New(ish) at bl.ag online, 'Letterheads 50: 28 Days Later', in which I try to make sense of what happened at the American Sign Museum in June through the lens of photographer Natalie Grilli.
https://bl.ag/letterheads-50-28-days-later/
See if you can find me in this huge group shot that Natalie stitched together after shooting a bunch of pictures from up a ladder...
I'm getting very excited about the premiere of our short film, 'When Better Letters Met Brian Walker'.
For those that we can, we hope you'll join us for an informal evening celebrating Brian's life and work as a signwriter.
Tue, 29 July
6:30pm for a 7pm start
Chats Palace, 42-44 Brooksby's Walk, E9 6DF
Please find further details at https://bl.ag/brian/
And tell your friends!
In connection with her work on the forthcoming India Street Lettering book, @matratype shared her insights into Indian sign painting for BLAG.
Read 'Indian Sign Painting: A Typeface Designer's Take on the Craft' at https://bl.ag/indian-sign-painting-a-typeface-designers-take-on-the-craft/
Following its successful Kickstarter funding campaign, the book is now available for pre-order directly from the @blaft website here:
https://www.blaft.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/india-street-lettering
@letterror In my 'Celebrity Signwriters' article of a few years ago I did include some fathers of famous people like Mohammad Ali, Jerry Seinfeld, and Ronny Wood.
https://bl.ag/celebrity-signwriters-past-present/
Frank Oz' dad is new to me, but I'd love to learn more if you find anything.
The first screening of my new short film, When Better Letters Met Brian Walker, will take place in London on Tuesday, 29 July.
Please let me know if you can make it, and tell your friends.
1/2 — I've been reconsidering the Duke Ellington entry in my 'Celebrity Signwriters' post.
https://bl.ag/celebrity-signwriters-past-present/
Could there perhaps have been a confusion with the similar sounding Duke Wellington, author of 'The Theory and Practice of Poster Art (1934)':
https://archive.org/details/theorypracticeof0000well_d6i7.
Ellington's own site only mentions painting as a hobby, so is there a credible source that places him in a sign shop in the late 1910s?
I believe that Vienna's Schildermalermuseum is the only one in the world that's solely dedicated to sign painting, but I'd love to be proved wrong!
I was lucky to visit in 2016 (https://bl.ag/viennas-incredible-schildermalermuseum/) and then to collaborate with Tom Koch on a short film about the museum's founder, Josef Samuel: https://bl.ag/meet-josef-samuel-viennas-last-signpainter/.
3/3
New(ish) at bl.ag online, 'Hand-Painted Shopfronts in Rural Uganda', where Olivia Krawczyk introduces the hand-painted signs for businesses large and small in the rural Kumi district.
I've just found Murat Ertürk's 'Ye Olde Sign Shoppe' column from BLAG 03 on Medium, in which he takes us on a trip to Sakarya, Turkey.
'Enver Yücebalkan: Signs of the Silver Screen': https://muraterturk.medium.com/enver-y%C3%BCcebalkan-signs-of-the-silver-screen-d7c4a4c5e289
More from inside BLAG 03 at https://bl.ag/03, where there's also a link to buy back issues.
Ooh look, something cooking at @letterformarchive with yours truly and local San Francisco sign painters Michelle "Meng" Nguyen and @nbsigns.
https://letterformarchive.org/shop/a-sign-painterly-slice-through-letterform-archive/
Although the event is in-person, a recording will be made available afterwards for those outside of the bay area.
@nihilistnomya Thank you for supporting your local sign painter.
The 'dying art' narrative is maybe a couple of steps removed from the truth these days, as the last decade or two have seen a real ressurgence in those commissioning and practising the craft.
Many point to the Sign Painters film as a pivotal moment in this ressurgence, and you can read my reflections on its role here, which includes a link to watch it free online: https://bl.ag/reflections-on-the-impact-of-sign-painters-ten-years-later/
New at bl.ag online, news of a fundraiser to support the next film in the 'When Better Letters Met' series: https://bl.ag/introducing-a-new-better-letters-film/.
Here's the direct link to the Kickstarter, which is now 50% funded, so thank you to our early backers!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samroberts/when-better-letters-met-brian-walker-a-short-biopic?ref=9wh6qg
Boosts appreciated to encourage more supporters 
Oh wow, one backer and my 'soft-launched' Kickstarter is already 26% funded.
I'll be sharing more via tomorrow's (free) email newsletter, but here you can get in on the action now:
I thought I'd have some stuff to edit out of my conversation with sign painter, designer, and all-round Letterhead Elaine Wallis, but there wasn't, and so her session runs to just over 50 minutes, versus the advertised 45, at today's BLAG Meet: https://bl.ag/meet.
During the conversation you can learn all about the kit box that she's resting her foot on in this picture, and its role in her life in signs that spans over 40 years.
People always enjoy taking a look around others' work spaces, and for this BLAG Meet (https://bl.ag/meet) we'll get a peek behind the doors of Jay Smith's studio/workshop in Idaho.
This will include a browse through some of the classic sign painting books that he was lucky to get his hands on recently, as reported here: https://bl.ag/bookish-good-luck-at-mclellan-signs-in-nampa-idaho/.
BLAG Meet (https://bl.ag/meet) is tomorrow, Saturday, completely free, and online from 4pm London time.
One of the live talks at the event will be from Rick Janzen of Canada's Streamline Studios: https://streamlinestudiosinc.ca/.
Rick is a veteran of sign painting for film, and has worked on numerous blockbusters, as well as series such as The Last of Us. You can expect plenty of wise words and insights into this and commercial sign painting applications.
I'll also be delivering a short session during Saturday's BLAG Meet: Inside Issue 06 (https://bl.ag/meet).
This is'ot strictly connected to the latest issue of the magazine, but I'm using the free, online event to share details of my forthcoming Kickstarter that aims to raise funds to finish a short film I've been working on: When Better Letters Met Brian Walker.
You can pre-register for the Kickstarter now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samroberts/when-better-letters-met-brian-walker-a-short-biopic?ref=9wh6qg.
After India and Belgium, we fly across the Atlantic for a look behind the scenes of the recent American Sign Museum expansion. 'Magic on Main Street' is the third BLAG Meet session (https://bl.ag/meet).
I got to see the new spaces last month, and the report is here: https://bl.ag/my-week-at-the-american-sign-museum/. Saturday's session will only scratch the surface, but will give you the opportunity to hear from those that brought the whole thing together.
BLAG Meet is happening this Saturday, 26 April, with a dozen sessions packed with even more adventures in sign painting from contributors to Issue 06 of the magazine.
It's free and all online, with details of the line-up and registrations available via https://bl.ag/meet/.
For a look inside BLAG 06, visit https://bl.ag/06.
And, to bring things up-to-date, here's my deep dive into contemporary sign painter vehicles from 2023: https://bl.ag/what-a-ride-the-wonderful-world-of-sign-painter-vehicles/.
