And here's how we do it!

October 21, 2013 9:38 AM

Glen Weisgerber is a pinstriper letterer for custom bikes, cars etc - Single Stroke Lettering Demo, Roundhand Lettering Demo, Jersey Style Chrome Lettering Demo
posted by fearfulsymmetry (24 comments total)

So good. Not just the clean steady strokes but how the heck does one load a brush so perfectly - no drips, globs, or transparency?
posted by rahnefan at 9:55 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh, man, I could watch this all day. So soothing. There's something Bob-Rossian about it.
posted by BrashTech at 10:03 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

A modern calligrapher. Very cool.
posted by dazed_one at 10:05 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

I love this calligraphy. I worry it is soon to be a lost art. Great post, cheers.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:08 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was thinking the other day about the death of sign writing as a profession... at least it continues in this one area (if pretty niche)

So good. Not just the clean steady strokes but how the heck does one load a brush so perfectly - no drips, globs, or transparency?

I suspect some form of wizardry (or just years of practice)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:12 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

LOVE.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:16 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's fascinating to listen to when and how he breathes. On the easy strokes, easy breathing. Then a stroke that requires extra care comes along, and for the duration of the stroke, he holds his breath. He probably doesn't even realize he's doing it.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:27 AM on October 21, 2013 [3 favorites]

...how the heck does one load a brush so perfectly - no drips, globs, or transparency?
If you notice, after he loads the brush, he swipes it several times on the palette. This is done, in part, to get the optimum load of paint on the brush, and to correctly re-shape the brush.

I worry it is soon to be a lost art.
It pretty much is already, unfortunately. Computer-cut vinyl lettering has all but displaced hand-painted lettering in most applications. It takes a good part of ones lifetime to become as proficient as Weisgerber.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:38 AM on October 21, 2013

I started watching this guy do airbrushed t-shirts (accidentally -- I was trying to his the video of Elaine Stritch talking about auditioning for The Golden Girls). It's like Bob Ross for people who live in Myrtle Beach.
posted by Madamina at 10:40 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Thank you so much! I've never lettered on glass. The second video captures the giddy glide posibilities. One thing computer-based lettering can't yet do is incrementally modified letter width and spacing to fit text into unusual spaces.
posted by Jesse the K at 10:57 AM on October 21, 2013

Vinyl-cutter computer-based lettering can accommodate any sort of individual character width, weight and inter-character spacing needed as most are based upon either Corel Draw or Illustrator, both of which handle character variance with extraordinary precision. Especially when the characters are outlined and modified on a vertex-by-vertex basis. Of course, it cannot be done on the fly as a human can do.
posted by bz at 11:15 AM on October 21, 2013

When I was right out of school and working at a small newspaper there were a couple of guys with big desks in the corner of the production department who hand-lettered big grocery ads. They'd start with scribbled prices and notes and a handful of bits of clip art and would assemble two-page spreads containing hundreds of bits of information on a weekly basis. Their lettering was always neat and perfect and beautifully arranged. Watching them work blew my mind.

Sometimes at the very last minute something would change--a price or a special item or somesuch--and, X-actos flashing, they would make the change quickly and neatly and it would always look good.

Lost art? Doing what these guys did took skills so insane that being able to neatly hand-letter in any size and style was just the beginning...
posted by kinnakeet at 11:25 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Awesome! If you like this, you may also like Fileteado Porteño, the Argentinian pinstriping tradition.
posted by Tom-B at 11:32 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I love pinstriping. I wish they had added a segment of it to my calligraphy class in high school (instead of being obsessed with Olde English), I would have been hooked then.
posted by user92371 at 11:42 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Vinyl-cutter computer-based lettering

Classic Charlie Brooker rant - Shop signs have never been uglier. A stroll down the high street has turned into optical torture
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 11:54 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was fascinated by the wrist rest. I was wondering how he was going to steady his hand. it's subtle and with that little sponge pad on the end, kinda elegant. I had my 77 BMW motorcycle pinstriped with the classic double white outline on the tank, fenders and on my sidecar. it's my favorite part of the bike.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:04 PM on October 21, 2013

I did my own pinstriping on my BSA, and it looks like it. I even used a special tool for it, the bugler. Wish I had paid a guy like this to do it--but only if I got to watch.

So awesome, thanks for posting.
posted by maxwelton at 12:06 PM on October 21, 2013

I was fascinated by the wrist rest. I was wondering how he was going to steady his hand. it's subtle and with that little sponge pad on the end, kinda elegant.

That's a maulstick and is often used by signwriters (and other painters)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:29 PM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

That roundhand is beyond sweet. I actually uttered "..fuck yes..." as he finished up that 'R.'

I've learned many types of lettering (drafting, architectural, italic, calligraphy) in my analog life, but seeing this stuff done by a pro still gives me chills.

I've tried to teach myself pinstriping so I can put the finishing touch on my eternal project motorcycle. I figure if I keep practicing every day, I might be able to pull a decent line by the time I finish it up, in the next ten years or so.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:38 PM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

posted by fearfulsymmetry

Eponysterical.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 2:19 PM on October 21, 2013

He is using extra-long lettering brushes and maybe leaded 1-Shot paints to get a full stroke with a single brush load.
posted by scose at 4:32 PM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thorzdad: It takes a good part of ones lifetime to become as proficient as Weisgerber.

That's technically true, but misleading.

You can learn to do what he's doing in any one of those scripts in under a year. Thousands of people have, in the SCA. Most of them use pen nibs, not brushes, but the technique isn't all that different (and ink on paper is a helluva lot less forgiving than paint on metal!).

Now, all the rest of his skills of course took all of his career to learn. But the lettering skills aren't wizardry; they don't even require as much practice as it takes to play a violin concerto, or a serious piano piece.
posted by IAmBroom at 5:55 PM on October 21, 2013

But the lettering skills aren't wizardry; they don't even require as much practice as it takes to play a violin concerto, or a serious piano piece.

I have burned through so many notebooks during meetings and conference calls - so, so many - where I can definitively say this is wrong. Desire and drive without talent is... well... not as nice as this was.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:45 PM on October 21, 2013

Slap*Happy, you lacked proper instruction.

Go find a local chapter of the SCA, ask when their scribal nights are, and go. They'll happily take you from properly holding the pen to churning out a chosen script in a few short weeks.

It's the panoply of related skills: multiple "hands" (fonts), extra decorative pieces, and the "illumination" we crave alongside it in the SCA, that will take more time to master.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:59 AM on October 22, 2013