The Top 40

Chesterfield - my granpappy's brand.

My wife has been the managing editor for the largest sign industry trade magazine for going on 30 years now and has witnessed the decline. There will always be those that favor the old skool hand painted sign but for the most part technology has reduced the demand for the manual labor stuff by at least 90%.

20 years ago I had custom sandblasted and hand painted cedar wood job signs on the projects I designed at $300 each. Last year I ordered 50 new digitally made signs from VistaPrint for 1% of the cost.

In today's average sign shop the highest paid employee is the digital plotter.

I recall riding the city bus in the late 70s/early 80s, and meeting an old school sign painter. He was a traveler, that's for sure.

I've tried my hand at a few, but never got the bug for it. Didn't have the hustle, and never found it satisfying. I can well imagine the muse these guys followed. Fresh air work, no moss under your shoes, and the satisfaction of seeing your work big and prominent. Yes, it's a romantic trade, but I'll wager not many made big money at it.

Graphic design (not my thing) is a trade that many think they can do, but most cannot. It reminds me of the mountain dentist in True Grit, who speculates in DBs on the side. Which trade does he really do well?

GhostSniper --
I used to advertize in that mag.
I also exhibited at Orlando back in 2002;
small brass lettering and wood plaques.
Out of business now.

We know a sign painter.
Very fine work.
Terrible terrible drunk.

Sign painters were notorious for being scary drunks. Also body shop guys, too. The rumor was all the paint fumes compelled them to reach for the bottle. I met some major sign drunks back when I started in 1972. They're all dead now. But I'm still doing it. And it's possible still to do the hand-made stuff if you live in a unique and expensive town like Santa Fe. Other places would be Telluride, Aspen, Eureka, Madison, Jackson Hole... all over New England... anywhere the hustle is slower and people expect to see organic quality. Check out my website.

Tom, In Vermont they want the "handcrafted look" and you have to wear bib overalls and have a beard too. They will ooh and ahh over the work and then tell you you charge too much. They can get it cheaper every where but where they're standing. In Vermont, you can't afford the taxes on the shop and house and anything to heat it most of the year.

In 1979, I graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Visual Arts just in time to apply for a job drawing designs and cartoons for anything that is used to decorate bathrooms: Shower curtains to tiles. The job and company disappeared with the computer coming on to do the work of the whole shop by three people. Jimmuh Carter didn't help much either.

If you want to make one of any item as a piece of art, you have a chance to not starve. Make two and you're out of business; a machine can and will do it faster and cheaper than you can.

In the early 80's I had taken a number of drafting classes in high school. I used pencils and straight edges. Learned how to hand print text also. All much more easily done by computer now, of course. My first blueprint was off of measurements I took from an AR-15 bolt carrier assembly. I still print everything I hand write, just as learned in drafting class.

Sign painting, map reading, hand drafting and civilians learning the phonetic alphabet are all going the way of the typewriter.

The only cursive writing I have done for the past at least 30 years has been my signature and any more that doesn't even get done much. Just filled out a deposit slip yesterday and my sig is now undecipherable.

Took my first mechanical drawing class in 7th grade and then drafting classes 8th thru 12th with an additional 2 years of drafting classes in 11th and 12th grade at the local vo-tech. Graduated from 2 schools in 1972 and was already on my first drafting job for 6 months at that point ($1.85 / hr).

I was a natural at it, so I grabbed it with both hands. In the late 70's I converted from pencils on vellum to ink on mylar and in 1994 I converted to AutoCAD and still use it today.

I still have all my drafting tools in a box in the garage and a small drawing board with a board cover and a 42" Mayline parallel bar leaning against the wall in my office. This summer I'm going to build an 8' table and start doing perspective renderings again, for the first time in about 20 years.

Been using computers since 1983 and I'm burning out on everything technology. I don't believe they are the time savers they were touted as and they are a huge expense in the long run, in time and money. As I get older I'm finding time is more valuable than anything else and money is not as necessary as I once believed. I don't need much.

@Tom, I like the "Ortega's on the Plaza".
BIG, BOLD, and looks like a 1950's post card. Nice stuff.

As I get older I'm finding time is more valuable than anything else and money is not as necessary as I once believed. I don't need much. Ghost, you have found wisdom. I retired "at the peak" 41 years ago, did part time consulting (for people I liked) for 25 years, then retired for good 15+ years ago, live the simple life, and only do "self actualizing" things gratis. Believe me, it's the way to go. You'll have a satisfied mind. The only downside is turning down work from people you like when you know they need the help.

Thanks for the kind words, ghostsniper. Of course, my Ortega's sign was a direct borrow from the ubiquitous post cards which advertised every city in America back in the 40's and 50's. I had the idea in mind for several years and was waiting for the one customer who would be willing to pay for such a grandiose advertisement. The Ortegas might be the wealthiest family in Santa Fe. I actually painted that entire image in place out on the roadboard back in 1993. When it started fading they photoshopped my original painting which was done on a 2' x 3' sheet of masonite... with all the hand-tinted photos... and now they order it up in printed vinyl every couple of years when it begins to fade. That's okay with me... I don't feel like going out there on a ladder and repainting it.

Tom, get ready for some more kind words. My other comment was BEFORE I perused the rest of your site.

VERY nice work overall, especially the the sandblasted and carved signs.

Clearly you're a craftsman and an artist with the skilled coordination of eye-mind-hand that comes from early interest-curiosity to life long dedication and effort.

Very good!

Tom, lovely work. So nice to see.

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