I have been painting billboards for the past 5 years for a central il. company. Recently our company was purchased by adams outdoor and after leasing a huge shop to handle the size of the boards the company went all digital printing and gave me the ( your the best sign painter we've ever seen but we no longer need your services bull%*$t) I am completely stocked with paper, 67 gallons of enamel paint and a large quantity of poster paint. I am wondering if anyone out there has any idea where to go now.I realize it's a dead art but I love what I do. I'm only 34 years old and too young to retire with my brushes.I'd love to find someone who needs things from time to time. I have been an airbrush artist for the last 15 years and have made the move back to custom painting helmets,bikes,signs and more I also have a plotter and have been working that too! I love the sign game and am wondering if it's better to focus on a specific market or take anything that walks in the door.Any advise would be helpfull.........Tom
Anybody need any poster stuff?? LOL
Posted by PKing (Member # 337) on :
Hi Ya Tom; Seems like you have the best of BOTH worlds at your finger tips! These things you speak of are commomly called "tools of the trade" Do what brings you the most joy. Love what you do. Strive to learn more. Try to meet some of your fellow artist face to face. Hop on down to Atlanta Illinois mid July for mural/wall/billboard painting see ya there. hope this helps
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Tm
Hang in there as I don't believe that digital can give you the vibrant colours as a "Handpainted or Airbrushed Mural" can.
The industry still can't wrap digital around a "Helmet or Tank".
Not yet anyways!
Do like I did and go for the market areas that they can't touch.
You'll not make alot of money but enough to stay alive!
Good Luck! as we all need it these days. Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
There is a lot of competition doing plotter work.
There is little competition going where the painting needs to be done.
Posted by timi NC (Member # 576) on :
I have to agree with Rick here,Tom. There are alot of folks out there who can buy the tech hardware but very few who will take the time to learn the skills necessary to ply this trade in the time honored fashion.That in mind,..market yourself as the tradesman you are & capitalize on the fact that you are one up on your competition who don't have these skills.The vinyl market is saturated well beyond the point of making the profits I used to in the outdoor painting trade. There is absolutly too much supply and not enough demand in this area here to even consider trying to compete in the vinyl markets & create anywhere near the profit margin that you can make from traditional approaches to the trade.The one upside to this is that there have been few if any trying to learn the traditional skills in the past decade,when they can go buy some equipment & be "making signs" the next day, thus there isn't anywhere near as much competition. This in mind,...it seems that the traditonal brush skills are much more valuable these days and times than that of the common garden variety vinyl stuff. I know of several folks who went from outdoor to window splashes on fast food stores for the volume of work involved. I myself still do outdoor work for some of the smaller companies with smaller wood units as the digital wraps just don't work all that well on older, smaller wood units.Wall signage is another venue that can be quite profitable that would work right along the same line as outdoor painting.Any way you go in the end what you get out of this crazy biz is usually equivilant to the effort you put in it. Another good way to market your skills is to sell the outdoor companies one more sign on each location,a great big available ad painted so that the sign will sell itself as soon as the digital wrap drops at the end of a contract.
Posted by Rob Clark (Member # 787) on :
Sounds like you have all the ability, experience and tools necessary to carve your own niche market along the same lines I have over here.
First step, find yourself a job on a good wall,(even if you have to compromise on the price to sell it) in a prominant location. Make it a Trompe L`oiel, a mural, whatever, but make it tricky.
Second step, Paint the entire thing ON SITE! Make sure you have your own signage prominantly located where the public can be left in no doubt about who you are and what you do.
Make it an outstanding piece of work, people will be amazed that you can do that stuff "by hand" It will lead to the next job, repeat step two, and on you go.
Here's one example......
and another.........
and another........
get the picture?
have fun, there is life after digital, I used to do billboards full time as well, don't miss 'em one lil bit.
RobC
[ April 07, 2002, 07:24 AM: Message edited by: Rob Clark ]
Posted by TOM DILTS (Member # 2867) on :
Thanks guys!! I really appreciate all the incouragement. I guess sometimes its easy to lose focus and forget why we do what we do. Thanks again for all your help. Tom
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