Brush Casual
with
John Downer
Single stroke casual brush lettering, as used in sign painting now for more than 60 years, has again become popular. John Downer grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s and '60s, at a time when "speed stroke" styles were reaching the height of their development up and down the West Coast. The general form originated in California's Central Valley, and quickly caught on in Oregon and Washington. Before long, it was used effectively in truck lettering, window lettering, store ads, and all kinds of ephemeral, "low-brow" signage. Today, it is still a staple in the sign painting trade, but few practitioners know or adhere to the original West Coast variety that John learned in his youth, and continues to teach.
No brush lettering experience is required. Proper form & efficient execution will be covered, as well as brush manipulation techniques. Handouts will provide models for the basics: majuscules, figures, and punctuation.
Required Materials
- A computer or device with reliable internet connection and Zoom app
- A workspace with either a slanted board on a top table of 15° to 45° or a drafting table big enough to hold 14" x 22" card stock
- Mack Golden Taklon 1/4” series 162 flat brush, or Robert Simmons Sapphire S21 1/4” synthetic flat brush
- Blick Premium Tempera (black) or Master Class tube tempera (black)
- 6 ea. 22” x 28” sheets of white railroad board. Please cut each sheet in half to yield two pieces 14” by 22” as our standard working size.
- 12 ea. 4” x 4” scraps of corrugated cardboard
- chalk
- #2 pencil
- eraser
- masking tape
- clear or frosted cellophane tape
- water containers
- rags
- paper towels
- apron or smock
- bar soap for brush clean up
- Optional materials: access to a printer to print out exemplars
About John Downer
Mr. Downer is a sign painter, a typeface designer, and an educator. He has written about type and type history for various publications and is widely known as a perceptive type critic. His typefaces have been published by Bitstream, Font Bureau, Emigre, House Industries, and Design Lab. Among his most popular type designs are Iowan Old Style (on Apple Books and iOS 7+), Roxy, Ironmonger, and the ubiquitous food and beverage branding favorite, Brothers.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, a region of the US with a rich history of sign painting and hand-lettering, Mr. Downer was first introduced to commercial pen & brush lettering in the 1960s in junior high school. He began an apprenticeship in a sign painting shop at age 18. He holds BA, MA, and MFA degrees in art.
Mr. Downer has been a journeyman sign painter since 1973, a freelance typeface designer since 1983, and a crusader for designers’ rights his entire adult life. He began teaching lettering at the university level in 1972, making him one of the most experienced American educators in the fields of lettering and typeface design. He’s been teaching in the Type@Cooper program at The Cooper Union since its founding in 2010. He established the Sign Painting Support Group on Facebook as a platform to educate and guide serious enthusiasts and professionals in the principles of letter construction and the tricks of the trade.