Such complaints, we are free to say, are in the main exaggerated. The wagon letterer has not been, nor is he in any present danger of being, Othello-like, without an occupation. Moreover, despite the adoption by the wagon letterers of those styles which most completely respond to the dictates of modern business, there still remain certain marked characteristics of the vehicle letterer's work which distinguish it from the efforts of the most finished sign writer. Not that the work of the wagon letterer differs conspicuously from that of the expert general sign writer—the field of up-to-date sign work having merged the two branches into close relationship—but the difference is manifest, as before said, in characteristics most plainly unmistakable. Naturally, this variation should occur.
A sign that would appear legible and clean cut upon a building might, if transferred to the panel of a more or less rapidly moving vehicle, prove unreadable and hopelessly indistinct. A sign attached to a building or other stationary object admits of study from the various points of the compass, from near by or afar off. It is not a fleeting show as in case of the vehicle sign, subject to laws of propulsion which vary to meet existing business exigencies.
Modified Block Alphabet.
Perspective effects, heights, widths, thickness of lines, etc., because of the usually generous sweep of space at command, as secured by the sign writer, do not come within the scope of the wagon letterer's activity, save in rare instances. Ordinarily wagon spaces to be lettered are of dwarfed dimensions and quite commonly cast in irregular outlines. In wagon lettering, whenever possible, the extended letter frequently has the preference. An able and widely observant critic says "it might almost be said that the customary speed of a vehicle can be measured by the degree of elongation which the letterer gives to his work, the lightning express car representing the ultimatum in one direction, while the mammoth furniture van, with its high art panels, is characteristic of the other." The chief distinguishing feature of wagon lettering, as contrasted with the average results of sign writing, is found in the wider variety of elegant color effects to be remarked of the first named. The wagon letterer essays glazing with many of the beautiful transparent pigments, and in this wise brings forth charming combinations in color seldom attempted by the sign writer.
The wagon letterer's work is done, as a rule, with quick drying colors or size, and almost invariably is varnished over. Surface smoothness is therefore with him a matter of the first importance. The art of the wagon letterer is composed of many difficulties, each of which must be surmounted ere the learner can hope to stand among the select few and quaff the foam from the beaker of success.
However, let me say that a thorough mastery of the art is worth all the toil, patient study, diligent practice, and applied energy the aspirant may choose to expend.
To achieve proficiency in this branch of painting, it is advisable to practice outlining letters with a chalk crayon, or, preferably, pipe clay on a goodly sized blackboard. All lines, straight or curved, should be drawn in free hand, and the practice ought, properly, to be regularly continued until the workman acquires a reliable degree of precision. Ease, freedom, and a masterly command of the hand, coupled with a fairly unerring accuracy of the eye, are justly indispensable accomplishments in sign writing or wagon lettering. Absence of mechanical aids will render free hand and eye work more assured. Many admittedly first-class sign writers practice marking out with rule, compass, and line every letter which they produce, insisting upon mechanical accuracy in "laying out" as the only correct means of developing style. Such workmen, unfortunately, were probably indifferent, in apprenticeship days, to the advantages to be derived from free hand drawing, and being strangers to them they find themselves greatly handicapped thereby.
