Hello from me. I’m Joby Carter, a traditional signwriter, decorative artist, signwriting teacher and author. I owned and travelled Carters Steam Fair, the world’s largest travelling vintage funfair and have spent my life surrounded by traditional signwriting and fairground art. 

I’ve created this online guide beacuse I’m passionate about keeping the traditional skills of signwriting alive for future generations to enjoy. 

These days it’s very rare for you to see a signwriter in action: you don’t often see someone up a ladder replacing shop front signage so the opportunities to ask questions and see how things are done are few and far between.

While there are many talented signwriters across the UK, very few of them have had the time to consider how to teach the skills to others in a meaningful way. This means that the skills and techniques that have been shared through the generations can sometimes feel like they are secrets of the trade.  

I’ve been sharing these secrets with my signwriting course students for years, but in this guide, I’m revealing them for you. 

Whether you’re interested in signwriting as a hobby or as a career, these insights and tips will ensure you learn the right way from the very beginning and will ensure you avoid costly mistakes both in terms of time and materials.  

In my courses I ask my students to start by learning how to draw letters from the Roman Alphabet. In my book Signwriting: Tips Tricks and Inspiration I’ve included a version of the basic Roman alphabet.

In the Roman alphabet the serifs come to a point and there’s often a big contrast in width between the thin strokes and the thick strokes.

If you’d like to experiment scaling up a letter, you can download a reference sheet for free below. These letters are sized at 30mm. Make sure you print at 100% to get the correct size to scale from. 

We also sell full colour versions of this Roman alphabet reference sheet which includes handy design notes. The sheets are A3 which means each letter is 40mm, making it super simple to scale up. If you prefer, you can buy one sheet for £5 or a set of 7 different alphabets for £25.

Signwriting brushes come in different widths and are numbered to denote the size.

The bigger the number, the bigger the width of the line you can create with them. If you want thin lines and thinner letters, you’ll need a thinner brush. If you want to add thin outlines around letters you’ll need to use a tiny signwriting brush- I’d recommend  the 00 or 0 size.

If you want to add a border around your sign or if you are coach lining then you’ll need a  lining brush. I’ve had some made to my preferred specification which you can buy online from my website.

These small metal pots are used to decant a small amount of paint that you need for your sign.

Our dippers clip right onto your palette so it’s easy to use when you’re working – much more practical than trying to balance a tin of paint somewhere if you’re up a ladder!

Personally, I always have a second dipper on my palette with white spirit in and then I use this to tweak the thickness of the paint (viscosity) as you go along. I’ll discuss that more in the signwriting paint section.

Using a palette means that wherever you’re working you’ve got what you need right next to you – you don’t need to keep stopping and starting or climbing up and down a ladder to get more paint.

It is designed for your thumb to fit through the aperture and for you to be able to hold a mahl stick at the same time.

I use a wooden palette which I made by hand when I was a young apprentice. The design is a copy of Stan Wilkinson’s palette. It’s lasted me over 30 years which is something to be celebrated when so many modern day items are single use and disposable!

We have created copies of this original design which are available to buy.

A mahl stick is a wooden pole with a soft end which allows you to have a bit of depth and seperation from whatever you’re painting so you don’t touch the wet paint with your palm or your fingers as you work.

It also allows you to make careful movements as you work.

Ours have a rubber end on them so they fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

If you paint with your right hand you’ll need to hold the mahl stick in your left hand and you then slide the palette on top on your left hand.

It takes a bit of practice to get used to holding it all but the top end of the mahl stick should stay still when you work and you use your arm holding the palette to move as you paint.

I use professional grade enamel paint for signwriting and lining from Craftmaster Paints and I have a custom range of retro inspired colours which were created for our vintage funfair rides and sidestalls.

You can buy a set of these signwriting paints from my website (black, cardinal red, French blue, mid chrome yellow and white) or students can access the full range of colours when they attend my courses.

Enamel paint is ideal for signwriting because of its durability and the way it flows on the surfaces I am painting on. The paint is highly pigmented which means you might only need to use one coat on some of your lettering, although this varies with which colours you are using and the colour of the surface you are painting on.

It is quite common to need to paint a second coat on your lettering the following day. Yellows and whites will often need a second coat and if you’re trying to paint yellow onto a black surface it might even need 3 or 4 coats!

These paints have strong chemicals in them and you’ll need white spirit to clean your brushes so I advise people to paint in a well ventilated area.

If you are practicing painting or want to avoid exposure to spirit based paints, you could perhaps experiment with other paints such as acrylic.

I’ve not personally used any paint other than enamel paint. If you are practicing using other paint to help you refine your brushwork then be sure to use the right brushes.

You can signwrite on virtually any surface including glass, wood, plywood or aluminium (providing it’s been etched or painted properly).

To have a perfectly smooth prepped surface is another skill in itself so if you’re starting out, I encourage my students to use pre prepared signwriting boards.

A bit like icing a pre-baked cake, this means you have more time to focus on the actual signwriting techniques. Plus, the added advantage is that if you just want to practice you can wipe the paint off the board before it dries and re-use.

For my professional work and on my courses I recommend using aluminium composite boards. They come in a variety of different colours and can be varnished after which gives them a vibrant, glossy finish.

Wondering which of Joby’s signwriting books is right for you? In this video which was originally created for his Instagram page, Joby talks about the key differences.

You can buy either of Joby’s books or David Kynaston’s book about the Roman alphabet in our Signwriting books section.

See a real course in action in Joby’s workshop.

Find out more about Joby’s traditional signwriitng courses in our signwriting course section.