True Artistic Tales
My Brush with Art Supply Greatness
November 25th 2011
In 1979, I was still unpacking in my Manhattan digs, when Letraset Ltd. AD Rob Silio called me from their new offices in Paramus. By '79, the word "Letraset" was already being used to refer to just about any dry transfer lettering, regardless of actual brand name. In just twenty years, the company had achieved the same rare status as companies such as Xerox and Kleenex had before it.
I was invited to illustrate a catalog showcasing page after page of swatches of their new collection of 487 Letratone rubdown texture sheets. They were hoping for something that would be useful and fun and and that we'd all hang on the wall rather than file away. So, the centerpiece was to be a gatefold poster of anything I'd want to do.
I was just getting my career sea legs, and it only paid around a thousand bucks, I think. Not much, but... they threw in one sheet of every one of the 487 textures for me to keep, all nice and organized in those cool Letraset file boxes. My marching orders were something like: "Just be sure to use as many of them in the poster as you can." I used the stuff for decades afterwards! -- Lou Brooks
March 17th 2012
Lou you were a lot of fun to work with.
December 23rd 2011
As far as the desktop fax machine goes, I have plenty of clients who still fax me jobs. However, I've tossed my desktop fax machine, rolls of paper and extra phone line, in favor of a fax service that emails me pdfs of faxes sent to me. So convenient. And if I need to trace a logo or something faxed to me, I don't have to scan it in, cause I already have a pdf of it.
March 17th 2012
Lou you were a lot of fun to work with.