A few recent fun projects of mine. Every single one of these is an eyeball job, what I mean by that is I didn't measure anything on any of them. Not the letters, nothing. I just totally eyeballed everything. Now I KNOW I need to get out to meet soon. I mentioned that I don't measure anything because I see other window splashers/walldogs measurements when you look up close. Maybe it's me, and I seem to gravitate toward doing these kinds of jobs because it's more fun to me, but is it wrong to not measure things? (I'm asking the old walldogs/splashers) I'm thinking I need to start measuring things out more to get a straighter look, but I can't really justify it all the time because it seems like most of my customers wouldn't pay a dime extra even if it were the most dimensionally balanced lettering job on earth.
posted
Dawud: Perhaps it is time for you to look at what is going to please YOUR trained eye. {"I'm thinking I need to start measuring things out more to get a straighter look, but I can't really justify it all the time because it seems like most of my customers wouldn't pay a dime extra even if it were the most dimensionally balanced lettering job on earth."}
It is my opinion that if and when you begin to tighten up your lettering style, you can charge MORE for your work. Your first two photos here look a great deal more like "Tagging" by the local vandals, than actual sign layouts. Please understand that I "like" your style, but it seems a little to loose to be able to distinguish it from "tagging".
I hope you understand what I am trying to say here. IT IS NOT a rap on your work. I like your work.
I do not mean that you should become more strict with your style, { myself I like the cartoon style lettering}. Just tighten up the overall layout. I believe you have a good eye, and a decent layout.
It just needs to go to the next level. I believe you need to push yourself to take it there.
Your reward will be in bigger paychecks, and more customers.
Good Luck, Regards, Bob C.
[ July 29, 2007, 07:34 AM: Message edited by: Robert Cole ]
-------------------- Bob Cole American Sign Company 14163 Akron Canfield Rd. Berlin Center, Ohio 44401
A.K.A. Vinylman® Posts: 575 | From: Berlin Center, Ohio, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Even though you say your just eyeballing your layouts it looks like your either going by the concrete block , brick or rivots which are all at standard measurements already.
I have to agree with Robert that a couple really do look like graffiti, especially the slash under the 139 reeks of it. But out of the 4 the splash on the window looks the most appealling to my eye. Just my 2 cents
-------------------- Roger DiNofa Hattiesburg, MS Posts: 147 | From: Hattiesburg, MS | Registered: Feb 2002
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It's funny you picked up on the graffiti thing. I am the local tagger! Ok, well i used to be , now I'm the local sign guy. And I moved out of "the hood". Yes, I was definatly using the blocks as a measurement, but other than that.... I guess I do need to tighten up my layouts, maybe I need a good $10,000 job to inspire me, he heh.
I LOVE the 139 splash!!! When I first saw it, I noticed that the dollar symbol looked like a hand waving a flag with "payments" on it. Don't know if you meant to do it, but I thought it was cool.
The only thing that bothers me about the used car and R&J signs is that...well...they don't look like signs. If the customer had ponied up for a couple of pieces of substrate, I think it would have forced you to measure a bit more and, when installing it, it would have centered on the building better.
As for the rest, the trailer looks a whole lot better than the "Smithfield" sign in the backround and probably will get noticed a lot more, but I can see right away that you were working around the seams in "no dealers" and it threw off the slant of the letters.
"Maybe it's me, and I seem to gravitate toward doing these kinds of jobs because it's more fun to me, but is it wrong to not measure things?"
I don't know if there's an absolute right and wrong about measuring when doing sketch-and-go work like this, but if you're having fun and the customers are paying the bills, it can't be all wrong.
Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
You've gotten some pretty good sound advice here. Myself, I'd say you need to take the time to learn some old walldog tricks, tighten your work up some and your finished product will look a whole lot better. Right now,you are concerned with time. I've approached your used car job as if I were doing it, not as a portfolio job but strictly with time in mind. Everything I do here will be with time in mind. I think you'll see that maybe the time you are worrying about is already there, it's just being spent in other places.
This job could be done in less time than the one you posted. First off, the wall you worked on was an easy one, you've already got a lot of reference points there with the blocks, no real need to go snapping lines. Finding the center of things, well, somebody already did that for you. The light is centered pretty well on the wall, hey, we're not doing a lot of measuring, right? If you want to double check the accuracy of the light placement with out measuring the entire wall, step back from the wall a good bit, hold a yardstick up in front of you and move forward or backwards until you get the wall lined up on the yardstick with an easy to work with figure like the twelve inch mark. My bet is the light is gonna be sitting over the six inch mark. You only have two lines of copy to worry with and you are really lucky in that you don't have any real oddball letters like an I or a W. We'll just assign the same width more or less to everything. When doing quick layouts like this, I always write it out on a piece of paper, not a sketch mind you, just write out the copy. Now, go to the right of your line of copy, in this case the R, start spelling USED CAR going to the left. You'll find you meet yourself between the space in the word and the D. This is your center of that line of copy. Doing the same thing with CENTER will have you meeting between the N and the T. OK, math time is over with. Get up on the wall and figure out which mortar rows you are going to use, center yourself under the light and roughly sketch in USED, going backwards, Cars can be roughed in going in the normal direction. By rough, I mean just that rough, just enough of a mark to show the letter width. Go back and tighten up your layout. Use a yardstick, pick your stroke width and mark it heavily on the yardstick, hey, your worried with time, who wants to go searching for that pesky eight inch mark. Letter you copy in a dark color for good contrast, forget the fade, it takes too much time and doesn't show up as well as a dark letter. The outline/shadow is optional but should be done in a subtle color for readability purposes. Do center reversed out of the color of your choice, use an upright letter style, scripts and italics over mortar lines take more time to fool with, forget all that splash deal going on behind the layout, it doesn't add anything to the layout but time and isn't that what you are concerned with? I traded the stars for balls, they add color and are much quicker to layout ( a piece of string and bingo! )
This is how I would approach a job like this if I was really concerned with time. No award winner for sure but a professional looking sign non the less and one done about as quickly as possible.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
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I do window splash and like the loose and bounce look, because it sells and brings customers in ..my splash follows layout and lines ... and does not have alot of bounce and action or that loose n free look...which I try to put into the design ...when I can likes seeing your work so full of action and surprize
posted
Thanks for the comments everyone. I guess what it all comes down to is this walldogging/windowsplashing thing really takes time to perfect, but perfection is like art, in the eye of the beholder. The customers of these particular jobs all LOVED them and that's what matters. I'm always looking for advice from the people here because there are some true layout masters here and I know I have a lot to learn. I've spent a while developing this quick "knockout" style of painting that I do. I get paid well , make customers happy and normally knock a job like any one of these out in a day or less. Me thinks when I finally make it out to a letterhead meet, I'll be super duper inspired by some of the best.
posted
I like the minimart sign, and the apparent flag in the price one, but what's a "whalesale" ?
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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