How Men Are Trained
Many card writers are trained in the shop. Correspondence courses afford fair advantages to the man who must save time and money, but personal supervision is of great advantage, and personal criticism is essential if a correspondence course is taken. Courses in card writing are now offered in technical schools and Y. M. C. A. classes and vocational schools all over the country. Among the schools now offering courses in show-card writing are the following:
Federal School of Commercial Art, Minneapolis, Minn.
Idaho Technical Institute.
Los Angeles Y. M. C. A. schools.
St. Louis Y. M. C. A. schools.
Lowry Sign and Advertising Service, Chicago.
Link’s Business College, Boise, Idaho.
State Trade School. Danbury, Conn.
Appleton, Wis., Industrial School.
Kenosha, Wis., Vocational School.
Neenah, Wis., Industrial School.
New York High School.
New York Vocational Schools.
Detroit, Mich., School of Letters.
Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.
College of Commerce, De Paul University, Chicago.
School of Industrial Arts, Trenton, N. J.
Koester School, Chicago.
Semby School, Minneapolis, Minn.
The length of time required for the completion of courses depends upon the student; one very good course covers eight weeks. Some students after the fifth or sixth lesson have done work sufficiently creditable to bring a money return. Proper and methodical training is very necessary. Care and exactness must first be acquired and speed will naturally follow.
Courses given in show-card writing cover such subjects as how to mix and when to use water colors, inks, and oils; the care of brushes and pens; the proper kind and color of cardboards to use; and how to apply bronze and diamond dust. The formation of pen and brush letters is, of course, fundamental, and the principles of lettering must be taught in a simple, thorough, and correct way. Proper instruction, with application, is bound to bring success.
Lesson plates Nos. 1 to 6.—Improved method for teaching, correct formation and relative proportions of letters and numerals.—Brush method.
General instructions.—Proper material, student’s worktable, light, how to care for brushes, show-card paint, how to practice, kind of practice that counts, lesson plates explained, how to fill the brush, how to bring the brush to working point, how to hold the brush, position at table, position of paper.
Lesson plates Nos. 7 to 10—Single stroke rapid Roman lettering.—How to begin the practice, time-saving methods, how to hold the brush, various positions of the brush explained, how to manipulate the brush to produce clean-cut strokes, purpose of single-stroke vertical and italic roman lettering.
Lesson plates Nos. 11 and 12—How to shade letters.—Various styles of shading, proper colors for shading, shading as an embellishment, shading to give emphasis.
Lesson plates Nos. 13 to 16—Single stroke Egyptian lettering.—Brushes to use, how to hold the brush, how to manipulate the brush to produce the proper stroke, how to practice the elementary lines and curves.
Lesson plates Nos. 17 and 18—Single and double stroke alphabet and numerals.—Purpose of this style of letter, brushes to use, method explained, different methods of finishing the letters.
Lesson plate No. 19—Single-stroke old English alphabet.—Purpose of old English lettering, how to hold the brush, retouching the principal strokes.
Lesson plate No. 20—Single-stroke modified Roman pen lettering.—Advantages of pen lettering for text or descriptive matter, inks to use, how to practice pen lettering, how to hold the pen, how to manipulate the pen to procure clean-cut strokes, how to use an ink reservoir to facilitate rapid work.
Fifteen practical show-card layouts.—In the foregoing lessons the student acquires sufficient ability to enable him to make practical use of his knowledge. The alphabets covered are sufficient for general show-card use. Therefore, at this point, the course presents 15 practical layouts showing how the text should be separated into display lines and descriptive groups, also various styles of letters that may be used in harmony for display and descriptive matter. An appropriate show-card phrase is used for each layout. Display lines and descriptive groups are indicated in the exact size and styles of letters to be used in lettering each layout. Specific directions as to color, combinations, and embellishments are given for each layout.
A study in design and layout.—The principles of spacing, importance of show-card designing, best rules for spacing, lessons in spacing, how to center a word or line.
Condensing and extending letters.—How to plan lettering to fit a given space, rules for condensing, rules for extending, appropriate uses of condensed and extended letters, practice exercises.
Principles of the balanced layout.—Balanced layout defined, how to plan the balanced layout, important points to observe, examples of balanced layout, practice exercises in balanced layouts.
Border lines, underscore, space fillers, and panels.—Brush ruling, how to draw an ellipse, initial panel, initial letters, a few card kinks.
The group layout.—How to plan the group layout, examples of group layout, practice exercises in group layout.
Combination layout.—Purpose of the combination layout, how to divide the phrase into display lines and groups for the combination layout, examples of combination layouts, exercises in combination layouts.
Price tickets.—Normal style price tickets, bold style price tickets, small price tickets, fancy price tickets, illustrative price tickets, practice exercises.
Illustrated show cards.—Sources of ideas, tracing from clipped illustrations, how to use the pantograph for enlarging illustrations, the mirrorscope, examples of appropriate designs for various purposes, exercises in illustrated show cards.
Principles of colors—Color contrasts.—How to mix water-color paint, color effects; color combination; mixing standard colors to produce shades, tints, and unusual colors; lessons in color combinations.
Show card embellishment.—Dry-color blending; spatter work; relief lettering; applying metallics, diamond dust, flock, etc.; phrase and picture tiling; seasonable embellishments; floral decorations; poster cut-outs; silhouettes; how to paint muslin signs.
Instruction in the use of the air brush.—Principles of the air brush; sectional view of an air brush; illustrating and describing all important parts; air pressure; how to put a gas outfit together; colors for air-brush use; how to use the air brush; care of the air brush; how to cut stencils; practice exercises to gain control of brush; color blending; exercises in the use of stencil designs.
Lesson plate No. 21.—Single-stroke alphabet and numerals for modern speed ball pen lettering.
Lesson plate No. 22.—Uniform single-stroke alphabet and numerals for Payzant pen lettering.
Lesson plate No. 23.—Single-stroke Payzant or speed ball pen alphabet with retouched spurs.
Lesson plate No. 24.—Speed ball pen initial capitals, retouched and embellished.
Lesson plate No. 25.—Outline Roman initial, embellished capitals, plain lower-case letters.
Lesson plate No. 26.—Modern Roman and fancy alphabets for music pen lettering.
Lesson plate No. 27.—Old English text pen, and small speed ball pen alphabets.
Lesson plate No. 28.—Speed ball pen alphabets.
Lesson plate No. 29.—Rapid single-stroke antique Roman brush alphabet.
Lesson plate No. 30.—Rapid single-stroke modified Roman brush alphabet.
Lesson plate No. 31.-Single-stroke antique alphabet and numerals.