. It is stored in a digital file that may be able to be used by many other sign makers on similar printers and get the same results. The art can be resized and reprinted again and again.

Hand painting is for that customer that really wants the hand-painted look. Often with a retro style and is willing to risk the problems of reproduction later. These are restaurants, retail stores and sometimes contractors with one vehicle.

Wide format printing is for that customer who wants to reuse the image again and again in different sizes with flexibility. The disadvantage is the longevity of the image which is usually less than handpainted. Most customers are in this second group. Thankfully there are a few of the handpainted customers out there to keep the craft alive.

I hope this is a little more helpful but keep in mind these are generalities.

Tim
 
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