People want quality now and sign painting delivers that. People dig it because it’s old-worldy, but also the customer digs it because it’s probably on par with price for vinyl nowadays, vinyl’s what put sign painting out of business – everyone got a computer and just churned out these vinyl stickers, but somewhere between then and now, the cost has gone up. DIY culture really drives this, you could say it’s a bit of a joke, with hipster culture too haha! But also it’s practical, it’s way more practical than it is a style fad. You mention digital – how does it compare to sign painting? ![]() Nothing’s ever easy, but if there’s something makes it a wee bit easier it’s better. He was telling us the stories from back in the day when he first started and how it is now, he said he remembers when he was younger, having to drive to another town to meet the customer, then see what they wanted, then go home to draw it out, then either post it to them or drive to the next town and show it to them again, then drive back, so by the time he had actually wet his brush, he had spent hours of not doing any work and not getting paid for it, so when it comes to digital he was like“just fucking go for it, whatever makes your job easier”. During the Merchant City Festival, I had the pleasure of meeting a guy called Mike Meyer, he’s from a wee town in Minnesota and has been a journeyman sign painter for years. So I guess that’s where digital and sign painting meet. It’s necessary if someone wants to see your work first before you paint it. It’s important to be able to visualise things, so I do things in Photoshop or Illustrator first to figure out how it’s going to work and what colours work best. Graffiti culture, tattoo culture, we probably share a kinship with hot rod Pinstripers too. Would you say there’s a crossover with the street art scene, and graffiti and sign painting? ![]() So what I do in sign painting comes from graphic design and graffiti equally. None of the letter forms are the same, but the drop shadows and blends of the colours are all really similar. But doing graphic design really helped me, I probably would’ve struggled more with typography without it. But a lot of my work comes from graffiti, I did it a lot when I was younger. So you’re talking maybe 2004 or something (maybe even longer than that) but then I never really followed it, just did my own thing, worked for myself making gig posters for my pals and making no money really, working in bars etc. I come from a graphic design background and did it in college for a few years when I left school, a long time ago. You rest on your laurels a bit when you know how to blend two colours, but you want to put a sheen in it and play with light more, so you can cast shadows and convey light. I’m only just grasping now how to make letter forms tidy and clean and there’s still a lot to learn. ![]() You could say that I’m very much a novice, because it seems like you need to put in a good five, ten years before you can really be a part of the brush (I know that sounds really airy-fairy, but you know what I mean) and really understand how it works. So probably in its current state, I’ve been doing this for just under two years. It takes a long time to get your head around them. It’s a whole different skill set, using emulsion and acrylic is something that I’ve always done, but this paint is so hard to use and these brushes and crazy sometimes. I’ve been a commercial artist for about six or seven years, but was using spray paint, stencils, loads of masking tape and emulsion with big brushes and just slapping colour on, so I never actually started using enamel paint until about two years ago. When did you first become interested in sign painting? Pretty cool huh? We popped along to talk graffiti, art and digital (and to see the man himself in action). For those who haven’t met Ciaran, he’s a hand-painted sign artist, which means his work is a no-vinyl zone, just a smorgasbord of wood, enamel paint and a big glug of design talent. Smack bang in Glasgow’s city centre, you’ll find what is essentially Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory for typography fans – the HQ of Glöbel Bros Signs & Designs. ![]() Posted On SeptemRead Time 8 minute read We kick it old-school with Ciaran Glöbel typography geek, hand-painted sign artist and the creative genius behind Glöbel Bros Signs & Designs.
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