During the last Winter Semester, I painted a head study every Sunday evening in an effort to improve my head painting skills. It was a marginally successful exercise, but it was fun and at least kept me busy doing nuts and bolts stuff, which is good for me. This semester, I want to increase my proficiency in an area I've been half-assedly pursuing since I was 15: sign painting. I've produced a number of hand-lettered things in the 10 years that have passed since I first got my hands on 1shot (though I didn't get my first lettering quills until I was 18, having initially purchased the 1shot in Jr. High in my zeal to become the next VonDutch), but while many of them have had admirable qualities, I've never quite accomplished a sign that didn't have at least one or two glaring flaws (not the human errors and organic imperfections that make sign painting worthwhile, mind you, but mistakes that hurt the overall presentation). I hope to remedy that this semester by doing something I've never really done as a sign painter: practice. With no exception I can think of, every sign I've ever painted (or leather jacket, or flask, helmet, what have you) has been a piece that I've created as a finished work, for sale or display. I've never spent any real time creating signs I could just letter, then toss, stuff no one would really have to see (I'm aware of the irony of posting these practice pieces on the internet). So, this Sunday, it begins.
This week's theme: the letter "L". As I am left handed (which presents a whole slew of issues), I letter from right to left, so my hand doesn't smear the paint. This means the "L" in "LIKE", was the last one I painted. The 3 "E"'s in the sign provided the same practice I was looking for. Not quite there yet, but I figured out some things I wanted to, which was good. Tune in next week for more SIGNAGE!
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