Hollywood cartoonist often do this. Hide little messages, graphics, even sound bites, in side cartoon frames. I’ve done this myself with Architectural drawing……..sometimes hiding bones or body parts in “concrete foundation sections" or illustrating a "broken window" in a school yard elevation.
…………..how about sign painters or designers…………… ever done anything like this or wanted to?
It’s a bit devious………..but, that’s what makes it fun.
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
John
When I work for Mediacom of Canada we use to do alot of cigarette ads. The one that sticks out in my mind is a brand name called "Craven A"
The package had 3-4 cigarettes raised above the rest off them and if you smoke you will notice that they all have the brand name on the paper just below the filter.
The artwork was to show this brand name on the cigarettes in one way only.
Crave, Crave, Crave!
Get the picture. Just a small subliminal suggestion to the captive market. Posted by Steve Barba (Member # 431) on :
I've been doing this for years with the nose arts on the B-1's. Its become a trademark of mine. I've hidden women, womens shapes, cartoon characters, dragons, devils, fish, kilroys, fleas, spaceships, different names for the jet, crew chief nicknames, etc...
In fact- the last one I did, I didn't hide anything, they'll be looking for a long time for that hidden art, hehehe
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
This is actually a very good post which seperates one artist from a commercial sign artist. Guess this is kind of hard, if vinyl is your thing for that kind of message. I have sen this with many airbrushers and pictorial artists but for my work which is strictly straight lines, I dunno!
HAVE A NICE DAY Posted by jon peterman (Member # 528) on :
i used to put skulls in my murals. did a rasta skull in a mexican mural once. did eagles. horses, and bears in another at a family fun center. and I've seen little stick people gettin busy in lines of pinstriping. how small do ya wanna go joey?
jon
Posted by CJ Allan (Member # 52) on :
I've been doing this as far back as gradeschool. It's in just about every piece of work I've done, no matter what the medium.
I's cool when someone finds these little items, and to those that miss em.......Oh Well..!! I've never really gave a damn whether anyone spotted them or not......I do it for my own amusement and enjoyment.
The exceptions to this would be .....My "Flamed" Items, such as Mini-Mags , Zippos, money clips, etc.
Almost all of my painted works and Hand Engraved stuff has little things ya have to look for. This is one of the little habits I picked up from Jeffries, Dutch, and a couple other guys I was exposed to in the fifties, and has just stuck with me through the years. In fact, I find myself doing some of this stuff almost subconciously, and without even thinking about doing it. Just another dumb habit.......!!
..........cj
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
Yeah, it's fun to besneaky! We used to hand letter Okanagan Spring beer trucks, and my friend Al Graw started putting his kids names, dogs name in the "coins" that were part of the logo. Kind of Greek Style letters, so they didn't stand out to much. Theres still some on the road from 10-12 years ago. OK was bought by Sleemans, end of work, not it's all full digital. On a bike storte 4'x24' ply last year, the big DH bike was a SURPRISE! BIG TOP model. Like you said CJ, it's for us to know.
Posted by Jackson Smart (Member # 187) on :
Oh Yeah! I thought I was the only one...and maybe I needed therapy. It is a relief to know I am not the only twisted person out there. hahaha
Posted by warpaint (Member # 2395) on :
I do it all the time! the best is when you do it right in front of the customer and he does'nt see it. And don't ask what I hide. Posted by CJ Allan (Member # 52) on :
I think this has been going on for several centuries at least. Pretty sure the old "Masters" had their little thing goin' on with it. I know fer sure none of us invented it.....
I for one, am constantly lookin for these things whenever I look over someone elses work, and feel real good when I spot things. It's really cool when ya look up at the artist and see the little spark in his eye.............kinda like some kind of little secret between just the two of ya...hahaha Koool!!!
Some things in this life are just plain old "FUN" !! And it's these quiet, small things, that are almost never spoken of, that are the most satisfying.
Just a couple more of my dumb thoughts............cj
Posted by Arvil Shep' Shepherd (Member # 2030) on :
I most always put a Butterfly in my paintings....some are obvious and some are hidden...or a word mispelled...etc etc
Shep'
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
I've been in the sign business all these years and I never knew this was going on? Geez, I've missed out on a lot of fun!
Brad in Kansas
Posted by taurus signcraft (Member # 572) on :
i do it too.... sneeky stuff i luv
i remember long ago painting a biker dressed in a santa suit with a lil'kid on his knee (like the ol'dave mann stuff) for a local bike shop, the owner is a friend and as such i know how he looks at the world so when i finished the 6x4 and he stood in my shop looking at it i wondered if he noticed the rings on the bikers hands and earings in his ear apparently not (hehehe) it was 3 years before i told him that i had painted yamaha in the HD bar n sheild ring and that i had hung a religious symbol from his ear our mates face went a few different shades before he started to laugh and recond i'd got him good!
i hide alsorts of stuff in everything i paint and most everything bit of vinyl
cheers gail
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
When handcutting rubber for sandblasted signs I'll cut shapes of all kinds in trees and shrubbery. Nobody knows but me.
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
I lettered a window for the office of a local politician who was currently under investigation for accepting bribes. He wanted the cliched version of black and white hands shaking as a graphic. When I finished, I was about to shoot a picture of the window, and decided to tape a $20 bill tucked into one of the hands. It made for a great shot (the politician was later indicted) but I didn't leave the money on it.
Posted by Kathy Joiner (Member # 1814) on :
Sonny, ya been sneakin down to Louisiana to do our politicians work? Santo and I are gonna get ya! Guess we don't have all the corrupt ones. That sounds like a fun photo that was so irresistable you just HAD to do it.
Posted by Santo (Member # 411) on :
When I used to run multi-line tubing for control systems, it was a game we played, writing our initials with the connectors at the connecting splices. This work was usually inside a cable tray and hardly anyone would see it. On one job, we set about our normal routine and everyone completed their work. Naturally almost everyone had placed their initals somewhere in their work. The company inspector was a little more energetic than most and climed into the raceways and cable trays and saw the handiwork. He rounded us all up and started chewing ass and threatening to run us off. The supervisor had to credit some time back to client. Luckily the system checked out with little or no problems and commissioned quickly. After that the guy didn't want anyone else. He had done the same thing years before and knew what it took to make it look right and still be bubble-tight.
[ March 11, 2002, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: Santo ]
Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :
I used to do a lot of banners for a restaurant chain out here that uses a logo that looks like an engraving. I always worked in some message into the lines on that part, either my name or "Go Eat at McDonald's" or something...never got caught, except by some of the other sign painters.
A friend of mine does a lot of the paintings of the 'New Building to be Erected on This Site' and always works in laundry hanging on a clothes likne, busted windows, people getting it on, hanging out the windows, flat tires on the cars - nobody ever knows but him. Whenever I see one of these things I always have to park and inspect to see if it has Herbie's trademarks on it.
Several years ago radio station KLOS had a bunch of billboards up all over the L.A. area, all hand painted and all had a big close-up chrome car front end, like a '56 Buick. To paint chrome you paint the stuff that would be reflected in it - and palm trees were part of what was SUPPOSED to be there - but the painters were much more creative than that and once the word got out - "Hey! Do you see THAT!? Lookit on the bumper!" crashing airplanes, naked ladies, kids picking their noses, etc. - people were finding out the addresses of the boards and traveling to photograph them as collectibles - got the radio station tons more adverting than just the boards by themselves - and they started moving the boards around to different locations - like art on tour. Very Effective.
At Disneyland nobody is allowed to put in any personal touches on anything - but where there is a will there is a way. I know it's there. Hee hee.
One of my favorite Get-Away-Withs is on a vanity license plate on an Italian friend of mine's car = FUNCOOL --- anybody speak Italiano?
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