New York Ice Cream Vans

While in New York in the summer I had a particular interest in the ice cream vans, even though our ice cream vans are sign written in the UK I think what drew me to these was the shape of the actual van, the use of the pale pink and the illustrations, they stand out a lot in New York as they look very different and quite vintage. 

I want to further research into ice cream vans and the hand drawn type on them ect. 

Here is an example of some hand drawn type in London Covent Garden, I really like how busy it looks.

Ice cream vans have turned quite fashionable and not all of them sell ice cream now, above is one called 'mr frothy' which has been sign written to sell beer. Below is a ice cream van that fashion designer Henry Holland had designed as a fashion store giving vintage ice cream vans a new lease of life. Instead of cones and lollies he sells items from his fashion brand House of Holland. 

Fred Fowle- fair ground sign writer

Fred Fowle was a classic fairground artist who decorated many of the leading showfolks’ tackle.  He upheld the tradition of classic fairground art.  His incredible 3D images seemed to somehow mimic the actual motion of individual amusement riding machines.  He was in a class of his own, especially with ‘marbling’ and ‘diminishing dropshade (with deep perspective)’ techniques, often using partridge feathers instead of brushes to achieve unbelievable results with paint.  Fred was an admirer ofGreat British Art and saw the fairground as a huge canvas to create his bold statements of form and colour.  Fred Fowle remains one of the most revered classical decorators of traditional showland rides and attractions, and showfolk still hold in great affection the memory of this mild mannered and likeable personality.

Steve Evans Sign Writer, Interview Q&A

Today I interviewed a sign writer, I think this would be particularly useful for this research brief and to talk to someone who actually does hand drawn type for a living. 

I asked him some questions and made a lot of notes, here are the questions I asked: 

How did you get into sign writing? 

Well I always admired fairgrounds and the colours, paintings and type with in them, I suppose fairgrounds is what sparked it all off as a kid for me and then I started reading books on sign writing. Me and a friend from school used to buy toy lorries and sign write them for fun as a hobby, I knew I wanted to do this in the future. My Dad worked in Walsall and opposite one day there was a coach being sign written, Evans brothers coaches, so I asked him if I could watch him and I got to watch him every saturday since. I then got an apprentice with him for 7 years, the first 10 months of it though I wasn't even allowed to have a paint brush in my hand, we just watched.

What would you say are the main qualities to being a sign writer? 

A steady hand, a good eye, to know your style, your typefaces and colours. The most important piece of advice my tutor always used to say to me though is to have confidence in yourself, sign writing can be a very nerve racking job when you start out but now its like riding a bike. 

What is your favourite thing to sign write?

Vintage vehicles are my favourite as they are also my own personal interests, now about 60% of my work is narrow boats, I love that too. 

Have stickers taken away a lot of your business? 

No not really, It's taken a lot of the crap out the business, coach companies used to be so demanding and call you back all the time because the coaches couldn't pass the MOT without some specific things written on them, it was a nightmare, and coach companies expect things to be done in five minutes. The late nineties when stickers first got introduced was a very hard time for me, sign writers weren't doing much, but now my phone never stops ringing. 

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Fairgrounds, books and transport, Fred Fowle has always been one of my biggest inspirations, I just love his lettering. 

What are the ups and downs of sign writing? 

The weather plays a big part of sign writing, cold and wet weather is not good however the heat can be just as hard to work in because of the oil paint. It can be a very lonley job, most days I can be in the middle of no where painting a canal barge or working in my studio, but I like being on my own, I go in my own little world, you get a lot of thinking time. 

How do you get most of your business? 

I don't really advertise, theres no name on my van, its just word of mouth really. But I do have a Facebook page called 'livery man'. Building your reputation can be hard, it takes years to build and five minutes to lose. 

Is there much competition in sign writing? 

You seem to gain your own section sign writing, I have the Walsall/ Birmingham section. 

Do you choose the colours and fonts for the customer?

Everyone is different, some customers know exactly what they want and some customers are like 'surprise me'. I sketch out the designs first to give them an idea of what I'm going to do and present that to them first. 

Have you ever 'surprised' a customer and it's gone wrong? Or have you ever had a customer not like your design? If so what do you do?

It's very very rare for a customer not to be happy with the design. You can change it if the paint is still tacky, but there does become a point where there is nothing you can do, and then you have to think about your reputation. I've know sign writers that have spelt things wrong before and that is a nightmare. But you always have to fix your mistakes. 


Talking to Steve was a really good in site to sign writing and just how difficult it can be, he has been doing it for 30 years this year and still loves it all. 

Steve Evans Sign Writer, his work and inspiration

Today I interviewed the man who sign written my dads trucks, he came round showed me some of his work and some books where he gets his inspiration from. Below are photos of his work

This was a vintage verchile he did and adapted his own design as the lady owned a clothing company so he cleverly added a coat hanger into the design, I think this works really well as it is very subtle. 

Steve said that canal narrowboat are now 60% of his work and he loves doing them.

This is a recent hobby he's just started, he's started to go to vintage verchile shows and paint signs made to order, he said this is keeping him very busy and it is very popular.

An ice cream van he did a few years ago

Some more narrow boats with interesting type designs, he manipulates the type himself he said he had used a variety of typefaces but never copies them they just come off the top of his head as he had been doing sign writing for 30 years now

These are some of my favourite signs he has done for a battery company, I love the use of bold colour 

He said vintage verchiles are one of his favourite things to sign write because they are also a personal interest to him. 

This is some work he did for a ladys celler/restaurant. They had a war theme so he used a lot of tea staining the top two posters are copied out of a book, but the bottom two he moved away from his usual traditional style and tried something different. After spending hours painting and designing them he sanded them down for them to have more of a distressed look, he said he really loved them in the end and the lady was very happy with them. 

Here is a drum and a poster he sign written for his own personal band 

The 'pollock' type was a particual favourite of mine, i really like how he has adapted the 'O's, he said he enjoyed doing the Scottish theme with the tartan on the top. 

One thing that Steve said he didn't enjoy doing was painting people and animals. He said that if he was to do this he prefers working from a cartoon/ illustration rather than a photographs so he can tell the tonal variations better. 

He has painted a few famous names in gold leaf onto boards. He said he gets to do gold leaf all the time in schools and colleges painting head boy and head girl. 

This was another of my favorites, I love how decorative they are reminds me of a fairground

Steve said that he loves working on walls on large scale, he loves stepping back and seeing the finished piece. 

Some decorative hand drawn type for signs

My uncles truck sign written an a classic sign hand painted onto a wall

My dad's and his friends F10' sign written by Steve 

A sign written Foden 

I really like the oval shape of the bottom sign and how he has manipulated the type to fit in it

Some more vintage verchiles with Steves designs on, I asked him how he got the curves so perfect, he basically uses a old fashioned compass with chalked string. 

A more modern piece of sign writing he did 

This is where his main inspiration came from as a child. This was one of the first books he got and he still refers back to it for inspiration. 

Shown in the book is a lot of Fred Fowles work a London sign writer that specialises in fair ground rides he said he was one of his biggest inspirations as a kid and now he looks at his work of type inspiration. 

I really enjoyed looking through the books that inspired him, the books were so colourful and a lot of gold leaf was used within the designs. I am going to research further into Fred Fowle to find out some further information.