Chapter 15

Creating a Poster or Sign

In This Chapter

Assessing your skills and materials

Looking at pull-stroke letters

Avoiding three common errors

Creating effective poster designs

Doing large-scale letters

Getting started with brush letters

One of the most practical things you can do with calligraphy is make a poster or sign. You may be called upon to use your calligraphic skills by a club, organization, civic group, or school that needs to announce an upcoming event. If you agree to do the job, it would be your responsibility to create an effective design that would get the word out to the public. In most cases, the poster or sign would be displayed on a bulletin board or displayed in the area where the advertising needs to be done.

Tools and Skills to Polish a Poster

To create a poster or sign as I describe in this chapter, here’s what you need:

You should be able to do at least two alphabets. In Part II, I show you how to do several alphabets that you can use for a poster or sign project.

You need poster-size paper. Refer to chapter two for recommendations for paper. Poster board is not recommended.

You need to know how to draw guide lines. You can find that information in Chapter 3.

You need to know how to use a dip pen. You can find out more about using dip pens in Chapter 3. For many posters, you want to make large bold letters, and for that you have the option of using special pens with nibs that are 1/4 to 11/2 inches wide. These are usually referred to simply as poster pens. Two well-known brands are the Automatic pens and Coit pens. Sometimes wide markers can be used if you don’t want to invest in poster pens and if the finest pen work is not required. Also, you can draw the outlines of the letters and fill them in. See the section, “How to do large-scale letters,” later in this chapter, for methods on filling in outlined letters.

Both Automatic and Coit pens have handles permanently attached to the nibs. You can use nonwaterproof inks as well as water-based tempera poster paints with these pens. It is inadvisable to use waterproof inks or acrylic paint, because both of these can dry in the pen and clog it. You would fill these pens just as you would a standard dip pen — from the side using a small paint brush or dropper stopper (see Chapter 3).

When you use large pens, the way you do some of the letters I explain in this book may have to be modified. The larger dip pens sometimes splatter ink if you try to push the nib away from you. If this is the case with a pen you’re trying to use, you have to avoid push strokes and make all your strokes pull strokes. This is especially true of the Italic lower case letters (see “Using Pull-Stroke Italic” below for more information).

Using Pull-Stroke Italic

In Chapter 4 I explain that you make the Italic lowercase letters in one continuous stroke. The letter o is a good example. That method works just fine for the fountain pen and smaller nibs of the dip pen, but some larger nibs in dip pens and especially poster pens tend to dig into the paper and spatter ink if you attempt to push the pen. Whenever you run into that situation you have to make certain that you use only pull strokes. Pull strokes are made by pulling the pen in a diection toward you rather than pushing it. For example, when I describe the Italic o (Chapters 4 and 5), I show that it is made in one continuous stroke. In this instance, you pull the pen to make the left side of the letter and push the pen to swing back up and make the right side.

This is not difficult because most of the alphabets use all pull strokes anyway. It is Italic that will cause you the most problems. The solution is simple — use the opportunity in the sections that follow to practice Italic using pull strokes.

Figure 15-1 shows the lowercase Italic letters done in all pull strokes (the arrows show the directions that the pen moves). For example, instead of making the lower case o in one continuous stroke, you can make the same shape letter in two pull strokes. If you’ve done any of the alphabet chapters aside from Italic (see Part II), this shouldn’t be a really new concept because the two pull-stroke method is exactly how the o is made in all the other alphabets explained in this book.

Figure 15-1: The pull-stroke Italic lowercase letters.

Avoiding Common Errors in Design

Good design, especially the effective use of harmony and contrast, is part of making a good poster. Read Chapter 14 for more on the ins and outs of good design. On the other hand, whenever I teach poster design to a calligraphy class, I reveal common errors after discussing good design. Doing so really illuminates the benefits of good design. So in this section, I show you some of the best and worst designs, but let me warn you first about the Bad Poster Artist.

You can find in every community a person spreading bad art who goes by the name Bad Poster Artist. You know who I’m talking about. Bad Poster Artist attempts to harm the good name of artists like you and me. Beware: I think he has put at least one of his bad posters on every bulletin board in your community. He has spread his bad posters all over the place — the coffee shop, the grocery store, the gym, and he’s probably even infiltrated the schools. You’ve seen his posters. His posters are always on a full sheet of poster board, and they look like Figure 15-2. Help me to defend our communities against the Bad Poster Artist by promoting the use of well-designed posters everywhere!

Figure 15-2: The work of the notorious Bad Poster Artist.

Figure 15-2 shows you three common errors typically found in bad poster design:

The overall design (if you dare even call this a design) is unattractive and unexciting. This poster is not going to catch anyone’s attention. The lack of strong design shows that not much thought or imagination went into making it. It looks like it was done very hastily. Pasting on a few cut-outs of cakes and pies from a magazine will not save this design!

There are problems with the way the words are written.

• None of the words are large enough and bold enough to be read easily at a distance.

• Underlining certainly doesn’t help.

• There is a mishmash of cursive handwriting, lowercase printing, and capital letters, which is ineffective at best.

• The letters are not used correctly, attractively, or effectively.

The white space is used very poorly. There is far too much white space (space without text or other decorative design elements) that gives this poster an empty look. The words appear lost in all that white space.

Making a Good Poster

If the problems with a bad poster are unattractive design, poor lettering, and poor use of white space (see the section above, “Avoiding Common Errors in Design”), then a good poster must include

An attractive design that catches the eye

Good lettering that’s easy to read

Effective use of the white space

I explain each of these aspects of a good poster in the sections that follow.

It’s just like fishing — hook ’em and reel ’em in!

A good fisherman knows that you have to use the right kind of bait that will catch the fish. A good poster artist or sign painter knows that you have to use a design that will catch people’s attention. In fact, the good poster is a whole lot like fishing. First, you have to catch people’s attention (hook ’em) so they’ll take the time to read the information on the poster (reel ’em in).

Please don’t misinterpret my analogy. I’m not implying in any way that people are like fish or that the purpose of a poster is to manipulate or control people. The point I’m trying to illustrate is that the very first thing a good poster should do is catch people’s attention so they will take the time to read the information on it. If a poster fails in doing this, people will pass it by, and the poster will fail in its purpose, which is to communicate information.

The poster in Figure 15-3 shows you a good example of eye-catching design. This poster had a small amount of information to communicate. It uses large, bold letters to attract attention and smaller letters of different styles to organize the details. There are two lettering styles — Bookhand and Italic (see Chapters 10 and 6, respectively). These two styles go together very harmoniously. The drawing ties in well with the letters. Everything in this poster was black and white except for an eye-popping accent — the drop of paint was brilliant red.

Figure 15-3: Eye- catching design.

When you set out to design a poster, you need to bait that hook. Follow these tips to make sure your bait reels everybody in:

Consider how to attract attention from a distance. Usually this is done by making one or more of the words stand out large and bold enough to be clearly legible at a distance of about fifty feet. Bright colors and eye-catching images can also be used to attract attention.

Do lots of planning and sketching before you actually begin to work on the poster itself. Use sketches to develop your design. When you have finished sketching, you should have a pretty clear idea already worked out of how the poster is going to look before you begin the actual lettering of the poster.

Use variety. Organize the information in an easy-to-read form. The primary way that you can do this is to use letters of different sizes and styles. By using two or three styles of lettering and different size letters, you can organize the information in an easy-to-read way (see the next section, “Using effective lettering,” for more information).

Think about how you’re utilizing the white space. An effective design should look neither cramped nor empty. (See the section, “Making the most of white space,” later in this chapter for more on working with white space.)

Using effective lettering

Effective lettering makes a good poster. Effective lettering means using the letters to create the desired effect. There are several ways to do this. Figure 15-4 is a poster that I used to advertise some summer art classes. This poster is a good example of using large and bold letters to catch the eye and also using different styles and sizes to organize the information in an easy-to-read format. Since this poster contains a lot of information, it was vital that the information be well organized. When you have a lot of information, the problem is to keep the poster from looking cluttered and difficult to read. This design which includes the decorative embellishments to the letters and all headings and subheadings was carefully worked out in advance before I did the poster.

Figure 15-4: Effective lettering on a poster.

The primary things you can do to insure the effectiveness of your letters are:

Selecting a style of lettering that is entirely appropriate for the subject

Making sure the style is easy to read

Making the letters large enough so they can be read at a reasonable distance

Organizing the information in order of importance so the main idea stands out and supporting information is a smaller size

Making the most of white space

If you’ve ever taken art classes, you may have studied what is called “negative space” and how important it is to composition. When I refer to white space, I am, of course, referring to the spaces that are left blank. Artists call this “negative space” as opposed to “positive space” which the images occupy. If you have a knowledge of how to work with negative space, apply that knowledge here.

Figure 15-5 shows you how to manage white space, especially when you don’t have a lot of text to work with. This poster uses art images (the cartoon image of the artist and the stars) to create an eye-catching design.

Figure 15-5: Managing white space like a pro.

Follow these tips in making the most of the white space:

Avoid leaving spaces that look too symmetrical. Symmetry is too easy to ignore. Strive to create a design that people won’t ignore.

Avoid spaces that are too much the same size. Strive to have a variety of sizes.

Look at the way the space is designed in advertisements in the media. Gather ideas that you can use.

Making Large-Scale Letters

In the sections that follow, I describe for you a couple of ways to make large-scale letters.

The two-pencil method

If you don’t have poster pens, one option is to draw the outlines of the letters and fill them in. An easy way that you can draw the outlines is to use two pencils that are taped together. The way this is done is to hold the points of the two pencils so they duplicate the pen angle. For example, if you are lettering Italic letters, a line between the two points of the pencils should be 45 degrees.

Look at Figure 15-6 to see how the two pencils are held for making Italic letters.

Figure 15-6: Holding your pencils when using the two-pencil method.

The one thing this example does not show is the guide lines. You can calculate the distance between the guide lines by multiplying the distance between the pencil points by the number of pen widths in the normal letter height. Italic letters, for example, would need guide lines that are five times the distance between the pencil points.

Using standard size pencils, I calculate that the distance between guide lines should be about 23/4 inches. That would make the capital letters one and a half times that measurement which is 41/8 inches — a pretty big letter.

The compass method

Another method that you can use that works similarly to the two-pencil method is to use a compass (the kind you use for drawing circles, not for finding north) which is designed so you can put pencil lead in both points. School compasses are not designed to do this. The only kind of compass that I have seen that is designed to do this is a draftsman’s compass that allows you to exchange points.

The advantage that the compass gives you is you can adjust the distance between the points as far apart as you like. Simply use the distance between the points as the pen width of the letters you want to make.

Brushing on Letters for Signs

If you’re interested in doing signs, you must learn to letter with a brush. Signs are all around us. Their purpose is mainly commercial. They are used for all kinds of things from identifying things like stores, office buildings, churches, parks, etc., to advertisng businesses and products, to giving us directions like road signs. Signs come in all sizes — from the small sign outsde a public restroom to a large billboard type sign. The brush gives you a complete range of size and style. With the brush you are not restricted by the width of a pen. Also, and this is critical because most signs are displayed outdoors, the brush allows you to use waterproof and weatherproof paints.

To successfully brush letters onto signs, you need the right tools:

Paint: The best paint for signs is sign painter’s enamel, but you may want to practice with showcard poster paints that you can wash out with water.

Brush: Good sign painting brushes are not cheap. In selecting brushes, you should not skimp on quality. Low quality brushes simply will not do the job. Even if you’re just starting out, you should use good quality brushes.

Begin with a single brush, a 1/4-inch #10 sable brush. This brush has a round ferrule (the metal collar that holds the bristles on the handle), but the ends of the brush are square.

Surface: A sign can be painted on a variety of materials. If it’s an outdoor sign, the material needs to be weather-resistant. Metal, some plastic materials, and treated plywood are the usual materials. An indoor sign can be done on practically anything — even paper.

It’s absolutely vital that you clean brushes thoroughly after every use. If you’re using tempera paints, soap and water will do the trick. Brushes used with enamel paints will have to be washed with paint thinner first and then soap and water. After you wash a brush, pinch the bristles just below the ferrule and run your fingers down to the end to squeeze out any excess water and to reshape the bristles. Brushes should be stored vertically on end in a cup or holder with the bristles pointing up. Good brushes will last for years if they are properly cared for.

Before you begin actually making your sign, get a feel for actually using the brush and paint:

1. Hold the brush correctly:

• Hold the brush between the thumb and index finger with the trademark up.

• Hold the brush almost perpendicular to the surface. (See Figure 15-7.) If the surface is flat, the brush will be held just about vertically above the surface. That way, the the flat edge of the brush duplicates the thicks and thins of the calligraphy pen.

Figure 15-7: Holding the brush.

2. Dip the brush into the paint and practice making strokes.

3. See how much paint is just the right amount for making smooth, clean strokes that are not too wet and not too dry. The right amount of paint will give you total control of the application of paint. With too much paint the stroke will be uncontrollable; with too little, the stroke will be too dry and the paint will not flow smoothly from the brush.

4. Make the letters uniform in thickness. You have to twirl the brush slightly with your thumb and finger so that the flat part of the brush always follows the width of the letters. This requires a little practice but isn’t really difficult to do.

Because the end of the brush is flat, you can use it to duplicate the thicks and thins of all the pen-lettered alphabets. The flat end of the brush will behave just like the chisel edge of a pen nib.