Sign painting is the craft of painting lettered signs on buildings, billboards or signboards, for promoting, announcing, or identifying products, services and events. Sign painting artisans are signwriters, although in North America they are usually referred to as sign painters.

History

Signwriters often learned the craft through apprenticeship or trade school, although many early sign painters were self-taught. The Sign Graphics program at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College is the last remaining sign painting program in the United States. Skillful manipulation of a lettering brush can take years to develop. In the 1980s, with the advent of computer printing on vinyl, traditional hand-lettering faced stiff competition. Interest in the craft waned during the 1980s and 90s, but hand-lettering and traditional sign painting have experienced a resurgence in popularity in recent years. The 2012 book and documentary, Sign Painters by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon, chronicle the historical changes and current state of the sign painting industry through personal interviews with contemporary sign painters. Old painted signs which fade but remain visible are known as ghost signs.

Techniques

There are a number of other associated skills and techniques as well, including gold leafing (surface and glass), carving (in various mediums), glue-glass chipping, stencilling, and silk-screening.