Reverse glass gilt sign with burnished outlines, tinted varnish matte centers, multicolored close shade, and roller-blended background
—— Drawing and spacing are one in the same job. —— Terminology in the type trade is slightly different from terminology in the printing trade. In the printing trade or even in graphic design, a shadow is what we call a shade in the sign trade. It’s a common mistake for those who are in the graphic arts to refer to any shade as a drop shadow. A drop shadow is one particular kind of shade; it’s a repetition of the letterform itself. It’s as if the letterform is cut out of construction paper and then levitates off the surface and casts its exact image. A close shade makes the letter look as though it’s raised from the background but without space in between the back of the letter and the background. To make a wedged shade the top of the letter is peeled away from the background, which casts a shadow, but the bottom of the letter is hinged. Those are the three principle types of shades.
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S I G N PA I N T E R S
Sign painters shade their letters to the lower left by default. The E is the most frequently used letter in the English language. In the sign trade, we use more capitals than we use lowercase, so the capital E is the most ubiquitous letter in traditional sign painting. You can shade that letter with four strokes if you shade to the lower left, but it takes eight if you shade to the lower right. Those of us who have a foot in the digital world can quickly see the advantages of using computers. Everybody wants quick, simple, and cheap, but painting a sign still takes time. Today you don’t have to be able to draw and execute a good letter. People think that if it’s readable, that’s sufficient. When young people call themselves sign painters, technically they’re right: they are using paint, and they are making signs. But when the older guys say the young people aren’t real sign painters, they mean something different. They are referring to the method and the final appearance. You don’t outline a sign painter’s letter and then fill it in with a Q-tip—that isn’t really sign painting. You use the appropriate size brush and do it in three strokes. Who can do that? My computer can’t.