A sign painter on getting the R right

Devon Aluko has painted shopfronts in Bristol for twenty-two years and can draw a capital R freehand that is better than most typefaces. We spent an hour on one letter.

Everyone thinks the hard letter is the S. It is the R. The S is symmetrical and forgiving and the R has a decision in it.
Devon Aluko

In this episode

1. 02:10 Why he still pounces a pattern rather than projecting it.
2. 14:35 The R, at length, with diagrams that do not work on audio.
3. 27:00 Brushes: why the cheap ones are fine and the cheap paint is not.
4. 41:20 On lettering for a business that will close in a year.
5. 52:05 What forty more years would buy him.

Mentioned

• Signs of Britain, the Letterheads archive
• One Shot lettering enamel, discussed at unreasonable length
• The Bristol shopfront survey, 1974

Recorded on a pavement in Bedminster, with traffic.