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Long time, old style sign painter, no vinyl cutter (always farmed it out)....pretty much stuck in the past I guess, which is why it took me so long to find this site
It's great to see people like Mike Jackson here! I learned a lot from your articles (especially sandblasting and design) when I was struggling along in the eighties. SignCraft was my only real source of information for many years. It's good to be here and I look forward to pouring through the past posts and information on this site.
That said, I have a question or can someone point me in the right direction for what seems to be a simple lettering job...but is confounding me a little.
My son has just completed an independent film that he hopes to bring around the film festivals this year. He would like his opening title and credits to be in the vein of the old black and white titles of the 30's and 40's. That sort of airbrushed background in gradiants of black and grey with white lettering for the titles and credits.
My first inclination is to get large poster/card stock in the color black and hand letter the titles. I'm not an accomplished airbrush guy and wondering if there is another avenue to go down to achieve that softness and hue change that the old art deco backgrounds had. I was hoping that he could achieve the old time effect with his Final Cut Pro program...but he's leaning on Dad to come up with a solution.
Any thoughts?
Personally, I'd do two or three blank airbrushed cards in the style you want. With that, you can turn each upside down to get maybe six different looking backgrounds (assuming you wanted each to look a little different). I'd photograph that for your background.
Next, I'd handletter your text in black on white card stock and photograph them.
In Photoshop, you can adjust the hue, tone, saturation, and values of the lettering and layer each over one of the backgrounds. You can even add some shadows for the old time effects.
Of course, you could also buy some of the hand lettered looking fonts from http://www.letterheadfonts.com and type them in over an "airbrushed" looking background in Photoshop.
Good luck!
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY
I bought some stock today, but chose black thinking that I could one-step the process (even knowing that it's a lot tougher going white on black). I never even thought about photoshop. Is there an emoticon for a slap to the forehead?
I'll check out fonts as well. Thanks for the link.
Thanks Doug,
I remember being crushed when the vinyl cutters and computers came into play. I recognized that they were (and are) great time-saving and productive tools. A few merchants in the small town I was living in at that time purchased little Rolands and proceeded to establish their own 'sign services'. These guys had about as much sign design experience and knowledge as a first grader (my apologies to first graders) but they cut into my business by virtue of offering a very cheap product in a depressed rural area where the amount of dollars spent trumped quality work. I thought that hand lettering and hands-on craftsmanship was headed towards extinction.
I sort of kick myself for never purchasing a cutter/plotter and sign software because I'm so behind 'the curve' now. But "it ain't over yet" and the technology certainly helps in many applications. But I really love hand lettering and the pride of being able to work a brush. Heck, if the power grid goes down I can still letter "Help!" signs
Jim, Glad to find someone from the past like myself. Todays work is wonderful, thanks to the
computers. However, knowing how to design, layout and letter a sign by hand is a wonderful feeling. I still remember the day I was lettering a jewerly shop window during my apprentice
days, when a beautiful gal stopped and watched me and said how easy I made it look. That
was the greatest feeling ever. Good luck with your son's project. Chuck
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads