This was my first real sign painting experience — and it came about through a lucky connection. My professor, who was also Creative Director at Enstrom Candies, needed some hand-lettered signage for their retail store. I got to design the lettering, and my friend Matt, a third-generation sign painter, brought me on to help paint it.

Sign painting is no joke. Placement, brush control, and working on-site were all new challenges for me. Every stroke had to be confident — there was no Ctrl+Z once the paint hit the wall.

We used traditional techniques: designing the lettering digitally, printing full-size pounce patterns, and transferring the outlines onto the wall with chalk. From there, it was all about slow, intentional brushwork using “1 Shot” sign paint and specialty brushes. I painted the words “Coffee,” “Ice Cream,” and “Confections” right where customers interact with those products.

Even now, almost a decade later, those signs are still up in the store. It was a crash course in sign painting, and I fell in love with the tactile, old-school feel of the process. There’s something really satisfying about seeing your lettering become part of a physical space like that.