Card No. 1. Size 8¼×7 inches. This was a sample from a wholesale paper house. Body color was a very light green. The border and center panel were made with olive ink. The figures were light yellow and outlined in bright red. The picture of a parrot was cut from a magazine and pasted in the corner of the card as shown.
Card No. 2. Size 10½×14 inches. Dark cream mottled mat board. Lettering was done in a dark gray with No. 10 brush. The initial letters “D” and “F” were shaded with black. The picture which represents a photograph was a neatly printed half-tone, cut from a trade paper. The border of the card was gray.
Card No. 3. Size 10½×13 inches. Plain white cardboard with a picture pasted on the upper left-hand corner cut from a manufacturer’s showcard. The lettering on this card was done in black with the round speedball pen. The border is dark green to match the picture.
Card No. 4. Size 11½×18½ inches. Plain white cardboard. Lettering was done with large round speedball pen. The picture shows the use of the pantograph and the sketch was enlarged from the original at the left. This was enlarged four times as shown on the card itself. After the sketch was traced with a pencil, the drawing was filled in with drawing pen.
Card No. 5. Size 8×6 inches. Plain white cardboard lettered with No. 10 brush, using bright green ink, then shading with black.
The butterfly was a cut-out from a trade paper and pasted to the card-board.
In shading the letters on a showcard, or on any piece of sign work, the student should keep in mind the theory of shading which is as follows:
Imagine, if possible, that the letters to be shaded are about one inch in height from the paper and that a light is being held above and to the right of the letters at an angle of about 45 degrees. If this experiment is carried out in actual practice it will be found that the shadows fall to the left and below the letters. This is the rule for proper shading. The effect can be reversed by imagining the light coming from above and to the left. This would necessitate the shading on the right side of the letter and at the bottom.
Students should study the large cloth signs made by professional sign men, for splendid examples of shading.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
Plates used by permission of Ely & Walker Dry Goods Co., St. Louis.