When I first started painting signs, I had no idea how much the craft would change the way I looked at the world. What started as a curiosity about old shopfronts and hand-painted lettering became a lifelong obsession with detail, discipline, and patience. Traditional signwriting isn’t just about painting letters. It’s about learning to see,  really see,  shape, form, rhythm, and style.

If you’re just starting out or wondering whether learning traditional signwriting online is even possible, I’ve been exactly where you are. And after decades with a brush in my hand, here’s what I wish I’d known before I began.

1. Signwriting Isn’t About Perfect Letters,  It’s About Consistent Rhythm

In the beginning, I thought signwriting was about precision. I’d spend hours trying to make each letter perfect, and every time I failed, I’d start again. What I didn’t realize was that hand-painted letters aren’t meant to be perfect; they’re meant to belong together.

A sign with personality, flow, and consistency will always beat a rigid, computer-perfect one. Traditional signwriting teaches rhythm through repetition. The more you paint, the more your hand starts to move in time with your eye. You stop forcing the brush, and you start trusting it.

That’s one of the first lessons I teach inside The Signpainters Academy. Perfection is a trap. Rhythm, balance, and confidence,  that’s the real craft.

2. Learning Online Doesn’t Mean You’re Learning Alone

When I started The Signpainters Academy, I wanted to prove something simple: you can learn traditional signwriting from anywhere in the world if you’re guided the right way.

I’ve met students from Australia, Canada, the US, and across Europe who never thought they could learn an art like this without being in a workshop. But with today’s tools, online learning can feel surprisingly personal,  if it’s done right.

The courses are filmed in real workshops, with real brushes, paints, and mistakes included. You can pause, replay, and paint along in your own space,  something even in-person classes can’t offer.

Learning signwriting online doesn’t mean losing authenticity; it means gaining flexibility. You learn the same way I did,  through practice,  but without needing to travel halfway across the world.

3. The Tools Matter Less Than You Think

It’s easy to get lost in the world of signwriting brushes, mahlsticks, and paint brands. I’ve seen beginners spend more time shopping for tools than actually painting. The truth? The tools matter,  but not as much as your technique.

Start simple. A good quality lettering brush, a stable easel, and enamel paint are all you need to begin. What really matters is how you hold the brush and how you control your stroke.

Inside the Beginners Bootcamp course, I focus on what I call “muscle memory drills”,  exercises that train your hand to move fluidly. Once you’ve built that foundation, upgrading your kit starts to make sense. Before that, it’s like buying a sports car before learning to drive.

4. Patience Builds Precision

One of the hardest lessons for any new signwriter is learning patience. Traditional signwriting is slow by design. You can’t rush a brushstroke and expect it to look right.

In a world obsessed with speed and shortcuts, painting letters by hand feels almost rebellious. But that’s where the magic lies. Patience turns hesitation into control, and control turns into confidence.

When you slow down and focus on the process,  the brush angle, the paint consistency, the pressure,  you start to understand how letterforms feel. That’s the moment the craft begins to click.

5. You’ll Learn More from Your Mistakes Than Your Successes

I still make mistakes,  and I still learn from them. Paint drips, uneven spacing, off-centre letters,  every one of those errors teaches you something valuable.

Beginners often fear failure, but in signwriting, failure is feedback. Every mistake leaves a visible lesson. You start seeing patterns: maybe your hand twists on diagonal strokes, or you load too much paint on the brush.

That’s the beauty of learning traditional signwriting: the medium itself teaches you. It’s honest. You can’t fake a clean line, and that honesty makes improvement incredibly rewarding.

6. Traditional Signwriting Connects You to a Living History

One of the reasons I fell in love with signpainting is because it’s part of a lineage,  a craft passed from hand to hand for generations. When you paint a letter with a brush, you’re connected to a tradition that shaped how towns and cities once looked.

Before vinyl cutters and digital printers, every shopfront was someone’s canvas. Each letter carried the painter’s signature style. Even today, when you walk past an old ghost sign or a hand-lettered pub front, you’re seeing craftsmanship that has survived decades of weather, change, and neglect.

Learning traditional signwriting keeps that heritage alive. It’s more than art,  it’s continuity.

7. There’s More Design Skill in Signwriting Than You’d Expect

People often assume signwriters just paint what someone else designs. But good signwriting is design. You make countless creative decisions with every brushstroke,  spacing, composition, balance, and proportion.

Understanding letterforms teaches you visual logic. You start noticing how a serif affects legibility or how the thickness of a stroke changes tone. Those skills spill into other areas: typography, logo design, even architecture.

That’s why so many of my students come from creative fields,  designers, illustrators, even tattoo artists,  looking to add depth and handcraft to their work.

8. The First 26 Letters Are a Lifelong Journey

When I created The 26 Letters course, I wanted to give beginners a structured way to master the basics. Each letter has its own rhythm and challenges, and learning them properly takes time.

What surprises most people is how much one letter teaches you about the next. The discipline you develop painting an “O” makes your “Q” stronger. The angle of your “N” improves your “A.” It’s all connected.

Once you’ve painted every letter by hand, you start seeing typography differently. Fonts stop being abstract ,  you see the craft behind them. And that awareness changes everything about how you approach visual work.

9. The Community Makes It Better

Signwriting can feel like a solitary pursuit,  just you, a board, and a brush. But it doesn’t have to be. One of the best things about teaching online has been seeing how students from around the world connect, share progress, and support each other.

There’s something powerful about watching a beginner in Canada exchange tips with a hobbyist in the UK or a designer in Australia. It reminds me that while this craft is old, its spirit is timeless.

That community energy keeps the craft alive. It’s not about competition,  it’s about shared progress.

10. You Don’t Need Permission to Start

A lot of people hesitate because they think they need formal training, a fancy studio, or years of art school before they’re “ready.” You don’t.

Traditional signwriting is one of those rare crafts that rewards curiosity and persistence. If you’re willing to practice, you can start today,  with a brush, some paint, and a few wooden boards.

That’s exactly why I built The Signpainters Academy. I wanted a space where anyone, anywhere, could start learning the real craft,  online, in a real-world way. Because the joy of seeing your first finished sign hanging on a wall is something everyone should experience.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve ever been drawn to the warmth of hand-painted letters, don’t ignore that pull. Signwriting teaches you patience, discipline, and respect for craft,  but it also gives something back. It reconnects you to the physical world in a time when so much of creativity happens on screens.

I wish I’d known, when I first picked up that brush, that the mistakes, the slow progress, and the long hours would eventually feel like meditation. That every letter I painted was a small act of keeping history alive.

So, if you’re ready to start your journey, start small. Practice a few strokes. Learn the basics. And remember,  every great signwriter was once a beginner holding a shaky brush.

Ready to learn traditional signwriting at home?

Visit The Signpainters Academy to explore The Beginners Bootcamp, The 26 Letters, and The Full Course.

Follow along on Instagram or watch tutorials and tips on YouTube.