OUGD603: Sign Painting / Amplify Leeds

I recently found a post on the &/Or Emporium page on Facebook of someone looking for a sign painter. I approached the client and stated I'd be able to do the brief in such a short time frame - they want it by 19th March and it's now the 9th.

I'm sourcing the materials for them and they're paying me for the job + material costs. Communication with the client has been very smooth and I'm looking forward to starting this properly.


Brief: 

Create a hand painted sign with words "Amplify Leeds" plus their logo, and "Making Waves", the name of the event, along with an arrow underneath. Produce a separate, smaller board with an arrow on as well, to be placed further along the path. Integrate lighting of some sort to make the sign visible at night.

The event is on the 22nd March, 5-8pm at Open Source Arts, Aire Place Mills.

Deliverables:
One 0.5 x 0.75 metre (approx)  sign painted board. One smaller board with arrow painted on.


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Today I spoke to Dragon timber who advised me on which wood to purchase. I opted for birch plywood at £32 a sheet which will need to be cut down at college. I also plan to put a groove as a border around the piece which is where the fairy lights will sit, rather than attaching them with nails or tape.

I also ordered some 1shot enamel based sign paints, which will give the strokes a smoother finish and be more durable in outdoor weather. These are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday 15th, giving me 4 days to finish the project providing the wood is ready in time. Weatherproof fairy lights were also purchased,  so that the sign can be seen more clearly at dusk.



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Tuesday 15th;

Yesterday I sped up the process by buying a sheet of marine ply from timber yard nearby; more expensive but more durable in outdoor weather. The guy there cut it down to four pieces of 4x2ft, and I was able to take one of these to college and get a 6mm wide and deep border cut in to the wood so that the fairy lights would fit in and not need to be taped down, which would ruin the aesthetic of the sign. This also means there is no need for nails or screws to be put in to the wood which keeps costs slightly lower.

I started to sketch out the design considering arrow direction, shape, and styles of text.

I've had months of subliminal researching as I have a strong interest in sign painting, but here are some images that I'm particularly interested in and that I think something similar could work for this design.

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Wed 16th; Workshop with mural artist Pete Barber

Today I attended a workshop with a mural artist who also has experience in sign painting. This was great for me to ask questions and learn about ways to successfully paint on to surfaces other than paper or card.

He introduced me to a technique called pouncing, which is used to transfer an image on to a surface by running a perforator along the outline of the images (or text). The artist would then dab over the small holes with chalk leaving a faint outline of the letters from which the artist can paint within.

For this project I'm not going to use pouncing, however it's good knowledge for future projects when I have the right tools to do this.

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Thurs 17th; sign production

Using an OHP projector I was able to replicate the company logo almost exactly, which sped up the process rather than measuring out the letters to recreate the look of the typeface. I did the same thing for 'Making Waves' later on.

I started by marking it out in pencil to make sure it was right, then before painting added chalk dots on the pencil line and rubbed out the darker marks. 

In use at event: