Practical Carriage and Wagon Painting / A Treatise on the Painting of Carriages, Wagons and Sleighs, Embracing Full and Explicit Directions for Executing All Kinds of Work, Including Painting Factory Work, Lettering, Scrolling, Ornamenting, Varnishing, etc., with Many Tested Recipes and Formulas

by M. C. Hillick

LAYING OUT, SPACING, OUTLINING, AND BALANCING

of a job of wagon lettering are factors of chief concern. The artistic and really beautiful example of lettering is brought forth only when praiseworthy skill is exercised in executing the operations named. Individuality of workmanship is based upon the style of laying out. A workman practiced in handling a lettering or striping pencil can very soon master the difficulties of painting a letter after it is outlined. The job accurately and artistically laid out, even if lettered in a manner not strictly up to the standard, will far more effectively fulfill its mission as a work of art than will the one properly penciled but improperly designed. The key, then, to fine wagon lettering may be embraced in the work of laying out. To present rules by which the workman may at all times and closely abide in preparing a contemplated design for letter painting would be impracticable because the laying out, with its attendant features, must conform to the size, form, and general condition of the surface. In laying out, the best exponents of the art are agreed that it is advisable to employ as few lines as possible. The fewer lines, the more grace, freedom, and easy poise of the letters. At the beginning of his career the letterer will probably need the aid of four lines, two for the top limbs and two for the bottom limbs of the letters. As he gains in skill and experience the two inside lines may be dispensed with. Then with the ever present dividers in hand the space so lined out may be "touched off" until the necessary divisions to accommodate the letters desired in the line are spaced. Generally speaking, all letters, except W, M, J, and I, have equal spaces, one square, for example. M and W require a bit more space, I and J a bit less. There is to be remarked a considerable variation in the space between letters, some of the letters being full in form and some open. In the use of L, F, J, A, V, W, T, Y, only half the space given to the other letters is allowable, and in the placing of V and L less than half is permissible, one letter being advanced well into the space allowed the other. The letter I is in some respects a difficult letter to space correctly. When it chances to be cast between two letters occupying full squares each it will require more than the usual space, otherwise, being a needle-like letter, it will be elbowed out of easy location.

Ornamental Alphabet No. 1.

Ornamental Alphabet No. 2.

The vehicle letterer, daily practicing his art, will frequently find himself confronted with words or combinations of words to which rules of spacing, however carefully they may be laid down, do not apply. In such cases hard and fast rules of spacing cannot be successfully observed. Spacing to suit individual requirements must then obtain. Here a letter may be moved from its nearest neighbor a little more than its ordinarily allotted space would permit; there a letter is placed closer to its neighbor than the rules usually allow. The position of several letters may be disturbed in order that the word or words may display a correctly spaced appearance. Vehicle letterers invariably devote one-half of a letter space to separate capital letters of names. This spacing furnishes the capitals with plenty of prominence and makes plain and distinct the whole name. Usually the half of a letter space is placed between words. This half, however, may vary somewhat as the size and general conformation of the surface may indicate.

Grecian Alphabet.

In outlining letters many of our best vehicle letterers advise using no inside lines, the extreme outer lines only being employed. This method of outlining precludes the possibility of becoming confused on account of a multiplicity of lines, the spacing may be more accurately judged, and enlarged proficiency in free hand work is attained. Especially in the first draft of a letter design is the use of the outside lines only to be commended. The balance of a letter or a series of letters is that effect which gives legibility and artistic proportions to the design. A top-heavy appearance is a fatal defect in a letter. To properly balance a letter is to so proportion it that it will immediately give the effect of being able, if cut out of thick board, to stand upon its base solid, secure, and in no danger of toppling over. For a clearer illustration of the significance of balancing letters, invert some of the accompanying examples of X, S, Z, etc. The base of the letter S, if made the same size as the apex, would throw the letter sadly out of balance. In spacing and outlining a letter design, the matter of shading should be considered, and a needed allowance made therefor if shading is to be done.