Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008 - (Page 30)

Superfrog’s Pond BY BUTCH “SUPERFROG” ANTON Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks Just because new technology is available doesn’t mean you should ignore the oldfashioned ways of making signs. ll of the things I’ve covered over the years in my classes, my seminars, and my articles come down to the fundamentals of this industry: “If you can get them down right, you’re probably gonna do alright!” This motto reminds me of high school, when Coach Wright always pushed us to work on our fundamentals. This way of thinking has also translated over to everything I’ve done—from my scuba diving to my hand lettering. For the last couple of years, my articles have mainly dealt with digital printing. In fact, our inkjet printer is probably the hardest working employee in the shop. But we haven’t forgotten how to do things the old-fashioned way. Something recently came up in our shop that sparked the idea for this month’s column, so I thought it’d be a good break from the digital. I needed to let my readers know that I can still fling paint and cut vinyl like I’ve been doing for years. Each spring, my shop normally picks up an A intern from one of the three universities we have up here on the tundra. They come from a graphic design, publishing, communications, or fine arts curriculum. The first fundamental that we teach in this shop are the “busy work” things like weeding and masking (Photo 1). I follow that up with some Norwegian airbrushing. (Note: For those of you who think that’s nothing but a funny name, this is a process where we put a blend in a vinyl letter using a can of aerosol Frog Juice™ colors). I then show a couple of my “trash can” techniques and finally work our way to design and layout (which is the real meat of a good sign). Even when we get to the computer-side of things, I still start them on my old trusty Gerber 4B machine (Photo 2). Yep we still use it! Finally they’ll get to work with Tim and Dana and apply the basics I’ve taught them onto the computer. So our interns learn about basic fonts and the basics of outlines and shadows. We then move on to the Norwegian airbrushing and, lastly, get into the Photo 1. 30 Sign Builder Illustrated May 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008

Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008 Contents SBI Agenda Quotes & Comments Contributors Costly Concerns Dispatches Sign Show Dateline: Time to Find a New Identity Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks Sign Illumination: It’s Time to Pay Attention Restoring Old Photographs for Digital Printing Price Doesn’t Sell the Signs You Want to Make Architects in LED Codes for Electric Signs: Don’t Get Blindsided! Digital Displays at the Pearl Harbor Museum The Art of Wayfinding Signage Grand Format National Following Traffic Sign Regulations Designs on ADA Signage Painting Professionally SBI Marketplace Imagine-It Graphics

Sign Builder Illustrated - May 2008

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