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Rob's Bar Sign


My cousin-in-law has always had an appreciation for beer. He and RJ would discuss various craft brews for hours at a time. He even has a room in their house dedicated as a his bar. So when his birthday rolled around this year, I figured I would put my new pyrography skills to use in making him a bar sign.

I wasn't sure exactly what to put on the sign. After settling on an interesting font for the lettering, I drew a blank on the imagery. I looked at Rob's family crest, at antique bar signs, contemporary bar signs, and clip art for brewing ingredients. Being more comfortable with drawing florals, I immediately latched onto the images of barley and hops. These I drew around the outside of the lettering, which left a lot of empty space in the middle behind the words. 

Not wanting to cover the entire thing in plants, I decided to squeeze in a mug of beer. Which led me to the debate of whether to do a glass mug or something more historic like a tankard or a stein. In the end, I went with Pilsner glasses, the same glasses that Rob and RJ would drink their beers from whenever they were hanging out at our house. Finding a specific image of two Pilsner glasses full of beer clinking together was surprisingly impossible. So I had to improvise. Drawing the bubbles was the hardest part. Rather than going for realism, I opted for representational bubbles, which were easier, but I'm not sure I'm too happy with.


When I finished, The lines looked great, but it felt unfinished. At the time, I couldn't figure out what it was, but looking at it now, I suppose it lacked depth. So as a last minute addition, I added a little bit of watercolor, which made all the difference.



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