An edition of three

The Sign Invitational, which is happening soon, is a ‘contest’ of sorts, although the contestants are actually really good friends. Each year, Jim Dawson and I invite signmakers and other creatives from around the world to design and build a dimensional sign with a specific theme and bring it to the International Sign Expo to be held on April 8-10 this year. The twenty-thousand attendees who pass by the booth will have the opportunity to admire the signs and vote for their favourite. The reason for the ‘contest’ is for the entrants to create a showpiece for their studios and, in the process, hopefully inspire others to do this over-the-top dimensional work. Being at the show is also a chance to hang out with some of the most creative people on the planet, which is always a whole lot of fun. We anticipate that about fifteen signmakers will answer our challenge this year, which should make for an amazing display.

As one of the organizers, I volunteered to create the awards this year for the entries voted number one, two and three. With my current passion being the creation of limited edition laser prints, this is the perfect opportunity to get in a little more practice with this extremely limited edition of only three pieces. Jason Nale ( http://originaledesigns.co ) did the logo design for the completion a few years ago, which I produced in my style as a line drawing. The toad was added to the top to tie in with this year’s theme. I’ll be adding a little colour and some 23K gold leaf bling - just for fun.