How many of you can recall the very first time that you did a sign or lettering of any kind and got cash for your efforts? My "first time" was in the summer of 1965, and I was a fifteen year old art student with a summer job with a small local signpainter. Harold Switzer was my boss/mentor's name, and he was a golf nut. Very often that summer, he'd leave me with a big stack of panels to block out or finish coat, while he took the afternoon off for a round of golf. He also left me with a sample of his "knock-out" script, and if I finished off the stack of panels, I'd sit and practice lettering that script style of his. On one such afternoon, a guy came in with a pickup truck that he wanted lettered.
Back then, all vehicles that wore commercial plates had to have lettering on them, or they were subject to being fined. This guy had been pulled over by the police and been issued a notice to get the lettering on his pickup. The situation was that he had to have the lettering on the vehicle and show it at the police station to avoid the fine....and he had to have it done that very afternoon. Since I was the only one available, I lettered his pickup for him using the knock-out script I'd been practicing. I charged him the same amount that he would have had to pay as a fine....$45.00. He paid, and when the boss returned, I told him that I'd lettered the guy's pickup, and the cash was in the petty cash box.
When I went to go home at quitting time, he gave me the cash, saying it was a "bonus", since that pickup wouldn't have got done if I hadn't jumped in there and did it. That sent me on my way...floating on cloud nine. I'd just finished my very first lettering job that I'd actually gotten PAID FOR! Several weeks later, Harold told me that he'd seen that pickup, and that he thought that it looked OK.....Not Perfect....just OK. I guess that he felt that he didn't want me getting too much wind in my sails at that point in time. Looking back, I feel that he was right, and I never stopped practicing that knock-out script, always trying to improve the look and feel of it. Over the years since, I know that that one script style has served me well, and has helped to provide my daily bread.
Thanks Hal Switzer
Posted by Dave Draper (Member # 102) on :
Kem we must be about the same age!
I lettered a Chevy Chyeene pick up truck in old english. It was back when pick up trucks had to have the owner's name painted on the truck by law.
I Made the name so big the guy got kidded about having to get a bigger truck so the name would fit on the door. I got $20
[ May 17, 2003, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: Dave Draper ]
Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
After I had left my signpainting job at a drug store, I walked around my little town with my lettering brushes, india inks and matt board pieces, and asked businesses if they needed any signs. I got tons of jobs! The first one was for a furniture company doing sho~cards for the mattress sale. I got around 12.00 each and made over 100.00 that day. I was soooo happy. Posted by cheryl nordby (Member # 1100) on :
It was 1976.
Posted by Richard Bustamante (Member # 370) on :
"Owens' Archery" I did a menu board with their price list. In 1976, I was a junior in high school. My friend Mark Owens' father had just opened the shop. Mark and I were in the same art class. My art teacher, Vince Howlett was an old time signwriter who taught me my first letter style; Dom Casual.
The real freeky thing was that Vince(my art teacher)was my father's partner on the police force before he became a teacher.
Heres the kicker; Vince Howlett, along with two other signwriters started a sign shop and called it "Art Trio". In hign school I didn't know about this. Later, I got a job with Art Trio where I met Francisco Vargas.
^^-in the heart of gold country... -Richard Bustamante Nevada City, California www.signsinthepines.com Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
It's hard for me to believe how long it's been since I did my first paying sign job...
As I recall it was just before Christmas in 1968. I was only in grade 9, and didn't even have my driver's licence yet. I hitchhiked into town with my little orange box of premixed paints. Over a two week period I did a series of window splashes all over town and made the incedible sum of almost a thousand dollars... unbelievable money in those days.
I remember clearly one store owner that first year who happily agreed to pay me what I asked, a whole $50. We shook hands and in less than two hours I went back to him for my money. He asked if I worked for a big company or if my dad owned my business. I told him I was self employed. He didn't think a kid who didn't even have a drivers licence should make that kind of money.
I asked him for a wet rag. When he came back I asked him to pay me what he owed me or I would remove enough of the paint to make his window worthless.
He paid.
-dan
Posted by Harris Kohen (Member # 2139) on :
She was a Redhead, young and cute. I think it was like 1976.
Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
I won the school "azalea bazaar" poster contest in about third or fourth grade. I think it was 10 or 20 bucks...might have been only 5. Can't remember back that far. Does that count?
Made two 3'x2' routed cedar signs for a subdivision back in '85 at the ripe age of 24... $1000 for both. Now I'm doing some more routed signs for the same subdivision at the young age of 42. Still hand-routed.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
lets see was a an older woman, oh not that 1st time...hehehehehehehe boy thats a tough one. i recall helpin this local signpainter in the summer when i was 10-12,it was before high school i know. he was doing some billboards(small, low to the ground) for a contractor that built houses. he made pounce patterns i helped him hang em, then he let me do some fill work on the bottom of the board. and he gave me $5 at the end of the job........
Posted by Linda Silver Eagle (Member # 274) on :
I was 14 years old (1974) and I was asked to paint a mural in a strip-mall store close to my neighborhood. The lady sold tropical plants and wanted the inside of the store to look like you were walkin down the beach, etc. So, in this mural, I had to paint this turtle with a verbage balloon over him stating, "Our Plants are POTty Trained!"
Despite that job, ha ha ha, I continued in the sign business. I was lettering sho-cards in no time. All the hours spent fascinated with calligraphy paid off more than anyone could ever put into words!
I did get $150 for the wall mural...it was dang near the length of ths store, but I kept it simple and didn't spill anything on her rented floor LOL! Whew! I was really sweating that out!
Next year (May 5th) will be 30 years of 1-Shot in my veins...ahem, my brushes, and still slingin'.
Let hear some more!
Posted by Bill Dirkes (Member # 1000) on :
In 1972, I Think, I did an 8'x12' Bear Wheel Alignment sign for a junkyard/garage north of Morehead, Ky. I was in my second year of college at Morehead State University. I used a grid for the Bear, and drew some 'just beautiful' yardstick geometric lettering. I don't remember how much I was paid, but then I don't remember a lot from those years in college!!
Posted by Bob Burns (Member # 268) on :
1954. Pinstriped a '51 Packard for $15!!!!!
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
Late i963, 2/3 months into a 1 year signpainting class. A local little variety store, he supplied the paper, 12" x 36" I lettered 2 for 75 cents!!! did this for quite a few for him, had a real hard time making showcard colour stick, found out later the paper was waxed!!
I mounted those two coins, a fifty cent piece and a quarter, on a little piece of Peterboro card, painted around them with Prussian Blue. I just went downstairs and got it out of my old Cash Box, which my dad gave me when I was about 11.
Humble beginings, and it's still fun!!
John Lennig / SignRider
Posted by Arvil Shep' Shepherd (Member # 2030) on :
Does this qualify...???????? In 1949 in the 8th grade I won a county wide Art Contest among the 4 high schools........ The prize was a Blue Ribbon and a check for $25. I never seen this kind of money before..... School lunch was only a Quarter and a bar of candy was still five cents........to say the least I was the most popular kid on the block... for a while..at least till the money ran out lol lol Shep'
Posted by Peter Schuttinga (Member # 2821) on :
During my painting apprenticeship I was asked to do some signs for a soon to be opened fish and chip store. One of those friends of friends deal. I gave them a quote(too low) and got the job. Bought MDO, primed and painted it in my unheated garage. Enamel would not dry, too cold. had to bring the panels into the house to have them dry, stinky. They wanted an old english font, all capital letters. Bought a sheet of lettraset and proceeded to pencil the letters on the signs by measuring the lettraset letters and doing the math. This took forever. Lettered all the signs, took forever, and I was proud as punch. Again, back into the house so the one shot could dry. Two weeks later I stopped by for opening day, they installed the signs themselves. The signs looked great, shimmering in the sun. The customer was very happy, I got paid, so I was happy. My wife came with me and asked me innocently 'what do the signs say?' It was then I realized that most people could not decipher the old English font. My heart sank. Learned a lot doing and staring at those signs:
Old English fonts look real neat and are fun to paint
Old English Fonts are really hard to read
scaling up from lettraset takes forever
All Caps did not help legibility
Customer is not always right
enamel does not dry when it is cold
its hard to letter when wearing gloves
a heated shop would be very good
what is a overhead projector?
I wish I had taken pictures.
Always learning
Posted by Brian Diver (Member # 1552) on :
Let see - she had black hair, big full lips with red lipstick, long fingers and blue eyes. Wore a nice white suitcoat and she had that Michael Jackson look! Whats up with that?
I'm a newbie what can I say. It was about 3 yrs ago after I got laid off from my high tech career. I did a 180 and decided to to something different.
I went to a corner, parked the truck and started knocking on doors. I went around the corner and walked into this "Adult store" -- I said to myself "They need signs too" and I got my first job. The lady owner asked why I hadn't stopped in 2 weeks earlier as they needed a nice lighted sign. The actual picture was from her business card and about the size of a fingernail. I blew it up to 4'x4' on a 4'x8' piece of sintra and got about $400. I didn't make any $ but it was a good "learning experience". They have since opened another store and asked me to do another - this time I made $ Posted by Tony Vickio (Member # 2265) on :
My fist "paying" job (1974), was for Formula One World Champion, Grahm Hill. The crew spilled fuel on the rear wing and destroyed the lettering. They asked around and my name came up! I was terrified!!! It worked and lead to the nickname, "World Famous". At the bottom of my website is an explination.
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