Shadows, Ghost Signs, and More Summer Events

July sees two firsts on the events front—the first BLAG Demo on 3D lettering and shadows, and my first public Ghostsigns walks since 2019. Read on for details of these, and other events in the coming months...

3D Lettering and Shadows

Saturday, 8 July

3D Lettering and Shadows with Bold Statements.

Pieter Snijders at Bold Statements invites you to draw along as he demonstrates a host of techniques to make your lettering pop with shadows and three dimensions.

Questions are encouraged throughout this BLAG Demo, and the session is accompanied by resources to download and print ahead of time. All attendees also get a 20% discount on Pieter's Shaded Letters book.

Ghostsigns Walking Tours

Saturday, 22, and Sunday, 23 July

On the Stoke Newington Ghostsigns Walk.

I haven't run a public Ghostsigns walk since 2019, so I'm excited to be heading to London to run these in Bankside (22 July) and Stoke Newington (23 July).

“Really enjoyable, led by knowledgeable and engaging local guy who really knows his stuff. I have been interested in ghost signs for a while but learnt a lot and thoroughly recommend this.”

If you can't make these walks in-person, then all three of my London tours are available as digital experiences, including the Clapham one which is free.

Other Events

As always, the event listings page is kept up-to-date with these and more.

Event Listings

Sign painting and lettering event listings from BLAG (Better Letters Magazine).

BLAG (Better Letters Magazine)•Better Letters

Adventures in Mexico

Mexican signs and lettering are the focus of two online talks, the first about the threats to the country's vernacular painted signs, and the second on the history of blackletter in Mexican letterform culture.

Mexican Rótulos: An Endangered Species? with Romina Hernández.

For more on sign painting in Mexico, check out Bryan Yonki's bl.ag online article, and the photo feature in BLAG 02.

West Coast Workshops

Mike Meyer's workshops tour is taking in nine locations across July, August and September.

Mike Meyer's 2023 workshops tour.

There are also summer workshops being hosted in San Francisco at New Bohemia Signs, and Los Angeles with Smart Alex Signs and John King respectively. Then, in September, Kirsten Bauer is teaching in Portland, Oregon.

Worldwide Workshops

While the west coast of America is getting spoiled, there's plenty of action elsewhere, including: Sign Painting Workshop in Bangkok; Sign Design Masterclass and Workshop in Collingwood, Ontario; Workshop Pan de Oro in Barcelona; Signwriting Workshop in Huddersfield; Blackboard Art Workshops in various European locations; and the Summer Lettering Seminar in Berlin among others.

Online Access

And, finally, a selection of online activities available to all:

Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest, ongoing

Drop Cap, Monogram, and the Illustrated Word, 12 July—15 August

Signs of the Seaside: Curator Talk with Justin Burns, 17 July

Signs of the Seaside: Coastal Lettering and Typography at bl.ag online.

National Letters: Languages and Scripts as Nation-building Tools, 17 July

Neon Speaks, 8–10 and 16–17 September

BLAG Meet: Inside Issue 03, 7 October

Issue 03 of BLAG (Better Letters Magazine).

Thank You

Thank you for reading, I hope to 'see' you at one of these events soon. I'll periodically pull together a roundup like this, so please get in touch if there's something I should add to the event listings.

All good things, Sam

bl.ag / sam@bl.ag / @betterletters